A PROMINENT Tasmanian abalone exporter has been convicted and fined more than $7000 in the Hobart Magistrates Court on two counts of taking undersized shellfish.
Mark Shane Daft, 50, of Tas Live Abalone Pty Ltd, had pleaded guilty to the charges that arose from a routine inspection at Daft's processing plant on June 26 last year after a dive at Little Musselroe Bay.
Police discovered 46 abalone under the regulation size of 127mm among 220kg of the shellfish the Mornington man had taken during his dive.
Daft's defence lawyer Anita Valentine urged Magistrate Sam Mollard not to record a conviction against her client, citing his good record, history of promoting the industry and difficulty in ascertaining the size of abalone on the day due to poor water visibility.
An experienced diver, Daft had told police he had relied on his deckhand to confirm the size of each abalone but that he had failed to do so.
However, Mr Mollard rejected this argument, saying there was a strict responsibility on divers to ensure all abalone taken were of legal size.
He said that as the diver on the day, Daft was in the best position to make an assessment on the legality of each abalone.
"This is not a particularly bad case, but conviction is necessary as a deterrent," Mr Mollard told Daft, before fining Daft $650, on top of a special penalty of $6440.
Daft was also fined $130 for taking a green-lip abalone without recording it in paperwork, and was ordered to pay $77 in court costs.
The value of the undersized abalone was about $340.
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