A Deer Park man has been fined and two women will face court after being arrested in Portarlington on Wednesday for taking abalone out of season, following a tip off from the public.
The 42-year-old man and two women, aged 40 and 50 and also from Deer Park, were caught with 30 sea urchins and 30 molluscs allegedly taken from the intertidal zone.
The group were also charged with taking 79 undersized abalone, exceeding the catch limit, taking shellfish from the intertidal zone, failing to carry a measuring device and using an inappropriate tool to take abalone.
A “significant” number of abalone were damaged as the trio used a screwdriver to ply them from rocks.
Fisheries Victoria officers believe many returned to the water will not survive.
The man was fined $1365 while the two women will face court at a later date.
It comes a week after the Star Weekly revealed seafood illegally harvested by 10 Brimbank divers from the southwest coast of Victoria was sold in Alfrieda Street, St Albans and private residences in Sunshine from the back of a car.
The divers were either jailed, fined up to $16,500 or copped fishing bans.
