Latest news about magnetfishing

Young people in particular arrange to go on treasure hunts with magnet fishing magnets in still or flowing waters with extremely strong magnets. But this was recently banned in Bavaria and can be punished with heavy fines.
“Whoever operates magnetic fishing without permission commits an administrative offense that can be punished with a fine of up to 50000 euros,” according to the official wording. Not so long ago, Ralf Hannemann from Neuburg also discovered this hobby for himself. Due to illness he could not exercise it however several months. By chance he learned about the ban. A magnet fisherman friend had posted a video film on the Internet, in which the pointed to this, for Hannemann new law.

“I had permission from the local fishing club to go searching with my magnets in their waters,” Hannemann explains. But that alone is no longer enough; a permit from the district office is also required. Hannemann also wanted to have this issued for a section of the Danube. The answer he received was detailed and extensive. In terms of content, the explanations were based on several paragraphs of the Water Resources Act (WHG). Disappointing for Hannemann was the concluding sentence. “However, we assume that your application will not be very promising,” it said.

Not comprehensible for Hannemann. He sees himself as a water cleaner and thus as an environmentalist who can no longer pursue his voluntary work in this way. “I have already pulled out a car carburetor that was still full of gasoline,” Hannemann says on the subject.

Schmitt
The responsible authority sees an impairment of the water quality as well as the existing flora and fauna by the introduction of a foreign body, i.e. magnet, into the water body and the bringing up of objects. This is also confirmed by Holger Reisch from the Burgheim angling club. He even goes one step further. “If magnets are pulled over the bottom in flowing waters during the spawning season, then they destroy the breeding nests of gravel spawners such as trout. ” In the specific case of the Danube, the highly endangered huchen or Danube salmon would also be affected. Hannemann is aware of these concerns. He asserts that he has always been considerate of such things. “Bringing in foreign bodies that stir up the bottom is what the fishers do with their wooden poles, too,” Hannemann cites with slight irony.