Fisheries officers from the Central Tablelands and Macquarie districts conducted patrols in some of the most difficult terrain in the central west of New South Wales, Australia, in recent weeks.
Utilising kayak’s Fisheries Officers traversed over 18km of the Macquarie River, upstream of Burrendong over a four day period and the majority of the area patrolled is accessible from private land only.
Some anglers in these remote regions clearly didn’t expect to see fisheries officers which resulted in a number of offences being detected.
Six penalty notices were issued for recreational licensing offences and one penalty notice was issued to a man found using 10 set lines.
The set lines were seized and fishers are reminded that you can only use two hand held lines in inland waters.
In recent years, Fisheries compliance officers have worked hard to stamp out illegal fishing, mounting strong operations that have seen offenders caught red handed blatantly fishing illegally.
In 2014 a number of offences were uncovered on the lower Macquarie River including the use of 41 unattended lines, possession of fish illegally taken and the use of 21 live finfish as lure or bait near Narromine.
“Seven people were apprehended by fisheries officers and admitted to the offences when interviewed,” a representative of NSW DPI Fisheries said at the time.”
Officers seized 41 set lines, 2 gaffs (a type of hooked pole) and 31 European carp he said.
Fines totalled $5200 and a number of written cautions were issued to the members of the camp.
In a huge bust near Warren in 2012, Fisheries Officers seized 90 rigged handlines, 11 drift lines, 1 Monofilament cast net, 7 prohibited traps and 23 live carp.
The men, aged 20 to 29 from Gunnedah were using illegal fishing methods to target native inland fish species including using excess hand held lines, using prohibited baits and being in possession of prohibited fishing gear.
2017. Fairfax Media