Anti-Social Behaviour

Just back from my 10 day holiday in Sligo/Donegal. I'll post a fuller report later, this is just a rant I want to get off my chest whilst it's still fresh in my mind.

Last Wednesday evening I fished a lovely mark towards the end of St John's Point, between the last sandy beach and the lighthouse. On arrival I didn't see any other cars but found a few guys fishing and pulling out the mack 2 or 3 at a time, so I tackled up accordingly and soon had 16 mack to keep ( for the BBQ and bait). I only stayed 30 mins or so and on my way back to the car I was shocked and dismayed at the mess left by these other anglers ( East Europeans) who had set up camp nearby. There were bottles and cans everywhere, used BBQ's, various other wrappings and worse of all masses of toilet paper and human waste all over the place ! Not even the tiniest effort had been made to be discreet. I realise that they were probably on a tight budget and that wild-camping is perhaps the best they can afford but it does not excuse this anti-social behaviour. I was not in Ireland long enough to fathom if there is an uneasy relationship between the Irish and their immigrant workers, but if they behave like this it is going to do a great deal of harm. I'll add that I also picked up a bag-full of rubbish ( line, wrappings etc) from the rocks where I was fishing.

Earlier in the day, accompanied by my wife, we climbed to the summit of Slieve League; the views over Donegal Bay were fantastic. More importantly, the thousands of visitors do not leave any rubbish or other trace of their passage apart from the erosion to the path, which is currently being improved with the placing of stone-flags.

Yes it's happening all too often in the well known marks. The gunwell in Killybegs is like a landfill dump with the mess strewn all over the rocks and the farmers field. Going to have to start taking number plates of cars to stop the few who might ruin it for all

Encountered a Gang of easteren Europeans at ardglass Co Down during the week rubbish strewn everywhere ,they deliberately crowded me and my young lad out ,made me feel really uncomfortable ended up heading somewhere else

I was a bit unsure about posting this thread for the obvious reasons of preconceived ideas, but it's the honest truth and as a mountaineer / angler and nature lover in general such blatant soiling of the country-side is totally unacceptable.

I witnessed same last season at st john pt, two from either bulg or romania, they must had been drinking since the evening before.
When them were about to leave, one of them dumped a bagful of empty cans + trash.
I pretended not knowing that it was a bagful of trash and told him that he had accidentally left behind his belonging.
He was quick to deny that the 'goodie bag' was his.
In his less than sober mood, no body would confront a trash like him, he drove away after must had been consumed 7-8 cans

I have had witnessed this behavior by local irish & asian too in other more common fishing spots but seeing someone doing this to a pristine location like st john pt, it just break your heart to go fishing in places like this anymore.

The only way to escape the idiots is buy a boat, but then again they will probably rob your engine!!!

Three weeks a go at Blackhead I brought the kids for an early "catch your breakfast" session at 7.30 am. We arrived to see about 8 lads from eastern europe fishing away. There were empty beer cans all around and slabs of beer ready to go. Beer and fishing seem to go together for these lads. Anyway they caught a seagull and I was surprised how gently they treated it as they freed it. I wanted to move over their direction to some flatter ground for the kids and I did this while they were looking after the gull. When they finished I and my two kids were standing in front of two of their rods and I was half expecting a few looks at least. Instead the two lads we had usurped just sat back to take in the view (and another beer) until we had finished. We caught a few macs for the pan and packed up. They seemed fine except for the litter issue. I went back on my own the next morning and the beer cans were gone. Whether they took them away themselves or others looked after it I'll never know.

it seems we all routinely pick up litter especially mono bundles from marks and there's no nationality or ethnicity attached!

All we can do is try to educate people as to what they should do, without endangering yourself. That said, if I saw someone drive off after drinking excessively I would have called the gardai, with no argument around it. Rubbish is a nuisance, recklessly endangering other road users is a serious criminal offence and simply disgraceful.

Most anglers I meet irrespective of their nationality are decent and courteous, often to a fault, sharing bait and the like... there's always a minority and some are Irish!

I made a return trip to exactly the same spot just over a week ago. Similar story s**** everywhere, cans, bottles, packets, line.................

No one else around though as the weather was pretty bad, I can't remember if it was ocassional showers or outbreaks of rain.

The subtle difference is something totally Irish and alien to me !

It seems good practice to leave a place better than it was, than before you arrived. I always end up putting stuff into a bag and taking it away with me. Seems like the right thing to do, as the best fishing marks rarely have bins. Same as closing gates and taking care when crossing fields etc...

Some very good marks up around the north have been lost due to this behaviour, the land owners have graciously allowed access over their land but now stop anglers due to these idiots.

A gang decided to camp overnight on Sunday night on the beautiful bay at muckross beach outside killybegs and when they left at 3.30pm they left a carrier bag with all their junk behind them along with a camping chair and even their broken tent all left on the pier grrrrr

I witnessed same last season at st john pt, two from either bulg or romania, they must had been drinking since the evening before.
When them were about to leave, one of them dumped a bagful of empty cans + trash.
I pretended not knowing that it was a bagful of trash and told him that he had accidentally left behind his belonging.
He was quick to deny that the 'goodie bag' was his.
In his less than sober mood, no body would confront a trash like him, he drove away after must had been consumed 7-8 cans

I have had witnessed this behavior by local irish & asian too in other more common fishing spots but seeing someone doing this to a pristine location like st john pt, it just break your heart to go fishing in places like this anymore.

Enough people getting killed on the roads...If he was drinking and drove off you should have taken the reg and called it into the guards...stop him killing someone or himself down the road!