NEWS

Stiff sentences for illegal fishers  

2 February 2010

A St Albans man was sentenced to six months imprisonment and fined $3,000 in the Colac Magistrates Court on Monday (February 1) after illegally taking abalone at Wongarra, 13 kilometres north east of Apollo Bay, in October last year. Colac Court Magistrate Ian Van Einem suspended the six months imprisonment of John Lee, 31, for two years.

Mr Lee had been previously convicted for abalone offences by the Geelong Magistrates Court in 2004. He was fined $2,000 and his car forfeited for possessing more than twice the legal limit and having undersized abalone. A second man, Tuyen Duc Nguyen, 39, of Meadow Heights had no previous convictions and was fined $3,000 with no imprisonment.

The men were convicted for taking abalone in a closed season, taking abalone after sunset, taking twice the catch limit, having undersize abalone, having illegal fishing equipment and taking molluscs from an intertidal zone.

The Magistrate said it was time the courts considered imprisonment for first offenders as the laws regarding abalone are well known. He told the men that if they came back before the courts again they would go to jail. Seized diving equipment was forfeited.

In an unassociated case, using commercial fishing equipment without authority has cost a 26 year old Lorne man $1,000 after he pleaded guilty in the Colac Magistrates Court on Monday (February 1). Senior Fisheries Officer Paul Millar said the man was caught with a rock lobster pot in the 12 Apostles National Marine Park in September last year.

Magistrate Ian Van Einem said he found it unusual that a Surf Lifesaving Club member could show so little regard for the environment by fishing in a Marine National Park. Outside the court, Mr Millar said the protection of our Marine National Parks is crucial and recreational fishers can not possess, let alone use, commercial fishing equipment. No conviction was recorded.

Anyone who sees or suspects illegal fishing activities should call the 24-hour reporting line 13 FISH (13 3474).

Further information on catch limits is available from the Department of Primary Industries Customer Service Centre on 131 186 or visit the DPI website www.dpi.vic.gov.au/fisheries

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