$4000 abalone
Submitted by bod on Tue, 2009-11-17 11:34
This week's Cambridge Post reports that a Mt Claremont man must pay more than $4000 after being caught with more than four times the permitted amount of abalone. The man was approached by Department of Fisheries officers at Mettams Pool in Trigg in November last year. He tipped his bag of abalone on to a rock - the officers counted 90. The bag limit is 20 per day per fisher.
nodforce
Posts: 34
Date Joined: 17/10/09
LOSER
Well done Dept of Fisheries
Shame on you Mt Claremont man
Ganged
Posts: 410
Date Joined: 16/02/09
Fine should be more.
Fine should be more.
Still learning
Riaz
gregk
Posts: 169
Date Joined: 03/02/09
more
it shoud be a grand per ab sting them
Matt T
Posts: 875
Date Joined: 19/11/07
Jail
Jail time is the only way to deal with them. With fines they either have pleanty of cash and $4K is nothing or they are on centrelink and they get to pay it back at $2 a fortnight for the next however many years.
If it was jail for first offence then they would really think twice wouldn't they.
bod
Posts: 2321
Date Joined: 03/05/06
abalone fine
Dr Cai Heng Li is a highly acclaimed Professor of Mathematics at UWA - he can count and he can read.
From the Fisheries website
Big fine provides timely warning as abalone season approaches
Date: Sunday, 25 October 2009Cai Heng Li of Mount Claremont, who did not attend court, was found guilty of having more than the possession limit of abalone when he was apprehended by Fisheries and Marine Officers in November last year.
At 7.55am on Sunday 2 November 2008, Mr Li was observed coming ashore with a member of his family at Mettams Pool in Trigg.
By the time the officers had approached him, the contents of a bag he was carrying were tipped out onto a rock.
Fisheries officers counted a total of 90 Roe’s abalone.
The offender was fined $2,500 for the offence, plus a mandatory penalty of $1,500 based on the catch in excess of the possession limit and costs of $119.20.
North Metro Compliance Manager for the Department of Fisheries Todd A’Vard said that when Mr Li was questioned he had told the officers he was going to count what he had – keep 40 for himself and his family member – and put the excess back.
“This is not acceptable,” said Mr A’Vard, “because, once abalone are levered from the reef they are on and removed, they rarely survive if they are thrown back.
“You cannot fish for someone else’s bag limit, which is 20 per day, per fisher. It is an offence to bring more than your bag limit ashore.
“A possession limit of 20 Roe’s and 10 greenlip/brownlip abalone (combined) applies everywhere except in your permanent place of residence, where the limits are then 80 and 20 respectively.”
Mr A’Vard said Friday’s big fine was a timely warning for all abalone fishers, ahead of the new season that begins in the West Coast Zone on 1 November (next Sunday).
“This season abalone fishing will be limited to ONE HOUR each Sunday between 7am and 8am from 1 November through to 6 December and fishers must have a licence,” he said.
The West Coast abalone zone extends from the Busselton Jetty to the Greenough River mouth.
A handy brochure, with rules, tips and information on fishing for abalone is available online at www.fish.wa.gov.au.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8706
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Triple
His fine should have been tripled and his abalone licence cancelled and never to be re issued with one.
Probably said "me no unnerstan"
Matt T
Posts: 875
Date Joined: 19/11/07
That exactly my point!
A freaking uni professor! He's earning more than $150K a year - what's a $4,000 fine gonna do??? But a criminal conviction and jail time on the other hand - well universities don't really hire convict professors do they? My guess is that he wouldn't take the risk....
kaney68
Posts: 401
Date Joined: 29/07/08
$4000 - what a joke !
On one hand I'm glad to see the Fisheries boys (and girls) get this bloke..
But considering how much abs sell per kg in Asia and what this guy does for a living, the fine is a joke.
Was he collecting abs for his own consumption, or exporting them to Asia ??
Deport him I say !!
Fathom
Posts: 622
Date Joined: 18/04/08
Put him on the next plane
Put him on the next plane out of here, at his expense. What is he teaching at uni...poaching?
grayzeee
Posts: 2283
Date Joined: 09/07/09
what a shocker. and what a
what a shocker.
and what a surprise...... not
If I spent half as long fishing , as I do reading this bloody forum , I'd be twice the fisherman I am.
wadetolley
Posts: 2258
Date Joined: 27/06/08
chop
Chop off all his fingers bar one, then he should have fun trying to catch anymore.
mullafied12
Posts: 23
Date Joined: 02/05/07
strip his title!
what a clown. makes me sick seeing these abalone poachers
sherbert
Posts: 4717
Date Joined: 10/09/06
All that for what
And eat like shit ,Close season alltogether
Assassin landbase fishing club
ody
Posts: 581
Date Joined: 30/12/06
Hi Ya, His fine pales
Hi Ya,
His fine pales into insignificance when compared to this one.
A 40-year-old man was today ordered to pay fines, penalties and court costs totalling more than $104,000, after pleading guilty to a range of fisheries offences uncovered during Operation Acacia.
Kevin HUYNH of Maylands was fined $5,000 for each of three counts of contravening the Abalone Management Plan 1992. The contraventions involved dealing in more than 80 kilograms of abalone in June and July last year. He was fined $5,000 for one count of attempting to deal in a further 250 kilograms of abalone between July and August 2008.
He was also fined $750 for possession of 55 rock lobster tails.
On top of the fines, he was ordered to pay a mandatory additional penalty of $83,094 for the abalone and rock lobsters involved in the dealing and possession offences and court costs of $910.20. The magistrate ordered forfeiture of the van used to carry the product, a commercial scale and $1,500 cash seized when Mr Huynh was apprehended.
The Department of Fisheries’ Manager of Compliance and Regional Support John Looby said recreational and commercial fishers who adhered to the rules, to ensure our fish stocks were managed for present and future generations, would welcome this significant court result.
“The court-ordered forfeiture of the van used in these offences sets a precedent that will be applied in similar cases in respect of boats, vehicles and equipment,” Mr Looby said.
“This outcome also marks the completion of a very successful compliance operation, conducted by the Department of Fisheries. Operation Acacia has led to fines of more than $200,000 being issued against seven people and two restaurant businesses.
“We know this has put a big dent in black market abalone operations in WA and we will continue to focus on this and other organised activity in lobster and other high value fish, in order to protect our fisheries in this State from illegal exploitation.”
In August last year, Fisheries and Marine Officers and WA Police worked together on Operation Acacia, for a series of searches and interviews at business premises and homes in Perth and regional towns. Those swoops, on the 21st and 25th of August 2008, were preceded by seven months of covert surveillance and compliance activity.
Mr Looby said WA’s commercial abalone fishery was always a potential target, because of the high demand and price for abalone on international markets.
“However, Operation Acacia has targeted black market activity and played a vital role in helping us to continue careful management of this important fishery now and into the future,” he said.