A recreational fisher in Hervey Bay has been fined $5,000 and ordered to pay restitution after admitting to interfering with commercial crab pots and illegally selling mud crabs.
Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries, Mark Furner said the man was caught after patrol officers from Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol began investigating reports of people interfering with commercial crab apparatus.
“The officers intercepted the man’s boat on the Mary River and found five mud crabs on board,” Mr Furner said.
“The man admitted they were unlawfully taken from five commercial crab pots and an investigation revealed that commercial crab pots possessed by the man were removed from the Mary River unlawfully.”
Mr Furner said the Maryborough Magistrates Court also ordered the man to pay $560 in restitution to the commercial fisher for the loss of his catch and pots.
In a second case, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officers intercepted two fishers in Moreton Bay after a tip-off from the public.
Member for Redlands, Kim Richards said the pair were found on the mud banks near Jacobs Well on the northern Gold Coast collecting molluscs.
“Our officers seized five shopping bags containing molluscs,” Ms Richards said.
“In total the bags contained 1,476 bivalve molluscs which was 1,326 over the legal amount.”
Mr Furner said one man, who had a history of similar offences, was fined $10,000 in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court, while his companion was fined $4,500.
“Gastropods and bivalve mollusc species are highly susceptible to depletion because they remain in one place and can be easily accessed in fishing grounds close to urban centres,” Mr Furner said.
“We make no apologies for being tough on illegal fishing,” he said.
“This is what it takes to build a legacy of a sustainable fishery for our children and grandchildren,” he said.
