Abalone thief fined $15,000
Department of Fisheries officers have netted their second abalone thief as part of Perth-based operation.
Operation Ratchet is a surveillance-based operation which aims to stop the illegal harvesting and distribution of abalone in Perth.
Darch man Van Thanh Le, 55, faced Joondalup Magistrate's Court on Friday, where he was prosecuted for taking abalone out of season, exceeding the bag limit and harvesting undersize abalone late last year.
He was banned from fishing for abalone, forced to forfeit his fishing gear and received more than $15,000 in fines, penalties and court costs.
Le and another man, 46-year-old Duy Cam Dao, who was prosecuted last month, were caught with massive hauls of abalone at Ocean Reef on December 11, 2012.
Dao was fined about $25,000 for his haul of 326 abalones.
Le’s backpack contained 299 abalones, 60 of which were undersize.
Fisheries compliance manager Phil Shaw said information from members of the public had led to the prosecutions.
“With more than $40,000 in fines from these cases alone, the public information has proved valuable and it’s good to know that the community supports our Fisheries and Marine Officers in identifying illegal fishing activity so they can investigate,” he said.
He said the West Coast Zone abalone fishing season was over, but the Southern Zone, which runs from the Busselton Jetty to the South Australian Border, was open until Wednesday, May 15.
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sea-kem
Posts: 14857
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Let's hope these turds pay
Let's hope these turds pay their fines. These guys should be plastered all over the TV so everyone knows they are rape and pillage scumbags.
Love the West!
tim-o
Posts: 4657
Date Joined: 24/05/11
Names sez it all
Names sez it all
I am, as I've said, merely competent. But in an age of incompetence, that makes me extraordinary.
Clown Fish
Posts: 111
Date Joined: 03/02/10
Settle down mate. Nothing in
Settle down mate. Nothing in a name as far as the law is concerned.
black gen
Posts: 762
Date Joined: 13/04/11
+1
+1
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Double
With something so blatant the fines should have been double what was dished out. Forfeit their fishing gear!!!, what a joke.....pair of reef walking boots and a screwdriver, total cost $30
sea-kem
Posts: 14857
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Yep you're right John. I can
Yep you're right John. I can see these slime bags wriggling out of paying the fines. They should have possessions (house,cars)whatever confiscated. Complete disregard for the law and enviroment.
Love the West!
Norty
Posts: 80
Date Joined: 13/12/12
inadequate fines
The fines should have been:
$1000 per abalone over the bag limit
loss of hand for the removal of undersize abalone - with no disability payments allowed
1 year jail for taking abalone out of season.
IMHO
Paul
uncle
Posts: 9353
Date Joined: 10/02/07
f.....scum bags
by any name!
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
bod
Posts: 2318
Date Joined: 03/05/06
Fines
I'd be interested to know what happens with these matters further down the line - what happens when these guys can't pay their $40,000 fines? Do they go to gaol, pay them off at $10 per week, get their centrelink payments reduced. What happens, does anybody know?
billy69
Posts: 125
Date Joined: 16/01/12
If they don't pay the fines
If they don't pay the fines they will be listed with the fines enforcment registry and their drivers licence will be suspended.
Now if they don't respond to that, the fines will be converted to FER warrants of commitment.
With a warrant they could be arrested and have a choice of paying the fines or cutting them out inside at a rate of $500 per day.
Sound good, they will do some time? $15000 = 30 days inside.
Here's the catch.
They have been charged with multiple offences and each offence would have it's own fine/penalty.
Each fine has it's own warrant.
You only serve time on the biggest fine and the others are served at the same time, and you get time off (1/3) for good behaviour.
So they could have a week inside at our expense and get rid of $15000 worth of fines.
I wish I could cut out my mortgage, car loan and credit card debt concurently
Faulkner Family
Posts: 17863
Date Joined: 11/03/08
if the info you have given
if the info you have given is true it realy sux. they get out of paying the fine for a couple of weeks holiday inside with all meals and everything else catered for at the cost of the tax payers.
certainly looks the easy way out of it.
the culprits need to be forced to sell anything they can to pay the fines and then make them clean up a 100 km stretch of our coast to top it off. then they might show some appreciation for what we have on our doorstep.
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
catchalittle
Posts: 1875
Date Joined: 04/09/08
they derserve what they have
they derserve what they have coming to them and more
Nathan
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
They should be deported!
They should be deported!
Swompa
Posts: 3786
Date Joined: 14/10/12
What if they're born here?
What if they're born here?
Clown Fish
Posts: 111
Date Joined: 03/02/10
deported to where?
deported to where?
pale ale
Posts: 1755
Date Joined: 02/01/10
I dont care where! How about
I dont care where! How about North Korea? People who are knowingly / deliberately breaking our laws dont deserve to live here!
sea-kem
Posts: 14857
Date Joined: 30/11/09
That was a really well
That was a really well thought out comment.
Love the West!
Ben85
Posts: 442
Date Joined: 20/11/11
Agree- they wonder why there
Agree- they wonder why there are no decent fish stocks left in their home waters. I wonder how many abs they have poached over time before eventually being caught? easily thousands! If we make a harsh example of a few, the rest will catch on pretty quickly.
Swompa
Posts: 3786
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Through work, I am managed
Through work, I am managed by a bloke in Singapore, and thus work fairly close with them. They are amazed that we actually put things back if we catch them.
Ben85
Posts: 442
Date Joined: 20/11/11
I have just returned back to
I have just returned back to Aus from a 5 year stint in the middle east. While I experienced some of the best fishing the world has to offer there, it won’t be long until its stuffed. The amount of long lining, fish trapping, shark finning and other “super trawler” type methods I saw going on was frightening. It was normal to see someone catching a full bucket of baby spangled emperor (no more than 10-15cm) off a pier and taking it. The locals used to be stunned after seeing us release fish.
We in Australia were smart enough to start doing something about it before it was too late. Unfortunately in other densely populated nations, its every man for himself, and it’s all about squeezing every last drop out of a recourse. The word sustainability has no meaning. I don’t understand why we in Australia, who do the right thing, end up paying for it- through exporting our fish overseas, letting foreign vessels in to rape our stocks, and ignoring the wrong doing of certain individuals who do what they do because of their foreign beliefs/upbringing/culture.
Once you have seen how people from different places around the world manage their recourses, I think we are well within our rights to generalise (to an extent) and clearly need to review the way we promote sustainability and its importance. Unfortunately most learn best by way of punishment. But even this can only work if the end result is not just a slap on the wrist. Unfortunately we’re all too piss weak, and will continue to be walked over and wont wake up until there is nothing left.
hezzy
Posts: 1519
Date Joined: 27/11/09
while im very glad fisheries
while im very glad fisheries have got these two blokes ,and dont condone what they did at all
the fines are good to see publicly in the media and the persons shamed for their actions
i cant help wonder if all the people baying for blood would like to see $10k -20k fines for pissy/drugged driving etc ?
or all the shiteheads bashing ,king hitting , kicking peeps when fuelled up on grog/drugs
how would that fly you reckon ??
i personaly would like to see fines /punishment for these other types of offences ramped up to match the fisheries fines
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing