DNA tracking has been used to trace illegally caught crabs.
Queensland man, Adam Alexander Daly has pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of 232 female mud crabs and fined $35,000 in the Gladstone Magistrates Court yesterday.
After a tip off from an industry contact, Fisheries Queensland used DNA testing to confirm his crab catch came from the regulated Turkey beach and air freighted south to the Sydney Fish Markets, in New South Wales, for sale.
Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol investigator Deryk Smith told the Gladstone Observer that interstate operations like this should act as a warning that female mud crabs are off limits in Queensland waters.
"Alerted by staff at the Sydney Fish Markets, New South Wales fisheries patrol officers inspected and seized 13 boxes of female mud crabs allegedly sent from Queensland,” Smith said.
Smith explained that although it is legal for female mud crabs to be caught in New South Wales, the female species has been protected in Queensland since 1914; it is the individual’s responsibility to understand the differing regulations and abide by them”.
"Being a responsible crabber means using the right number of pots or dillies, marking them correctly, and being able to identify males from females.
"These restrictions are essential to ensuring the sustainability of the species, which is vulnerable to overfishing given its iconic status in Queensland," Smith said.