Illegal Northwest Whitebait Fishers Cop Big Fines

Penalties totalling more than $17,000 for inland fisheries offences were handed out in Smithton Magistrates Court on Thursday 12 May. Four Circular Head men pleaded guilty to charges of unlawfully taking or possessing whitebait. A fifth person was fined for making a false or misleading statement to an Inland Fisheries Service (IFS) officer.

Peter Warren Lambert, of Marrawah, received fines and special penalties of more than $11,560 for taking and possessing 62kg of whitebait without a licence in November last year. The offences occurred in the Circular Head area and were uncovered during a joint operation involving IFS, Parks and Wildlife Service and Tasmania Police officers. Three other men were also penalised between $650 and $3,000 for whitebait-related offences in the same court. According to IFS Manager of Compliance and Operations, Stephen Hepworth, a special penalty of $130 for each kilogram of whitebait unlawfully taken or possessed is automatically added to any fine issued by the court. “Whitebait populations are still recovering from past years of overfishing when a commercial whitebait fishery operated in Tasmania,” Mr Hepworth said. “This is why the recreational whitebait fishery is so carefully managed now and why there are significant penalties for illegal whitebaiting. “This cooperative operation between the three enforcement agencies also found alleged drug and firearms offences, some of which are still to come before the courts,” he said. Whitebait can be legally taken only by licensed recreational fishers during a specified season and in designated waters during October and November each year. A maximum possession limit of 10 kg per licence-holder applies.