Big abalone busts in Vic
Men caught with hundreds of poached abaloneFisheries Officers and police are proving to be a formidable obstacle to would-be abalone thieves targeting Port Phillip Bay.
Over the past week six men have been apprehended and are facing serious charges after allegedly being caught with hundreds of abalone in three separate incidents.
In the first, water police patrolling Port Phillip Bay on jet skis near Point Ormond last Friday intercepted a 40-year-old Norlane man while he was scuba diving and seized a large catch-bag of abalone.
Fisheries Officers called to the scene inspected the catch-bag and allegedly found a total of 312 abalone shucked meats.
Central Victorian waters were closed for the taking of abalone that day and the man held no licence, permit or authority to possess a commercial quantity of abalone.
A van, registered in his name, was located in a car park adjacent to where he was found diving and this was also seized.
Fisheries Officers went to the man's Norlane property and found another 197 abalone meats that were packaged in twelve individual bags.
He will be charged on summons with offences including possessing and trafficking in a commercial quantity of abalone.
On Tuesday (Jan 14) four men, whose ages range from 37 to 52, were found to be in possession of 264 abalone, 166 of them undersized, when they were caught in the Jawbone Marine Park at Williamstown.
The legal limit is five abalone per person on open days, but all the incidents occurred on closed days.
An hour earlier a 29-year-old Craigieburn man was caught with 109 abalone (64 of them undersize), at Black Rock. His diving equipment was seized.
All of the men will be charged on summons with indictable offences that can mean as much as ten years' jail.
Fisheries Victoria's Director of Education and Enforcement, Ian Parks said all the operations were a fantastic collaborative effort from the Melbourne Water Police, Fisheries Officers and investigators from the Fisheries Victoria State-wide Investigations Group.
Anybody who see or suspects illegal fishing activity is urged to call the 24 hour fisheries offence reporting line 13 FISH (13 3474).
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