Commercial fishing licence for Scarborough rock lobster will be suspended for the rest of the current season after the State Administrative Tribunal upheld a decision by the Department of Fisheries WA. In a case Peter Prideaux’s licence has been suspended until 31 August 2012. In February 2008, Prideaux was convicted of interfering with another fisher’s lobster pots off Lancelin in 2006. He was fined $2,500.
Bruno Mezzatesta, Department of Fisheries’ Executive Director of Regional Services, said that the suspension was aimed at helping maintain professional standards in the industry. He told that this is not an issue of sustainability so it would affect other commercial fishers also. He said that this kind of offence lead to distrust and disrespect between commercial fishers and are detrimental to the credibility of, and harmony within, the industry.
He said that the Department of Fisheries must ensure orderly conduct of Western Australia’s commercial fisheries. But this decision upholds the department’s power to maintain standards of discipline in the industry. Mezzatesta said the vast majority of fishers acted responsibly and adhered to the State’s fishing rules. He confirmed the Department of Fisheries would continue to be vigilant in upholding the rules that regulate the operation of the commercial fishing industry.
