ANGLERS are being warned after two fishermen had their equipment seized and were banned from the sport for a year.

The pair were caught using a banned fishing method known as “stroke hauling” in the River Wear at Framwellgate, in Durham City last year.

The technique, also known as snatching, catches fish by impaling the hook about its body or head.

After spotting the two suspects using the technique last September, Environment Agency enforcement officers found bags containing seven salmon and one sea trout nearby.

Both pleaded guilty to the offence at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court and were each sentenced on Tuesday to a 12-month conditional discharge, a 12-month rod licence ban and were ordered to pay £250 costs.

Kevin Summerson, fisheries enforcement team leader at the Environment Agency, said: “We shall continue to police this area for as long as is necessary to bring a halt to this illegal activity.

“Members of the public need to be aware that these poachers are not taking ‘one for the pot’, they are taking frequently high numbers of fish that are often sold on for monetary gain”.