St Kilda Boat Sales - Men facing charges over illegal haul
1 February 2011
Men facing charges over illegal haul
Three Melbourne men are facing charges after allegedly being caught with a huge haul of fish captured in an illegal net off Carrum.
Fisheries Officers intercepted two vehicles on the Nepean Highway in Carrum and Edithvale in the early hours of Monday morning. They found a total of 832 fish in both vehicles, 709 of them undersize. They included black bream, Australian salmon, yellow eye mullet, garfish and flounder.
It is alleged a 37-year-old man in one car had 219 assorted fish in a nylon bag. It’s claimed the two men in the second car, a 58-year-old and a 43-year-old had 613 fish and a 50 metre seine net which was seized by Fisheries Officers.
One of the cars was also seized but none of the fish could be returned to the water. This offence showed a blatant disregard for the marine environment. To have such a large quantity of undersize fish killed can be devastating to the sustainability of any ecosystem.
Nets such as the one are capable of catching everything from the sea floor to the surface, with no regard to size limits. The indiscriminate nature in which these illegal nets capture fish is proven by the numbers caught in the net on this occasion.
The three men will be charged on summons with using commercial fishing equipment without authority. Maximum penalties for this type of offence include fines of up to $10 000 and six months imprisonment. Anyone who sees or suspects illegal fishing activity is urged to call the 24 hour reporting line, 13-FISH (13 3474).