6000 oysters seized in Botany Bay crackdowns

The latest seizure came after NSW Department of Primary Industries officers allegedly caught a Castle Hill man with 2903 oysters harvested from the Georges River.

The legal possession limit for oysters in NSW is a daily limit of 50.

Authorities also penalised a woman accompanying the man who fisheries officers allege had taken 352 oysters from the Georges River.

The woman was issued with $1200 in fines while the department said the man would face court on charges of taking fish from closed waters, exceeding possession limits and failing to pay the recreational fishing fee.

The two most recent offences follow on from another on October 6 where a man and woman were each issued with $1900 fines for being in possession of 294 oysters taken from Oyster Bay on the banks of the Georges River, and a November 17 incident where a Cabramatta woman was found at Kurnell with 474 oysters and 241 whelks - a type of sea snail - from the Towra Point Aquatic Reserve.

The woman was fined $1500.

Under NSW legislation Botany Bay and its tributaries, including the Georges River, is closed to taking oysters.

The ban on taking shellfish from the Georges River is a particularly important one, with a history of high historical industrial pollutants in the area.

The bans are also in place to preserve fish stocks at places including the Towra Point Aquatic Reserve, which protects one of the largest and most diverse wetland complexes remaining in the Sydney region.