SIGNS have gone up warning of a blanket fishing ban along a stretch of the River Wear in the heart of Durham - imposed to combat poaching “on an industrial scale”.

Earlier this year, the Wear Anglers’ Association (WAA), which has 6,000 members, secured a new bylaw covering a 500m stretch of the south bank of the river at the city’s Framwelgate Waterside.

The signs have been erected ahead of this year’s expected runs of sea trout and salmon which begin about now and continue through into the late autumn.

Anyone caught fishing within the 500-600 yard area covered by the signs faced the prospect of arrest under the Theft Act.

Another, covering the north bank, was already in place, having been introduced on safety grounds to protect pedestrians.

The ban follows months of talks between the WAA, Durham Police, Durham County Council, the Environment Agency (EA) and the City of Durham Freemen, which controls access to the riverbank.

Durham beat officer Darrell Brown said: “This stretch of the River Wear – about 80 yards of west of Penny Ferry Bridge down to an area known as The Sands has been free fishing for as long as people can remember.

“However, due to problems that have surfaced in the last few years with people coming down and using illegal methods to fish for wild salmon and sea trout, action has had to be taken.

“I will be working this area closely in conjunction with Environment Agency. Anyone found fishing is committing an offence under the Theft Act and can be arrested and prosecuted.”

WAA secretary Alan Willey said: “Numbers of these precious fish have been dwindling over the years. The indiscriminate plunder of the river’s migratory fish at Freeman’s Reach must stop.”

Thousands of salmon and sea trout enter the Wear from the sea every summer and autumn, heading for their spawning grounds upstream in the Durham dales.

But a series of weirs in Durham City makes migration difficult and when the Wear is low fish stuck in pools below the weirs are vulnerable to poachers.

It is said many hundreds of fish are caught using outlawed rod and line tactics known as stroke hauling, snatching or foul hooking and many poachers sell their catch commercially, even arriving in refrigerated vehicles to take their haul away.

One lone poacher is reported to have snatched 80 fish in a single session.

The Freemen’s trustees have set aside 350m of the south bank at the eastern end of the Sands to allow law-abiding anglers to continue free fishing away from the poaching “hotspot”.