Illegal net fishers sprung with 180kg of catch

Victorian Fisheries Authority officers on a night patrol of the Werribee River will allege they saw the boat the men were on using a trammel net – a layered mesh net that tangles fish up in pockets – and operating the boat without showing lights.

VFA education and enforcement director Ian Parks said officers intercepted the boat as it was retrieved from the water.

On board, the officers will allege they found 480 bream, seven estuary perch and a single flounder that had been hauled aboard.

“The haul of fish weighed about 180kg and was located by officers in two large fish bins throughout the floor of the boat along with six trammel nets that measured between 24 and 102 metres,” Parks said.

“Officers seized the vehicle, boat, trailer, fish, nets and all fishing equipment.

“The four people involved will appear in court to face offences including using and possessing a prohibited trammel net to take fish, exceeding the daily catch limit, possessing undersized fish as well as a range of safety offences,” he said.

“Mesh nets, including trammel nets, are prohibited equipment and cannot be used in any Victorian waters.”

The minimum legal size for bream in Victoria is 28cm, while the maximum size of 38cm is enforced for black bream in the Gippsland Lakes system to protect stocks of larger breeding fish. The bag limit is capped at 10 fish.

The minimum legal size for estuary perch, which includes Australian bass, is 27cm, with the bag limit capped at five fish with no more than two allowed to be Australian bass. The Lake Bullen Merri impoundment allows up to five fish with no restriction on the number of Australian bass.

Flounder, meanwhile, have a bag limit of 20 fish with a minimum legal size of 23cm.