A recreational crabber has been fined $35,380 and had his vessel, outboard motor and trailer confiscated after being found guilty of stealing crabs from pots.
Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol field officer David Kahler said the recreational crabber was found to have a large number of crabs and no crab pots during a month-long surveillance operation.
Officers searched his residence and the crabber was found to have 111 regulated crabs, 64 of which were female.
The man was fined $25,000 for possessing regulated crabs and interfering with commercial crabbing apparatus at the Gold Coast.
Officers said the commercial crabber, whose pots were interfered with over the month, suffered a substantial loss of income and the court ordered restitution of $10,300.
Mr Kahler said the heavy penalties handed down by the Southport Magistrates Court on Friday showed interference with commercial crab pots was a significant problem across the state.
“It sends a strong message to anyone on the water thinking of interfering with other people’s crab pots, or taking or possessing regulated crabs," he said.
“We will continue to monitor the waters during the Christmas and holiday period, and will target crab pot interference."
Suspected illegal fishing activities should be reported to the Fishwatch hotline on 1800 017 116.
In Queensland, it is illegal to take female mud crabs and male mud crabs have a size limit of 15cm across the carapace, with a possession limit of 10 and a maximum of four crab pots per person for recreational fishers. It is also illegal to interfere with another person's crab apparatus.