A 54 year old Deer Park man fronted Wentworth Local Court for sentencing in the state’s far west following his apprehension by NSW fisheries in August 2021.
The man spent a successful day fishing in the Murray River below Lock 11 in the Mildura area, but what he didn’t know was that a Fisheries officer was watching his every move. Over the course of a period of 10 hours covert surveillance, the officer saw the man catch a threatened silver perch and a significant number of golden perch from his boat. He was then seen to secrete these fish in various locations in his vessel in an attempt to evade detection.
When the time was right, the officer launched his vessel and intercepted the man who was still fishing despite having already exceeded the daily limit for golden perch. After locating golden perch in an esky and a keeper net aboard the boat, the officer then unscrewed a floor panel of the man’s boat and found several more hidden underneath. The officer then retrieved a second keeper net nearby, also containing golden perch, that he had seen the man sink in the water and tie off to vegetation earlier in the day.
In total, 26 golden perch and one silver perch were seized from the man. The daily limit for golden perch in NSW waters is five per person per day and silver perch are totally protected in all NSW rivers.
The court took a serious view to the dishonest conduct of the man and imposed fines and costs in excess of $15,000. In addition, a 3 year community corrections order was imposed.
NSW DPI says this type of illegal fishing activity puts the sustainability of our freshwater fish stocks at serious risk. If you have information about illegal fishing activity you can do your bit to help protect them by providing that information confidentially to the Fishers Watch hotline on 1800 043 536 or online here.
