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| Recreational Abalone Fishers Fined Heavily |
Three recreational abalone fishers paid a heavy price for illegal hauls of abalone when they appeared in Joondalup Court recently.
Arnold Bruce LITTLE, 30, of Waterman, Luan Minh NGUYEN, 32, of Maylands and Khong Dinh PHAM, 43, of Mirrabooka were caught with large catches of the highly prized mollusc in three separate incidents at popular Perth beaches during and after the 2001 recreational abalone season.
The recreational abalone season is restricted to six Sundays between 7am and 8.30am in November and December each year.
In the first case, the court heard Little was seen by fisheries officers leaving the reef platform at Waterman on February 4 this year with a bag of abalone - two months after the closure of the 2001 season and nine months before the start of the 2002 season.
When approached by fisheries officers, Little ran off but was caught after a short pursuit. His bag contained 85 Roe’s abalone, 65 in excess of the possession limit of 20 during the limited season. He said he planned to eat the abalone at a later date.
Little was convicted and fined $1200 for taking the abalone during a closed season plus an additional penalty of $2550 (by number) and $57.70 costs.
In Nguyen’s case, it was a matter of not knowing the fishing rules. The court heard Nguyen was stopped at Trigg beach at 7.45am on November 25, 2001 by a fisheries officer and found to have 42 Roe’s abalone.
In explanation, Nguyen said he was going to check his catch for size and take the legal one’s (60mm) to his sister. He was not aware of how many abalone he could have.
The court convicted and fined him $900 plus an additional penalty of $660 (by number) for the 22 abalone in excess of the daily bag limit and $57.70 costs.
In the third case, the court was told Pham’s catch was inspected at North Beach on November 25, 2001 and found to contain 56 Roe’s abalone in excess of the possession limit.
Pham admitted to taking the 76 abalone to distribute amongst family members who held abalone licences. He was unaware that he was not allowed to take abalone for another person
Pham was convicted and fined $1200 for exceeding the daily bag limit plus an additional penalty of $1680 (by number) and $57.70 costs.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Todd A’Vard
Supervising Fisheries Officer - Fremantle
Ph: 9335 6800 (Mob): 0419 953 511
Julie Hope
A/Senior Public Relations Coordinator
Ph: 9482 7250 (Mob): 0418 901 767
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