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Abalone Divers Nabbed


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Divers could shell out for abalone

By Deborah Field

TWO Cronulla men face three months in prison and fines of up to $22,000 each after they were allegedly caught with more than 30 times the state bag limit for abalone.

The men, aged 29 and 36, were allegedly found with 126 abalone when Department of Primary Industries officers approached them in Mimosa Rocks National Park, near the South Coast town of Tathra, on December 20.

Fisheries officers said 92 of the 126 abalone seized were of a prohibited size, measuring between 6.5 and 11.2 centimetres.

A Fisheries spokesman said on Tuesday the department would consider laying charges against the pair, who face jail time and maximum penalties of between $11,000 and $22,000.

Batemans Bay police said it was up to the department to lay charges.

The recreational bag limit for abalone fishing is two per person and the legal size is 11.5 centimetres.

It is an offence to take abalone using diving equipment, and Fisheries officials claim they seized diving equipment from the men.

Abalone, a shellfish group, has a retail value of more than $250 a kilogram but is sold on the black market for about $40 a kilogram.

Using its guts as bait or burley was banned in NSW last month in an attempt to protect abalone stocks from a virus in Victoria.

The seized abalone was returned to the water.

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Abalone is a shellfish prized in Asian cooking. It is found living on rocks where it has a tough

"sucker" like foot that clings to the rock and feeds on kelp etc.

You may have seen their shells used as ashtrays at some stage in your life as it has a rather beautiful Mother of Pearl finish inside and small holes around the edge.

Here's a pic of a live Abalone.

post-1685-1199954316_thumb.jpg

Here is a pic of an empty shell:

post-1685-1199954698_thumb.jpg

They have very strict rules and size limits on their gathering as stocks were depleted in the '60s and '70s

to a great degree.

Most of the meat is exported to Asia where it commands a very hefty price.

It's as tough as old boots if not prepared properly and has a distinctive flavour, somewhere between chicken and fish to me.

Here's some more info from Wikipedia for your further reading pleasure.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Pete.

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"Using its guts as bait or burley was banned in NSW last month in an attempt to protect abalone stocks from a virus in Victoria."

I didn't know this

Does it also mean that if you have fresh NSW gut you can't use it?? or have they just restricted the sale via bait shops??

So many rules it is hard to even be half up to date.

Maybe I should do PHD in fishing at UNI as a mature age and then spend my life at professional update courses. I guess that is where all the fisheries blokes are as they try and decifer how to enforce the new rules that come out every day.

pel

PS good to see them get nabbed but those fine seem a bit light since they are serious plunders. Hope they look at what other assets these guys have got and how they paid for them and let the tax man at them as well as it really is big money like drug money.

Hope someone remembers to follow the courtcase on this however many years down the track to see what they get.

Edited by pelican
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i meet a aboriginal bloke down camping at red rock just out from nowra

he told me he got a $50.000 fine for getting court abolonying he served a year in jail as well

I hope you got the joke . The $ 50k is payments and he was a ab on his own- hell knows what he did a year in jail for but he sure had a sense of humour!!

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