A FISHERMAN who discovered a dead porpoise washed up on a bank of the River Usk is urging anglers to stop fishing with nets.

Gino Cook, 36, of Riverside, was fishing on the river near the lower Caerleon Road, Newport, when he found the porpoise.

“It looked to me like it had been caught up in some sort of net, which is my concern, because there is a lot of bruising on the tail,” he said.

“I think it was tangled in the net and drowned.

“I think it is a warning to any fisherman out there. If they are poaching they must not net the river because they are catching all sorts of mammals.”

Mr Cook, who fishes legally with a rod, explained he knew the sea mammal was dead when he saw it. It was not moving.

“The tide had brought it up and left it on the bank, the poor thing,” he said.

“The waters are changing lately and more wildlife ventures upstream.

“It is quite sentimental finding something on the river where I fish.

“To see a little animal like that which has gone through a lot of distress and lost its own life is terrible.”