Confrontation over beauty spot fishing

POLICE have moved to calm tensions at a South Devon beauty spot where alleged rogue fishing gangs have been involved in fresh confrontations with locals.

- GUY HENDERSON Local Democracy Reporter

More than a quarter of a million people have watched a video posted online by Brixham fisherman Tristan Northway in which he confronts an alleged gang in the quarry at Berry Head.

Mr Northway accuses them of leaving rubbish and human excrement strewn across the quarry and intimidating local people who challenge them. He also accuses them of landing undersized mackerel and bass, and using banned fishing tackle to do so.

Gangs from outside the area have been flouting local regulations for years in places such as Berry Head and Torquay’s Hopes Nose, landing ‘commercial’ quantities of fish to be taken away and sold.