East European anglers risking life to get a bite

http://www.independent.ie/national-news ... ml?start=1

By Michael Brennan Political Correspondent

Monday August 10 2009

THESE eastern European fishermen are oblivious to the danger they're in. The fishing party is perched dangerously on an outcrop of rocks as the waves crash around them.

Another group is positioned above the first group, fishing from the top of a sloping cliff in Kilkee in Co Clare - with just a gust of wind required to send them toppling into the sea 150 feet below.

Both groups were spotted by Kilkee Coast Guard unit, who were on a training mission along the coast last week.

"The Coast Guard Unit intervened with the fishermen, warning them of the dangers of their location and advised them to move back from the edge of the cliffs to a safer location," a spokeswoman said.

The initial fishing position of the men was described by the Irish Coastguard service afterwards as "absolute insanity". It comes as the Coastguard service is warning that an average of two eastern European fishermen are drowning here every year due to their lack of knowledge about the dangers of the Atlantic.

Last month, Polish-born Piotr Latek (40) was drowned alongside his 13-year-old son Matteus after falling into the sea during a fishing trip to Castletownbere in west Cork. Irish Coastguard director Chris Reynolds said there was a major difference between fishing in the Atlantic Ocean and the Baltics.

"There's very little tide in the Baltics. If you pick a rock and go to fish on a rock, in three or four hours time, the water level won't have moved much around that rock. That rock is safe for you. If you do that in Ireland, even half an hour later, that rock is isolated and cut off and you get caught out," he said.

Mr Reynolds said another issue was the lack of local knowledge among eastern Europeans.

"If they'd spoken to locals, they would say not to fish there, it's too dangerous. They're actually fishing over a sewage outlet. Fish love sewage. You are eating what they are digesting," he said.

- Michael Brennan Political Correspondent

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First pic is bad enough, but the second one is just crazy. Someone looking for a Darwin award there.
I wonder if these guys read Sea Angler - some of the pics of Henry Gilbey and mates fishing are ridiculous, fishing off rocks with waves crashing around them. Not exactly leading by example...

iv seen some stupid things but those idiots really make me sick.having to get a coastguard to tell them the danger there in
and probley had to take risks himself just to tell them .this sort of stupidity should carry a penalty no wonder so many end
up drowned or injured

Idiots that's all i can say

Idiots...that desperate for a meal.

i gurantee none of them go hungry

holy good god are they insane. first pic is hairy enough, but the muppets in the second pic should be sectioned to a mental ward. not to mention the brave volunteers who would have to put their own lives at risk to save them when the inevitable happens and they need rescued. utter madness

A couple of posts that could easily offend have been removed. Please keep you comments on topic and please be mindful of what might offend or even be considered Racist. Any blatant abusive or Racist comments will be met with an immediate 2 week ban.

First pic is bad enough, but the second one is just crazy. Someone looking for a Darwin award there.
I wonder if these guys read Sea Angler - some of the pics of Henry Gilbey and mates fishing are ridiculous, fishing off rocks with waves crashing around them. Not exactly leading by example...

I kind of agree, Although having said that a Lot of Henrys pictures are taken from a low angle and use the splash of the waves to give that "wild" appearance. The guys are quite safe and at times are only up to their shins on a shallow beach. I doubt that the community concerned buy sea angler anyway. I think it was only a matter of time before those guys on the rocks were swept off..... We should be very glad the coastguard were on a training trip.

A couple of posts that could easily offend have been removed. Please keep you comments on topic and please be mindful of what might offend or even be considered Racist. Any blatant abusive or Racist comments will be met with an immediate 2 week ban.

couldnt agree more,salt of the earth these people,all of them,eco friendly,environmentally aware and really mindful of their fellow anglers,truly a joy to fish alongside

Glad you agree.

Lads,

Regardless of where the people come from in the pictures above, the fact remains, they are total gobsh1tes.

How can you look at that and think it's safe to fish?

WOW i have never seen craziness like that before, although i remember a henry gilbey show where he fishes with feathers from that height maybe even that spot as i think he was in ireland but he had a local with him so isuppose he wasnt setting a bad example but wow, and they probablt f**ked the coast guard out of it too

a small bit of common sense goes a long way when fishing,i do a lot of rock fishing but would never dream of fishing from that height and i make sure that any rock i fish cant get surrounded by the tide,simple things that could save a life

a lot of praise has to be given to the coast guard and rnli crews that have to risk their own life's trying to rescue fools that fish spots like in the photos

Lads, please. I've just deleted a post and sent the poster on a 2 week holiday. Can we confine the discussion to the dangers and stupidity of anglers, NOT to their nationality?

Or else it gets locked.

a lot of it is people who have not growing up near the sea or have fish an area once and there was a an easterly wind blowing and they were on the west coast when there was no swell wind in their face ect...

there is no excuse for that level of stupidity it shouldent matter where you grew up to stay safe and know whats right and whats just downright insane just yesterday about 2 miles out past irelands eye i passed 1 such person in a b_
square rib from lidl the tide was coming so a good swell if this wasent bad enough there in the boat his wife and a small child they had lifejackets on but the boat was tiny they were still there when we came in 5 hrs later these boats are not designed for this sort of use and all the different currents out there a recipe for disaster i think the boat in question is a2
man one he had a small outboard on the back plus 3 rods i hate to smell them coming in they must have been landing mackeral on each other all day

Two posts deleted for being off-topic.

guys you wont believe this the guy. and his wife and child in the rib i mentioned above they were resued once already by the coastguard in howth and brought in from a force 6 with large swell between irelands eye and lambay on 2nd aug its in the coast guard report they were told the boat was not suitable for fishing they also had no means of communication as they could not get signal on there mobile .there out there every day im sure anyone fishing howth have seen them
this is just as bad as the picture above they have shown the rescue service total disregard and disrespect by going back out in this toy as i cant desribe a two mt rib as a fishing boat

just back from kerry ,a local told me about 3 weeks ago a polish guy and his son were fishing where no locals dared to and they were taken by a swell ,the father was found the next day ,the son a week later.sad story