Tag Archives: Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol

Queensland: Crab pot pincher nipped with $5000 fine

Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the man was caught after Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officers began investigating reports of people interfering with commercial crab apparatus in March 2019. “This hard-working commercial crabber has had valuable infrastructure interfered with and lost valuable income from someone stealing his mud crabs,” he said. “People interfering with crab pots is one of the biggest complaints that we get from the public and the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol has been cracking down on it through additional patrols and the use of cameras and drones. Our state’s fisheries resources belong to all Queenslanders and it’s our job to protect fish stocks for the future.” >click to read< 10:19

‘Cut-throat industry’: Crabber stole 19 pots for revenge

b88439067z1_20161116161552_000gm7dbsck2-0-i5x4oqj7hmnrca4p8n2_fct720x540_ct460x345A Gladstone crabber told the court “there are no honest fishermen”, and he had to steal other people’s crab pots to compensate for his own stolen gear. Commercial fisherman Suny Platen pleaded guilty in Gladstone Magistrates Court to five charges of unlawfully interfering with fishing apparatus, after being caught red-handed on April 14. Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol officer Neil Conway said QBFP officers had stopped a boat at Gladstone Marina about 1.30am, and found Platen and two other men with 19 crab pots containing 14 live crabs. The pots and their floats were marked with commercial fishing symbols not belonging to Platen. Platen said crabbing was a “cut-throat industry,” and he acted after 22 of his own pots were stolen over two nights. “I’ve had my pots go missing, my car smashed … it’s a savage game,” he said. Read the story here 08:01