{"id":899917,"date":"2026-09-21T09:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899917\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T09:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T09:34:15","slug":"australia-loses-millions-per-year-to-illegal-fishing-the-crackdown-is-now-on-as-authorities-crush-businesses-and-boats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/899917\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia loses millions per year to illegal fishing, the crackdown is now on as authorities crush businesses and boats"},"content":{"rendered":"

He looks like an ordinary angler, but this 43-year-old man is anything but.<\/p>\n

In the waters between Brisbane and Russell Island, he was caught poaching mud crabs and selling them in south-east Queensland.<\/p>\n

“Mud crabs can retail anywhere up to $64 a kilo for high-quality, top-grade mud crabs,” said Graeme Bolton, director-general of Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So they’re high value, they’re easy to transport, and readily sold on the black market.”<\/p>\n

Last year, other seafood species such as threadfin salmon, molluscs and mulloway were uncovered at the man’s house following a raid by fisheries officers.<\/p>\n

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He was convicted, fined $10,000 and had his boat destroyed.<\/p>\n

In 2024, a 46-year-old Gold Coast man was caught hiding crabs in his boat.<\/p>\n

After searching his property, officers found more boxes of crabs.<\/p>\n

His boat was also crushed.<\/p>\n

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“This is really to send a very clear message that unlawful activity in Queensland will not go unpunished,” Mr Bolton told 7.30.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illegal fishing is a widespread environmental and transnational crime. It includes fishing in protected marine reserves, ignoring catch quotas, using prohibited gear, and international smuggling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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These organised activities threaten marine ecosystems and are estimated to cost legal fisheries up to $23 billion annually globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illegal fishing can also be linked to a variety of other crimes including labour exploitation, human rights abuses and trafficking of illicit goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The domestic illicit seafood trade in Australia involves both recreational and commercial anglers poaching fish and other seafood to sell on the black market.<\/p>\n

It is then funnelled directly into restaurants, markets, and on the street.<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/p>\n

Illegally caught seafood is funnelled directly into restaurants, markets, and on the street.\u00a0 (ABC News: Kathleen O’Connor)<\/p>\n

“People try to hide fish and crabs underneath floorboards or … within the boat or cars, [sometimes even] dropping fish and crabs in the bush somewhere,” Mr Bolton said.<\/p>\n

“Black market activity in particular, erodes that ability for the average Queenslander to go out, catch a fish, and more importantly, for our Queensland commercial fishers to go out and make a living.”<\/p>\n

The prevalence of illegal fishing<\/p>\n

Illegal fishing has been an ongoing problem globally, but in Australia, compliance numbers are down, and prosecutions are up.<\/p>\n

According to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, 273 people were prosecuted for illegal fishing in WA in 2025, more than triple the number from 2024.<\/p>\n

Due to a jump in illegal activity, fisheries officers have increased their patrols, and in the Northern Territory, 237 foreign fishers were prosecuted in the Darwin Local Court between 2024 and 2025, a sharp increase from 75 prosecutions between 2023 and 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An Indonesian fishing crew were found in mangroves in the Northern Territory in 2024.\u00a0 (Supplied: Northern Land Council)<\/p>\n

In Queensland, 1,809 reports of illegal fishing were investigated between 2024 and 2025, and 14 matters were prosecuted in the Magistrates Court.<\/p>\n

In Victoria, 473 fines were issued between 2025 and 2026. The year before was more than double. 1,219 fines were handed out following cuts to enforcement numbers in the financial year.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the New South Wales Government recorded 2,900 illegal fishing reports handled by the fisheries department. This year, fisheries recorded 3,767 offences by recreational anglers.<\/p>\n

In Tasmania and South Australia numbers have remained quite consistent.<\/p>\n

NSW seafood raids<\/p>\n

7.30 was given exclusive access to a NSW Fisheries operation after officers received intelligence that suspected illegal seafood was being sold in Cabramatta in Sydney’s south-west.<\/p>\n

Officers measured fish to check if they were undersized and requested receipts for all products, which were provided.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

An officer from Fisheries NSW measures fish to check if they are undersized.\u00a0 (ABC News: Kathleen O’Connor)<\/p>\n

One shop that sold household goods also had fridges full of abalone \u2014 the highly sought-after and expensive product is a popular black-market item.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We had 14 packages of abalone that weren’t labelled correctly. Under the regulations, there’s specifications on what needs to be on the label,” said Fisheries officer Dan McGarrity.<\/p>\n

The shop owner produced receipts to prove that the product was purchased legally, but authorities are continuing to investigate.<\/p>\n

The seized abalone is worth around $4,000. If officers can prove the abalone was caught and sold illegally, the owner could face prison time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Fisheries<\/p>\n

The seized abalone is worth around $4,000.\u00a0 (ABC News: Kathleen O’Connor)<\/p>\n

“We want people to know that they can’t get away with this behaviour in NSW,” state Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said.<\/p>\n

“We’re serious about increasing the fines … and making sure that fisheries officers have more powers.<\/p>\n

Last week, NSW introduced new legislation which includes increased fines of up to $44,000 for people caught engaging in the illicit seafood trade.<\/p>\n

Authorities are also investing in new technology to track offenders, including investing in night vision technology.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

NSW Fisheries officers were acting on intelligence that suspected illegal seafood was being sold in south-west Sydney.\u00a0 (ABC News: Kathleen O’Connor)<\/p>\n

‘Big money’ equals big risks<\/p>\n

In 2023, a WA study found around 11.8 per cent of seafood products in Australia were labelled incorrectly.<\/p>\n

Peter Jenkins is a wholesaler from Victoria and says he has lost count of the number of times he has been offered illegal seafood.<\/p>\n

He says it’s often whiting and snapper, because they’re popular fish and fetch strong market prices.<\/p>\n

“The population’s getting greater and the fishermen are getting less, and of course everything’s worth fairly big money now,” Mr Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

Safe seafood consumer advocate Roy Palmer says incorrect labelling could mean the fish has been illegally caught and may pose serious health risks.<\/p>\n

\"Raw<\/p>\n

NSW is investing in technology to track offenders.\u00a0 (ABC News: Kathleen O’Connor)<\/p>\n

“That’s why we license fishermen,” Mr Palmer said.<\/p>\n

“We license fishermen because they have to understand how the system works and that they must follow protocols to get the product through to the consumer.”<\/p>\n

CEO of the Victorian Fisheries Authority Travis Dowling says he has seen people try and sell fish that could result in health risks.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had people in summer illegally take abalone, selling it off the street on 40 degree days in plastic shopping bags,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You wouldn’t want to eat that food.”<\/p>\n

Watch 7.30<\/a>, Mondays to Thursdays 7:30pm on ABC iview<\/a> and ABC TV<\/p>\n

Contact 7.30<\/p>\n

Do you know more about this story? Get in touch with 7.30 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He looks like an ordinary angler, but this 43-year-old man is anything but. In the waters between Brisbane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,468347,79579,48,468348,8868,44],"class_list":["post-899917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-black-market-fishing","tag-black-markets","tag-crime","tag-food-retail","tag-illegal-fishing","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}