A BANK Holiday blitz on illegal anglers netted nearly 40 offenders.

Fisheries enforcement officers from the Environment Agency spent the holiday weekend checking rod licences around Teesside and North Yorkshire.

Despite blustery weather they checked 236 anglers at 11 different locations and 37 of them were unable to produce a licence - an evasion rate of almost 16 per cent.

One of the enforcement team, Kevin Summerson, said: "Despite the high evasion rate I see this as a positive result.

"The legitimate anglers I spoke to were more than pleased to see us and appreciated the work we were doing.

"I hope these results will go some way to reassuring licensed anglers that we will not tolerate any illegal fishing activity."

He added: "All of the money from rod licence sales goes back into funding Environment Agency fisheries. It's unacceptable for people to fish without first buying a licence, and those who are thinking about it should realise it's a crime that can carry a fine up to £2,500, along with confiscation of fishing equipment.

"Anglers can be assured we shall continue our pro-active approach to licence checking through an intelligence-led, co-ordinated program so we can reduce evasion."

Fishing licences can be bought at many post offices and other outlets. For a small additional charge they can be bought over the phone on 0870 166 2662 or from the web site www.environment-agency.gov.uk/fish