A 28-year-old woman has been fined $7700 after she was caught with a haul of undersize blue swimmer crabs in Coodanup.
The East Victoria Park woman was ordered to pay the hefty fine in the Mandurah Magistrates Court this week after she jointly took 134 undersize crabs from the Peel-Harvey Estuary in Coodanup in December 2024.
The daily bag limit for the West Coast Region is 10 crabs per fisher.
Fisheries officers inspected the haul when she came ashore with another woman.
All of the crabs were under the legal minimum size limit of 127mm and were released back into the water.
The second woman, a 53-year-old from East Victoria Park, was fined nearly $8000 over the same matter earlier this year.
In a separate incident, a 30-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman from Southern River were each fined $3500 last month for the joint possession of 62 undersize crabs which were caught in Coodanup in January 2025.
DPIRD Regional Compliance Metro Director Todd A’Vard said everyone who goes crabbing needed to be aware of the size and bag limits before going fishing.
“Fishers must ensure they don’t take undersize crabs or more than the legal bag limits which is vital to the sustainability of our recreational fisheries,” he said.
Anyone who suspects illegal fishing activity should call FishWatch on 1800 815 507 or report the matter via the online form on Crime Stoppers.
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