Tuesday, November 15 , 2016 | Media contact: Alan Everett 0409 255 140
www.vic.gov.au/fisheries
Greedy anglers facing steep fines
Three men have been fined nearly $500 each after being caught with 184 silver whiting at Cunningham Pier in Geelong.
The daily limit for silver whiting is 20 per person.
A call to the 24-hour reporting line, 13FISH, alerted Fisheries Officers to the activities of the men while they fished from the pier, at about nine thirty on Sunday morning.
The officers began monitoring the men and shortly after 11 o clock one of the trio returned to a car carrying a large white bucket.
All three men then continued to fish for another 40 minutes and were watched as they caught more fish.
When they packed up and returned to their vehicle, with their fishing rods and a blue bucket, they were intercepted by the Fisheries Officers as they began to drive away.
When the car was searched both the white and blue buckets were found in the boot.
The officers found a total of 90 Silver whiting in the blue bucket and then another 94 in the white bucket.
Each of them will receive infringement notices for exceeding the catch limit for silver whiting ($466 each for a total of $1398).
Queenscliff Fisheries Officer, Ashley Virgona, said it was great to see a large number of families and groups getting good catches of fish.
“But it was also disappointing to see some anglers becoming greedy and exceeding the catch limit,” Mr Virgona said.
“Anglers are reminded that although there appears a large aggregation of silver whiting in the area, they must be aware of the catch limit of 20 silver whiting per person per day.”
People are reminded to call 13FISH if they see or suspect any illegal fishing activity.
- whiting catch pix.JPG (239.75 KiB) Viewed 2045 times
