Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said in a statement that in a state-wide operation on illegal fishing activity many illegal fishers are chalked out. He said that the results of this operation reveal that all fishers are not obeying fishing laws. He also said that more than 4,600 fishers were checked by fisheries officers over the Easter long weekend.
Minister Macdonald opined that 249 infringement notices were issued for a range of offences including failing to hold a recreational fishing license, illegal use of fishing gear and offences associated with bag and size limits. Some fisheries officers seizes 870 molluscs on the North Coast and 85 abalone on the South Coast for being either undersized or exceeding the bag limit.
According to him it is disappointing that a significant number of people are completely disregard the hard work that is going into sustaining our fisheries resources. He added that most of these laws have been in place for many years. It is no denying fact that illegal fishing threatens valuable fish stocks, undermines licensed commercial fishers, sustainable recreational fishing and the regional economies they support.
