Illegal fishers and buyers beware - sale of seafood by unlicenced fishers

[mrsswordfisherman]

Illegal fishers and buyers beware

 

5 Jun 2019

 

A man suspected of illegally selling fish taken without a commercial authority on the far south coast has been apprehended by fisheries officers following a surveillance operation by the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ (NSWDPI) Statewide Operations & Investigations Group.

NSWDPI Fisheries Director of Fisheries Compliance, Patrick Tully said the 48-year-old man from Bruce, ACT, was under surveillance in the Batemans Bay area and was observed allegedly exchanging fish for a quantity of cash at Hanging Rock boat ramp.

“Any person convicted of such an offence could face a maximum penalty of $110,000 for taking fish for sale when not the holder of a commercial fishing licence,” Mr Tully said.

NSW Food Authority CEO Dr Lisa Szabo said rules and regulations regarding the illegal sales of fish are in place for a reason.

“The illegal sale of seafood by unlicensed fishers not only poses a health risk to consumers, it also threatens the reputation of the legitimate NSW seafood industry who invest vast amounts of time and money to produce a safe product,” Dr Szabo said.

In another incident near Batemans Bay, fisheries officers in an operation targeting illegal lobster fishing apprehended a 37-year-old local man found in possession of 11 Eastern Rock lobsters, one of which was prohibited size, after diving at Garden Bay in Malua Bay.

“The daily bag limit and possession limit for Eastern Rock Lobster is two, these limits are to stop unlicensed fishers from accumulating large quantities of these high value species so they don’t end up on the black market and threaten the livelihood of licensed operators,” Mr Tully said.

“The man is expected to be issued with a court attendance notice where he could face maximum penalties of $66,000 in fines or 12 months in prison, or both.

DPI Fisheries also monitors illegal seafood sales of fish on social media.

“While many legitimate seafood businesses use social media to market their products, consumers should make sure they don’t buy fish from illegal, backyard operators, who are easy to spot,” Mr Tully said.

“Fisheries officers have recently prepared two offence briefs relating to illegal sales online and it is planned that the sellers will be issued court attendance notices."

Anyone suspecting illegal fishing activity should report it to the Fishers Watch phone line on 1800 043 536 or via the free FishSmart NSW app available from the App Store or Google Play. People can also report online at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/compliance.

 

https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/releases/2019/illegal-fishers-and-buyers-beware

[kingie chaser]

If your aware of the penalties why would you even contemplate such an act??

Especially for a few bream!

They should throw the book at them for sure !

 

There is no excuse but personally I think there needs to be more media advertisement thrown at this type of activity on main stream TV time slots!

 

The fines for even minor fishing offences way exceeds that of traffic infringement but why not the same kind of general public media programs with fishing & boating like there is with motor vehicle offences????

 

You see adds all the time on TV about speeding, drink driving etc but nothing about fishing that I know of??

 

Maybe the lack of media publicity is linked to fine quotas??

Just saying 😕

 

[Tunastrike11]

Unfortunately this type of thing happens alot i know of a couple of guys who do the wrong thing and have also been caught before.

[Green Hornet]

1 hour ago, Tunastrike11 said:

Unfortunately this type of thing happens alot i know of a couple of guys who do the wrong thing and have also been caught before.

Same here and complaints have fallen on deaf ears. The penalties don’t come close to profits these guys are reaping (raping), along with the commercial enterprises that support them.

[61 crusher]

Hopefully with the recent recruitment for positions by fisheries for (surveillance for nocturnal & twilight operations) the undersized & over possession take of certain fisher people will dwindle, unfortunately courts don’t seem to take many of the undersized & illegal activities seriously unless blatantly abusing & just give slap on the wrist fines 

What @kingie chasersaid about using the media & educating people might help curtail the majority but there will always be some who don’t give a damn & continue to flaunt the regulations 

Edited October 31, 2021 by 61 crusher