Media Release
A Robe based fisherman has been convicted and fined $9000 for illegally fishing in a dolphin management zone in South Australia.
On 10 December 2015 Robert Giles, the master of an Australian gillnet fishing boat Challenger, was charged with offences dating back to February 2014 for breaching the rules and conditions set by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to help minimise interactions with dolphins.
Implemented in 2014, AFMA’s Dolphin Strategy 2014 helps to minimise dolphin bycatch in gillnets in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark fishery in waters adjacent to the mouth of Murray River in South Australia, also known as the Coorong Zone.
A condition of the Strategy is that all operators fishing in the zone are required to have 100 per cent monitoring on board their boats via either an AFMA observer or an approved electronic monitoring system involving cameras. Mr Giles breached this condition three times.
AFMA’s General Manager of Operations, Mr Peter Venslovas said that AFMA would take action against those found breaching the strict rules and conditions in place to help protect the marine environment.
“AFMA takes marine mammal mitigation very seriously and we make no apology for taking strong enforcement action against any operators found to be non-compliant with the dolphin mitigation requirements,” Mr Venslovas said.
“Any fishing operator suspected of not complying with the Dolphin Strategy rules will be subject to strict enforcement action which could include an immediate order to return to port, investigation and possible prosecution.”
The Dolphin Strategy implements an individual responsibility approach to create incentives for fishers to innovate and adopt best practices to minimise dolphin bycatch. Under the individual responsibility approach, fishers are responsible for their actions to minimise bycatch and stay within defined bycatch performance criteria.
AFMA will continue to monitor fishing activity in those areas that have compulsory requirements. It is important that fishers abide by all conditions set out in AFMA’s Dolphin Strategy and take all reasonable steps to reduce the risk of dolphin bycatch. More information on AFMA’s dolphin strategy can be found at afma.gov.au
ENDS