Fearless Poachers Raiding Tuna Farms At Nightff

Source: The Advertiser

A fearless band of poachers is raiding Port Lincoln’s tuna farms, spurred on by the high price of tuna steaks in the seafood markets of Sydney.

The poachers strike under cover of darkness, stealing fish, harming those left behind and destroying private property at the fish farms.
High speed boats are used by the poachers to reach the farms, with the stolen tuna landed at any of the many small wharves around the southern Eyre Peninsula coastline.

With prime tuna fillets worth $60/kg retail, an average 20kg southern bluefin tuna can be worth more than $400 each to poachers.

The problem has raised the ire of tuna farmers, their anger directed at the small percentage of the region’s recreational fishermen involved in criminal activities.

Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association president Brian Jeffriess said the poaching had occurred on a significant scale in the past, but it was happening much earlier than normal this year.

“It’s causing antagonism between the fishermen and a small percentage of recreational and charter people who are involved in the thefts for commercial purposes,” Mr. Jeffriess said.

“The pontoons being targeted are about 15km offshore, about 5km further out than normal.”

Mr. Jeffriess said the police had not yet been contacted. The tuna fishers are using high-tech surveillance equipment to monitor the farms, as well as any boats approaching them at night.

“There is no doubt some people are acting on inside information,” he said. The early poaching coincides with the industry catching its tuna much earlier than normal this year with 80 per cent caught south of Kangaroo Island, rather than in the western reaches of the Great Australian Bight.

“What that means we are not sure, although a lot of the fishermen believe it is too much of a coincidence that the oil and gas exploration surveys are taking place along the migration route of the tuna in the western part of the bight,” Mr. Jeffriess said.

The bonus is the new fishing grounds are much nearer to Port Lincoln and only five to seven days towing to get the tuna back to the Port Lincoln farms, rather than the normal 15 to 20 days.