A MAN was given 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay costs of £200 for fishing without a licence.

Gavin Cook, of Hylton Castle, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to fishing with a net in the River Wear, contrary to the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Sunderland Magistrates' Court heard that, on August 1, bailiffs saw Cook set a net. They informed senior fisheries inspector Kevin Summerson.

Cook was taken to Gill Bridge police station, where he admitted setting the net for salmon or migratory trout