by Ed Targett

etargett@thekmgroup.co.uk

Eastern European farm labourers have denied migrant workers are responsible for an alleged increase in fish poaching from the River Stour.

illegal practice, claiming migrants had "exacerbated" the problem.They spoke out after a fishing club warned of a "considerable" rise in the

Tonford Fly Fishing Club chairman Jack Cohen, 76, says he and permit bailiffs had even been threatened by people fishing for trout without a licence.

Only this week eight people were reported to police after they were caught fishing illegally.

Retired dental technician Dr Cohen said: "We rent and manage a four-mile stretch of river and have weekly reports from anglers and our bailiffs about illegal fishing.

"I myself have encountered a threatening reaction from two rather stalwart fellows. I have even had stones thrown at me. I have told the club that bailiffs have to go out in pairs now because the threat of violence is so great.

"When it comes to taking fish – and I should be careful with my words – let us say the eastern Europeans are an added problem; they have certainly exacerbated it."

Environment Agency team leader for East Kent fisheries and biodiversity Claire Merry said: "There are certainly some interesting issues culturally. There is more of a culture of eating fresh water fish in eastern Europe so we are working to educate people.

"They do strange religious things, like releasing non-native species of fish into the waterways."

Agency fisheries officer Miles Robinson added: "We haven’t been able to catch people taking fish red-handed. However, rural partnership police have found filletted fish by campfires along the lower Stour. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence for people taking fish; sometimes reports are accurate, sometimes they are not."

But Romanian fruit-pickers Cidrel Adrian, 22, Balash Valeriu, 27 and Ghita Cosmin, 21, denied migrant workers like themselves were behind the alleged poaching.

Mr Adrian said: "We work eight hours per day here in Canterbury. Do you think we want to go out in the night trying to catch fish?

"We eat what we find in Morrisons, not the river. It’s crazy. I know it is private fishing here."

Mr Cosmin said: "We are Orthodox Christians. What religious ceremonies? We go to church. We go to church in Chartham."