A freediver has described her dismay at seeing an entire family of protected blue gropers pulled from the bag of a spear fisherman on the South Coast, less than a week after a similar incident at Cronulla sparked national outrage.
Lara Boag, co-owner of Woebegone Freedive based in Jervis Bay, had just returned an boatload of visitors to shore at Plantation Point, Vincentia on Friday afternoon when she noticed a spear fisherman being apprehended by fisheries officers in the car park.
"This man had a dive tub and inside that was one of those dry bags," Ms Boag told the Mercury.
"They pulled that out and opened it up and there were three fish. They pulled out each one. They had spear holes in them and the spear was lying next to the bag.
"I feel 99 per cent of the population know what a blue groper is, especially with what's happened in Sydney lately, and that being all over the news.
"With the bag, it was like he was hiding them."
Ms Boag said she felt emotional at the sight of the dead fish, which she described in a social media post as being friendly "labradors of the sea" and a vital part of the ecosystem.
The species is protected from spear fishing because it is prone to coming within patting distance of visiting humans, so it is highly vulnerable to the method.
"We take our customers specifically to see them because they're so friendly and inquisitive," Ms Boag said. "Especially for the kids, to have a real fish come up to them, a blue fish, they're going to remember that. It creates that sense of connection, and it's really important for people to have that connection with the ocean, because it means they're going to protect it.
"So many people have stepped up to say something about this on social media. Obviously gropers have a pretty special place in most peoples' hearts, so for this man to do this, it's almost like killing someone's dog in a way. For us, we're in the ocean every day, so these fish are like our puppies that we get to spend a lot of time with. It's devastating, it's really emotional."
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The kills came six days after a decades-old blue groper was speared in front of beachgoers at Cronulla.
Residents were heartbroken when word spread that the slain fish was the a well-known local identity, Gus the Groper, though wildlife documentary maker David Ireland, who named the beloved fish, today poured cold water on that theory, telling the Daily Mail the dead fish "was not Gus".
"I go back a long way with Gus to when I first started to teach diving before we had a boat," he said.
"It was me who tamed Gus. It was me who named Gus. You've got all these so-called experts coming out of the woodwork - they know nothing."
Fisheries officers confronted the man at Plantation Point on Friday after receiving a report through the Fishers Watch Phoneline of groper being illegally speared.
A spokeswoman for the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) said the man was found in possession of three female groper.
"Fisheries officers have interviewed the person of interest and seized the groper and all fishing gear," she said.
"The matter is under investigation and appropriate compliance action will be undertaken."
Plantation Point is part of the Jervis Bay Marine Park and is a habitat protection zone that allows spearfishing. But groper can only legally be taken by line throughout NSW. For recreational fishers this means a minimum size limit of 30cm and a bag limit of two, or one if the fish is over 60cm.
"Fishers and spear fishers must make themselves aware of the rules regarding their activities before they undertake any fishing or spearfishing," the spokeswoman said.
There was a fresh wave of outrage when the illegal Cronulla fisher, a 26-year-old man, was slapped with fines totalling just $800 for the December 30 kill.
With the maximum penalty for spearing a blue groper set at $11,000, Ms Boag believes the imposed fine should be closer to that ceiling.
"There needs to be a hefty fine for people who then may think twice about doing it," she said. "If it was $10,000 I think that would make an impact."
Illegal fishing can be reported to the Fishers Watch Phoneline on 1800 043 536 or via the DPI's website.
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