Monkstown Wall- Problems!

There have been complaints from local and national politicians to the litter wardens office about the way that Monkstown wall is being left by anglers. Complaints had been received that papers, bait, fishing line and hooks had been left lying around on the footpath. He would like to get some action from us in this matter. If anglers, and I must say at this point and I did say that not all anglers are members, don’t clean up after them we run a very serious risk of losing the facility. There have been litter bins erected in the area, so use them, or take your litter home. I would ask all members to politely show example to others and explain just how fragile our tenure there is.
Tim O Driscoll.
Pollution/ Conservation Officer.
Munster Provincial Council.
Irish Federation of Sea Anglers

This also applies to Cobh. I'm a member of Cobh Tourism and this issue has come up in the past. Some councillors have reported to me that it has come at Cobh Town Council meetings. There is a danger that the quays along the waterfront and particularly the five foot way may become out of bounds for angling!

sad to see that this has become an issue,and this could happen at any mark in the country,so i think that it is down to us to make sure we all bring home our litter,or dispose of it carefully,and to clean up rubbish,especially angler related rubbish,to help protect our sport from being banned from certian areas.

Again think its a shame that the minority and i would like to believe its only a handful of people can really be so pure lazy and totally ignorant to this on-going problem,which seems to have reared its ugly head on numerous occasions on this forum the last couple of weeks and also seems to be an issue i wonder will we ever see as a problem of the past How hard is it to put your rubbish into a bin at your mark or at home.And yes this is an issue nationwide.I was shocked beyond belief last night when i decided to hit Balscaddin rocks in Howth a mark i usually avoid with disgust , when i got to high rock it was absolutely spotless not a cigarette but in sight The place had been blitzed by the council i,m assuming and actually looked like a mark i had never fished before.Which led me to the theory that if nobody is fishing this mark in winter which i wouldnt recommend at this time of year anyway, then come march /april when the mack bashers /seasonal anglers return this problem slowly returns to its former dispicable, embarrasing state and most serious point of all dangerous(discarded line ,rigs and feathers etc etc)I genuinely feel that its just a case of banging our heads against the wall unfortunately.Until the government ,Councils, local authories etc wake up and get extreme and start making examples of these empty heads ,hit them where it hurts ,Their pockets mininmum of 500 euros 1st offence it might not eradicate this disease of society that is litter but it will definitely help make the culprits look left and right before the thoughtless act.Laws and rules are there but sadly some people don,t play or live by these.Rant over

I was down there Sunday morning for a stroll with the kids (I wasnt fishing) and i have to admitt that it was something i noticed. There seemed to be a lot of rig bags and general tackle packaging around so i can understand where the above is coming from.It really does look horrible when there are tackle rubbish left about, afterall it is a busy walk.
Its such a pity cos there must have been more than 30 people fishing along the wall and another few on the pier and no doubt most are very concious of their rubbish and waste but it only takes 1 individual to make a mess and we are all branded with the same brush.

This is something that really disgusts me and the idiots involved that make the mess and leave their rubbish everywhere around the country are giving all of us decent anglers who do keep the place tidy and clean up after them a bad name!
We are the ones who are going to suffer for such laziness and bad behaviour because if this continues then the local councils/tourist bodies in the areas where this is occuring may decide to close off areas/piers meaning we will no longer have access to them to fish!
I have seen this so many times in places where I have been fishing and I have lost count of the number of times I have came away with a bag full of rubbish, fishing line, old hooks, even old bait that has been just left lying.
Everyone dispose of your rubbish, bring a bag down with you when you go fishing and put your rubbish in it and take it away with you and put it in the nearest bin that you can find.
Let's not give people the opportunity to bad mouth us anglers for the sake of a small number of mindless people's actions

I fished monkstown very few times this winter but the times i was there i noticed the problem. By the looks and sounds of alot of the anglers down there i think they are no more than mack bashers in a different season. I've been asked for electrical tape to stick a rod back together so they could carry on hammering 6" whiting and codling, i was asked for bait as they only had feathers and were not catching, a knife to cut up supermarket packaged cooked peeled prawns and saw a good few people filling bags with 6/8 inch whiting and cod. I Don't think you'll find too many of those types on this site. I hope not anyway. It's a good idea to mention the problem but alot harder to fix it. Especially in an easy access area like this where any ejit with a rod and reel can park up, drop a line along with their rubbish and go on their way again with a pocket full of pin whiting leaving the sport get a bad name.

tazdogue mentioned he saw a lot of "rig bags and general tackle packaging" thrown round which leads me to think its not anglers makin the mess but lads with rods tryin to get a feed(there is a difference).
none of the anglers i know use shop bought rigs and wouldnt have too much tackle packaging in their boxes. most guys have their stuff set up so when they arrive at the mark, its put the rod together, on with the reel, a baited trace and out it goes.

the only things i have with me when fishing that need to be dumped are bags from squid and razor and a bit of newspaper from lug and rag,(and maybe a choccy bar wrapper) which isnt too hard to get rid of.

its bad enough that these lads are taking bags of pin whiting and tiny cod home for their dinners, but the sooner they realise that their rubbish and mess is gonna put a stop to that the better. then we can start worrying about the scandalous amount of small fish their killing again.

stuff like this really pi$$es me off

stuff like this really pi$$es me off

Me too!

not a good thing to hear of, perhaps the local council/clubs could financially assist in the production of signs to be put up at the mark in relation to the matter. Use it as an example across the area?

I was fishing Green Park in Youghal last night - I got there quite late after everybody else left - the place was a disgrace, empty beer cans, bait wrappers, bags, old tea towels etc.
The beer cans indicates it was more the mack basher out to fill a bag with tiny fish than any serious anglers. But unfortunately the general public dont differentiate between them.

not a good thing to hear of, perhaps the local council/clubs could financially assist in the production of signs to be put up at the mark in relation to the matter. Use it as an example across the area?

Peope know they're not meant to be throwing rubbish around the place so i doubt a sign would make a difference. I'm guilty of leaveing rubbish at this mark once, i'd feed bad if i didn't confess. It was a brand new scales given to me as a christmas prezzie and i left it behind me at the wall. I don't think in should be up to the clubs to deal with signage but if someone was to go about it, i'm a sign maker and i'd be happy to donate two or three correx signs if anyone thought it would make a differance.

It was a brand new scales given to me as a christmas prezzie and i left it behind me at the wall.

i'm a sign maker and i'd be happy to donate two or three correx signs if anyone thought it would make a differance.

pity about the scales, im sure the lad who found it put it to good use on his pin whiting

as for the signs, if your kind enough to make them up, then fair play to you. im sure they wouldnt do any harm. wether they would make a difference, im not sure.
im not being smart here but signs like that would need English AND Polish on them. a lot of the "no fishing" signs on rivers have both. no excuses then if anyone is caught.

i fish monkstown regurly and the place at times can be like a dump..i often find line, old bait and even hooks along the path. lots of prople walk, walk there dogs and run along here.. its only going to be a matter of time before a dog stands on a hook or even picks one up in his mouth because a lot of the time there is still bait on the hooks. there is no excuse for this as there are bins along the wall.

and yes i do think a few signs would help!

i'm a sign maker and i'd be happy to donate two or three correx signs if anyone thought it would make a differance.

lads this is a very generous offer from evan,is there anyone out there that would commit to placing the signs on the pier? This would let the council know that serious anglers are as concerned with rubbish,as everyone else.The suggestion of the signs written in both english and polish or possibally russian,(as all the east europeans understand russian) is a good one.

heres a translation from english to polish.

Anglers,protect your sport,please remove your litter when you leave.

Anglers,bronia waszego sportywny,sprawiac przyjemnosc wasz zasmiecaja kiedy wy pozosta wiacie.

Putting up signs would be a form of littering and would leave that person open to prosecution

To put up any form of a notice in a public area requires planning permission from the relevant Local Authority

dats all the polish

Putting up signs would be a form of littering and would leave that person open to prosecution

To put up any form of a notice in a public area requires planning permission from the relevant Local Authority

I'm aware of this. I didn't offer to put the signs up but if there was permission to do so i'd be willing to help out by making them. I don't want to get involved but i would just like to offer a helping hand if anyone was willing to take it up with local council or whatever way you would go about it. I am not willing to get involved in erecting the signs or anything further than handing them over to someone else. Also to reply to the above comment. I fished the pier a few times and saw a few polish lads laughing at irish lads for the minute size of the fish they were keeping for the pot. The polish lads released everything and left the mark as tidy as it was when they arrived.

heres a translation from english to polish.

Anglers,protect your sport,please remove your litter when you leave.

Anglers,bronia waszego sportywny,sprawiac przyjemnosc wasz zasmiecaja kiedy wy pozosta wiacie.

What can i say doggie you cease to amaze me ,your language skills are impecable

dats all the polish

Unfortunately you cant point the finger at a foreign minority,as the litter problem has been here long before the influx of multinationals.

Lads the signs are a great idea ,But as Dom highlighted it is a litter offence and you need permission.But i feel if you were genuinely thinking of going down this route and wanted to commit then the answer probably lies in the opening post by Jd theres all the details you need and probably the right person to be contacting.Just my view