A seasoned angler yesterday lost his appeal against his conviction for fishing illegally in the river Blackwater after a judge ruled that he was not entitled to fish on the river as he was not a member of an angling club with exclusive rights to that particular fishery.
Michael O'Shea, a former Waterford Crystal glass cutter from Ballycoe, Dungarvan, Co Waterford, had been fined €50 when he was convicted at Cappoquin District Court in February 2005 of fishing illegally on the Blackwater at Kilbree, Cappoquin, on July 5th, 2003.
The appeal heard that Mr O'Shea had been fishing when he was approached by Gerard Varley, a water keeper with Cappoquin Salmon and Trout Anglers Association (CSTAA) and asked if he had a day permit. Mr O'Shea told Mr Varley that he had the permission of the owner. Mr Varley asked him if he had such permission in writing. He replied that he had not and Mr Varley told him it was an offence to continue fishing.
The CSTAA brought the prosecution against Mr O'Shea on the basis that it had the sole rights to the fishery at Kilbree on foot on a lease agreement with the Duke of Devonshire's company Lismore Estates, which had fishing rights on that section of the Blackwater.
Yesterday at Waterford Circuit Court, Mr O'Shea said he had fished that stretch of the river for the past 30 years and for the previous 14 or 15 years had the permission of the landowners, a Mr Doocey and Patrick Keane, to fish the river at Kilbree.
He said he had been a founder member of the CSTAA in 1991 but in 1999 it had introduced a new constitution where only those living in Cappoquin were given full membership and others were offered associate membership but at three times the rate and without any voting rights.
Cross-examined by the barrister for the CSTAA, Michael Delaney, Mr O'Shea said he could not say if Mr Doocey owned the fishery.
Another landowner, Patrick Keane, produced a 1906 deed from the Land Commission which showed his great-grandmother had been given the land and sporting rights to it when it was transferred to her from the Gumbleton estate.
However, Mr Delaney produced an affidavit found in the Land Commission archives by Lismore Estate's agent, Michael Pennruddock, governing the transfer of land in 1906 which showed that while Mrs Keane obtained sporting rights, fishing rights were reserved to Lismore Estate.
Judge Olive Buttimer upheld Mr O'Shea's conviction but made no order as to costs.