As part of the ongoing compliance and education efforts that will continue in the Peel Harvey estuary over spring and summer, Mandurah’s Fisheries and Marine officers are urging fishers to leave the early season undersize crabs alone so they can grow.
South Metropolitan Compliance Manager Ryan Parker said he was very concerned about the number of people with more than the allowable recreational bag limit of crabs being encountered by Fisheries officers.
“What’s worse is that many of those offenders were caught with big numbers of undersize crabs, which are totally protected and should not be fished at all,” Mr Parker said.
“Over the weekend we issued 14 $1000 fines, 25 other fines ranging between $75 and $200 and there were two matters so serious they will need to be prosecuted in court. In those cases, the alleged offences involved one person with 40 undersize crabs and the other matter involved a group in joint possession of 84 undersize crabs.
“Those people could face a court fine of up to $5,000, plus an additional mandatory penalty of $40 per crab, meaning potential penalties of $1,600 in one case and $3,360 per person in the other.”
Mr Parker said it was essential, especially now when it was early in the season, that fishers ensured the crabs they caught were measured correctly.
“Any blue swimmer crab caught, which is less than 127mm carapace width, needs to be returned to the water promptly and left to moult and grow into a legally-sized crab,” he said. “When crabs are legal size, the maximum anyone can take in a day in the Peel Harvey is ten.
“Protection of undersize crabs is currently the number one priority of compliance officers in the Peel Harvey region. If people are little more patient, they will find that because crabs are short-lived they will reach legal size relatively quickly.
“We don’t want law-abiding fishers to get directly involved, but to be vigilant by keeping an eye out for anyone who may be breaking the rules and helping us by calling FISHWATCH on 1800 815 507 and leaving as much detail as possible.
“Mandurah’s iconic blue swimmer crab fishery is very important for recreational and commercial fishers and the district, so ensuring its ongoing sustainability is vital.”
Fishing rules are available in the Recreational fishing guide 2014. Guides are available online, via www.fish.wa.gov.au, or from departmental offices, or Information Outlets.