Abalone divers reported
Tuesday 28th August, 2007

PIRSA Fisheries Officers from Kingston have reported two Adelaide men for various abalone related offences after a search revealed abalone worth nearly $3,000.

Fisheries Officers stopped the two 18 year old men from Mawson Lakes and Salisbury Heights on 22 August at Little Dip Conservation Park, 10 kilometres south of Robe in the State’s South East.

A search revealed 181 blacklip abalone and three greenlip abalone with a commercial value of nearly $3,000.

It is alleged that one of the divers took the abalone, while the other assisted with shucking (removing it from the shell). All abalone found had been shucked at sea.

In South Australia, the daily bag limit for abalone is five abalone per diver per day and all abalone must be brought ashore before being shucked.

Fisheries Officers also seized a quantity of diving gear including a wetsuit, fins, a Buoyancy Compensating Device (BCD) and two SCUBA tanks valued at around $4,500.

PIRSA Fisheries, Manager Compliance Operations, Paul Tatarelli said the area where the abalone was taken was close to shore making it very destructive to the local abalone population.

"A brief will be prepared and the two men may be required to appear in court at a later date. PIRSA Fisheries will be seeking forfeiture of the seized gear as part of the brief," Mr Tatarelli said.

Media Contact: Paul Tatarelli, PIRSA Manager Compliance Services, 0408 841 055.