The magnetic relaxation of Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 + δ superconducting highly textured polycrystalline materials (fibres) grown by laser induced floating zone melting methods have been studied using ac susceptibility and de magnetisation techniques, Effective pinning energies, U e f f , have been derived for a wide range of current densities, J, and magnetic fields both parallel and perpendicular to the fibre axis. In agreement with the microstructure U e f f , (J)>U e f f , J and approximately follows for both orientations the phenomenology observed on single crystals for c-axis parallel fields. Near the irreversibility line U e f f is J independent, expressed as: U e f f (T,B)=U e f f (O K, 1 T)B - 0 . 5 (1 - T/T c ). Moreover, both U e f f , (J) and U e f f , (J) values are higher than analogous U e f f , c values on single crystals. Accordingly, for a given temperature the irreversibility line appears at larger fields, about ten times for fields perpendicular to the fibre axis and even higher in the parallel case. A careful analysis of the pinning energy distributions in fibres has been undertaken showing the presence of a high energy shoulder, absent in unirradiated single crystals.