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Nice to see the EA doing there job ?

This brings up another aspect of the bizarre nature of political correctness. If any particular ethnic minority in our society is proven to be responsible for a disproportionately large percentage of offences in any field, it would be considered racist to mention that fact. You have to pretend you haven't noticed, because telling the truth in matters of this nature could put YOU in court. That can't be right.

Sorry for having a rant, but this type of nonsense gets right up my nose :mad:

Well done the EA though, great to see.

Cheers, Dave.
 
David Gauntlett said:
This brings up another aspect of the bizarre nature of political correctness. If any particular ethnic minority in our society is proven to be responsible for a disproportionately large percentage of offences in any field, it would be considered racist to mention that fact. You have to pretend you haven't noticed, because telling the truth in matters of this nature could put YOU in court. That can't be right.

Sorry for having a rant, but this type of nonsense gets right up my nose :mad:

Well done the EA though, great to see.

Cheers, Dave.
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The EA themselves take out ads in Polish language in publications that circulate in the Polish community in the UK, and in other E.European communities´ papers, to communicate the laws and customs of our fishing culture. So I can´t see anyone ending up in court for pointing out what everyone knows, unless it was done in a racist way.

It´s only racists who need to worry about such accusations: why were the police in Rotherham worried about being accused of being racist, for example, if they went after Asian grooming gangs? Not because of ´political correctness gone mad' a la Daily Mail, but because they had a history of previous racism and because they were stupid and incompetent.
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
Where does it say the naughty poacher was a member of an ethnic minority , am I missing something ?
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You haven´t been to Worcester in the last few years then?

OK, it´s a bit of an assumption, but seriously, the chances of a Jan Bukowsi in Worcester being a UK passport holder are pretty low.

Incidentally anyone who thinks Polish fisherman fish without a licence and steal and kill more fish for cultural reasons, well yes, there is an underground cuture of poaching, but if they think it´s because it´s considered OK in Poland or something, that isn´t really the case. The enforcement is stricter in Poland, and their "social fisheries guards" are a allowed to be a lot more pro-active than our club bailiffs, taking action which here would have to be left to EA and police:

"The Polish Angling Association´s Social Fisheries Guard, which functions in all organisational units, cooperates with the Government Angling Guard and the Police. Each year the PAA Guard carries out about 100,000 actions, checks about 550,000 thousand people´s licences and activities, confiscates 12,000 poachers’ fishing nets and 150 items of sailing equipment. Two thousand notes about offences are submitted to prosecutor´s offices, courts and the Police each year."
 
We could do with a bit of that style of enforcement here then :D No I haven't been to the fine city of Worcester recently, I was just making the point that we shouldn't always presume that someone with a '' foreign '' sounding name is automatically freshly arrived on our shores from Eastern Europe .
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
Where does it say the naughty poacher was a member of an ethnic minority , am I missing something ?
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Worcester (Vale of Evesham) has a huge summer influx of EE workers working on farms. We do see a problem with poaching, BBQ's and the like, probably more than most other parts.
It was probably a 'leap in the dark' to assume he was an ethnic, but probably worth a punt. :)
 
There seems to be some confusion going on here :confused: The definition of 'An ethnic minority' is as follows......
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Ethnic Minority

Noun

A group within a community which has different national or cultural traditions from the main population.

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OK? That being so, I have no idea what on earth some of the posts on this thread are all about.

I have a pretty reasonable knowledge of the Polish people in my part of the UK, but not so of other minorities, so I will comment only on those folk I do know. The Polish community in my area (And I am assured it is so elsewhere, be that in the UK, the USA or wherever else they now happen to live) are very proud of their heritage. They are a very close knit folk, they like to spend most of their time in their own ethnic group. They are passionate about protecting their national customs and identity, which explains why they frequently establish the well known 'Polish Clubs' in their town, where they can meet and be among people 'From the old country' as they put it. The Polish people like to celebrate their own holidays and other ethnically unique occasions, and in every sense of the word wish to remain 'ethnic minorities' in whichever country they now live. Much the same sort of things that ex pats from the UK do in fact, wherever THEY end up.

I have a number of Polish friends, young and old. I have known some of the older guys for most of my adult life...and I am within months of my 72nd birthday. My next door neighbours are Polish, and before I retired some of my work mates were Polish...and I have spent time drinking and laughing with Polish friends in Polish clubs, so I have had a significant degree of contact with Polish people. One of the things that is quickly apparent though is that those of the older generation in particular, while happy to be your friend, STILL like to spend most of their lives in the company of their fellow Poles. In fact some of them still speak very poor English, precisely because of that...and almost all revert to their native language when Brits are not present. I have noticed that you are likely to find that the young immigrants from the latest wave are keener to integrate than those who have been here a very long time, many since the second world war.

I have discussed the subject of fish stealing with a number of Polish friends, and they, bye and large, find the whole thing rather amusing. They all, to a man, tell me that this IS one of the cultural differences. Catching fish to obtain a free meal is a challenge many of the younger men relish. It's not a question of education, they are well aware that it is against the UK law. They just see it as a law that is far too easy to break in the UK, and consequently they almost always get away with it here....so why not? I, like many other anglers, have been approached when landing a big carp, and asked what I am going to do with it. When I have replied "put it back", that has very obviously been regarded as total madness...and I have been asked if I would give it to them to eat. That question has never been asked (of me or anyone I know) by a person who did not have a noticeable ethnic accent.

The fact is, they ARE an ethnic minority...and stay that way by choice. That term has nothing whatever to do with when they arrived here, or whether or not the were actually born here, and in no way do they, or I, consider that to be a derogatory term.

The whole point I was trying to make is that I, like most on here I would imagine, am a member of a club, and my club has numerous waters. The bailiffs in my club will tell you that the total number of poachers they deal with (especially those removing fish from the fishery to eat) includes a disproportionately large number of folk from ethic minorities, fact. Fact number two is that I could get into trouble for saying that, DESPITE the fact that it is true. And THAT is what I find wrong.

Finally, I may be guilty of many things, but stupidity is not one of my faults (or so my mum told me :D)...and to try to claim that ALL Polish people (or members of any other ethnic minority) are on a mission to steal fish would be very stupid indeed! But...it just seems that there is a significant minority who will.


I really don't see what is so difficult to understand in that.

Cheers, Dave.
 
A common sense post Dave thank you, I can confirm what Dave has said about the older Polish keeping to themselves as I have worked with many of them (most were DPs from WW2) they all without exception kept with their own race some even refusing to speak to other races even though they worked with them for many years.

I also agree that education is not the answer, the polish that steal/kill fish know they are breaking the law and imo the deterrent needed is not putting signs up in Polish as most visiting fisheries with the signs will be catch and release anglers, as I see it the deterrent should be harsh punishment, harsh enough to be a deterrent.

To much hand wringing is done in this country of ours about upsetting other races, well sorry in my book if you live in or were even born in that country you should abide by the laws of that country, no excuses.
 
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