ILLEGAL fishing in the Erme estuary has netted a local charity a prize haul of cash. Devon Air Ambulance Trust have received a donation of £792.38 from Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority. The money came from the sale of fish caught in a large gill net, found by two off duty Royal Marines who were fishing in the estuary. Matthew Mander, deputy chief officer of D&SIFCA, said: 'Earlier that morning we had been patrolling near Plymouth, and we were just recovering the boat when we got the call. 'We went round and found nets on the rocks with a large quantity of fish in them. Luckily, as they were so fresh, we were able to sell them with the help of Brixham Trawler Agents. 'The two marines managed to release some of the gilt head bream and bass, but were not able to save all the fish before they died. 'We ended up with more than 600 kg of mullet – big fish too. The gamekeepers from the Flete Estate were really helpful, so to reflect their efforts in helping us deal with this situation, we decided to give the funds to their chosen charity – the Devon Air Ambul-ance.' Heléna Holt from DAAT said: 'This fantastic donation came from the sale of the mullet seized from an illegal net, found at the mouth of the River Erme in South Devon. 'We would like to thank everyone concerned for their support of the charity.' Mr Mander added: 'Sometimes nets are weighed down with stones or weights, or hooked on rocks to make it look like they've been caught accidentally. However, the law is that nets like this have to be manned, you can't just leave them. 'We have an out of office number that people can ring if they think that something illegal is going on. So if they see anything suspicious, we'd encourage them to give us a call.' The out of office number is 07740 175479.