Illegal netters in the spot light

John Allen writes:
On a warm evening about 10 days ago, I took a stroll along the pier at Portarlington to see if there was any fishing action. Whilst not many were being caught from the pier - my eye was drawn north east of the pier to three boats about 750m offshore, all about five to seven metres long, all had bright decklights and all had spotlights pointed at the water. What were they up to ??? Illegal netting!!!

I returned to my car to get a spotlight to see if I could get the rego numbers. Well as soon as I turned my spot on them - all decklights were extinguished and they turned their spots in my direction - making any ID impossible. I telephoned the Fisheries 24 hour hotline to report this - and actually spoke to a real person - who didn't know what to do as it was her first night on the job! Sigh! She took my details and said she would pass them on to the inspectors the next day. So far no reply or even acknowledgement of my call!

Why publish a 24 hour number if nothing gets done after 4pm? Money from licence fees being used for more than producing glossy brochures and stickers was promised. I am sick of illegal netters, and am sure you are too - but how do we stop them???
(17 March 2003)

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