A 'RACIST' fishery that bans Polish and 'Eastern Bloc' anglers has sparked an angry campaign which hopes to take legal action against the owner.

More than £10,000 has been raised so far after a crowdfunding page was inundated with donations when it called for change over the 'disturbing and discriminatory sign' outside Field Farm Fisheries in Launton, Bicester.

Polish fisherman Rado Papiewski set up the fundraising page this month to cover legal costs for a case against the fishery and it has since totted up £10,020.

He said: "Recently I came across a very disturbing and discriminatory sign that said 'No Polish or Eastern Bloc Fishermen Allowed'.

"The sign was displayed at the private fishery, which made many fellow law-abiding migrant anglers and me very upset and angry."

Mr Papiewski runs a project called ‘Building Bridges’ which aims to integrate fishing communities from continental Europe with local anglers in England.

He said: "I am absolutely amazed with a response we had so far and this illustrates to me that people do not wish to see such a disturbing messages in the 21 century.

"There are other means of dealing with issues related to fishery crime and part of my job is to give advice and help fisheries about what they can do.

He added: "I believe this sign is very discriminatory to all migrant anglers who live and fish in this country.

"I felt that I needed to take some action - and I promised anglers that I will do everything I can to have it removed."

Mr Papiewski has called for the sign to be removed but says the fishery has ignored his requests.

Fishery owner Billy Evans previously said he had put up the sign to stop people stealing stock from his four-acre lake.

In 2009 he said to the Oxford Mail he put up the 'keep out' sign after catching at least 10 Eastern European anglers stealing carp.

Although it is legal to catch fish with a rod licence in the UK, anglers must return their catches alive unless local by-laws state otherwise.

Field Farm Fisheries were contacted for comment but did not reply.

Previously Mr Evans said the final straw happened when he caught three foreign fisherman with three plastic bags full of 20 or 30 dead fish.

He estimated hundreds of the fish – the biggest of which can be worth up to £5,000 – have been taken.

Oxford Polish Association chairwoman Ewa Gluza added:"There is always two sides to every situation.

"But you cannot ban any particular fisherman because that is racist.

"If people have been stealing fish then the owner needs to contact police to investigate and penalise them individually for fishing illegally whether they are English, Polish, Russian or whatever.

"To simply ban anyone because of their nationality is not nice, a sign like this is racist."

Mr Papiewski said he had been in touch with police and the Equality and Human Rights Commission but the sign had not been taken down.

Thames Valley Police said the sign was reported to the force in April this year but as it falls under the Equality Act and not a criminal case it was forwarded over to The Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Commission has said it will be writing to Field Farm Fisheries this week to demand the 'unlawful sign' be removed or it will look at other enforcement powers.

A spokeswoman added: "This type of sign should be a thing of the past.

"Banning people from services based on their race or nationality is discrimination and unlawful.

"It is right to challenge such out of date practices and any business that believes this is acceptable should think again before they find themselves facing legal action."