Two women have been fined more than $16,000 for possession of more than six times the daily bag limit of blue swimmer crabs — all of which were undersize bar one — among a raft of other charges.
The pair were ordered to pay more than $16,800 in fines and costs over the incident, almost two years after the fact, in part due to investigators at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development having to track them down after they provided false information.
DPIRD Fisheries officers saw the women, a 27-year-old of Brookdale and a 25-year-old of Champion Lakes, fishing for crabs in the Peel-Harvey Estuary near Falcon on December 11, 2021.
The 25-year-old woman was holding a blue Esky with 66 blue swimmer crabs inside, 65 of which were under the legal size.
Blue swimmer crabs with a carapace length less than 127mm are classified as totally protected fish — meaning fishing them is prohibited. The crabs in the blue Esky ranged between 61mm and 132mm.
The Mandurah Magistrates Court was told Fisheries officers also found a plastic bag with another 62 undersize blue swimmer crabs under a parked vehicle registered to the young woman.
The crabs in this bag were all well undersize, ranging from 66mm to 124mm. Of the 128 crabs between the pair, 127 were undersize.
The daily bag limit of blue swimmer crabs is 10 per person per day, meaning the women had more than six times the daily bag limit between them.
Both possession of undersize blue swimmer crabs and taking more than the daily bag limit is an offence under WA recreational fishing laws.
All 128 blue swimmer crabs in their possession were seized, measured and released back into the estuary by Fisheries officers.
The court was told the women then committed further offences by giving false information to Fisheries officers when asked to provide their names, addresses and dates of birth.
The 25-year-old woman was also charged with obstruction for failing to hand over her phone, which was later seized as part of the investigation.
The younger woman was last Tuesday ordered to pay a total $8814.30 in fines for three offences, which included an additional $6350 penalty related to the crabs involved in the joint possession offence and court costs. The obstruction charge attracted an $800 fine.
The 27-year-old Brookdale woman was last month given the same additional $6350 penalty as the co-offender, plus two fines and costs to the tune of $8014.30.
DPIRD director regional compliance metro Todd A’Vard said the successful outcome in each case was a credit to the investigating officers, who had to track down the offenders after they gave false information.
“At the centre of this case though are the 127 undersize blue swimmers that were returned to the water to reach legal size and be fished another day,” he said.
Mr A’Vard said fishers needed to be aware of the “high proportion of small crabs” when the fishing season reopens in early summer.
He said it was “very important that crabbers measure each blue swimmer they catch and return it promptly to the water” if it was undersize.