Victorian Agriculture Minister Joe Helper has indicated Victoria’s crops and pastures could be under threat with the possibility that plague locust eggs will begin hatching during spring in Northern Victoria. “The Brumby Government is taking action now to work with landholders on what has the potential to be a serious plague,” Mr Helper reported. “The combined risk of hatchings in Victoria and adult locusts travelling south from New South Wales or Queensland means Victorians... ...Read more »
A Narooma man has been fined $900 and sentenced to four months in prison, one of the longest gaol terms handed down for abalone theft to date, as the NSW Government continues to crackdown on illegal fishing. The NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, said the man had a significant history of abalone offences and was caught by Department of Primary Industries fisheries officers in two targeted surveillance operations. The man was charged with four offences under the Fisheries Management... ...Read more »
The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries is to meet with representatives of the Queensland seafood industry this week to try and save the sector from collapse. The impact of soaring fuel prices, the high Australian dollar and adverse weather conditions has taken its toll on fishermen but prices have stagnated - according to the Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA). “These guys are getting offered prices from 20 years ago, we need to do something about that and working with... ...Read more »
A record fine of $132,000 has been handed to the owner of a chain of Sydney poultry meat shops for a string of food law offences, Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, said today.Hai Bao Chen, the proprietor of five shops trading as Obo Fresh Chicken, was convicted of 22 charges under the Food Act including unhygienic premises, substandard maintenance and poor pest control. In February this year, the company was also fined nearly $12,000 for illegally adding sulphur dioxide preservative... ...Read more »
The effects of high fuel costs and cheap imports are amongst the challenges to Queensland’s fisheries that will be investigated in a new seafood study.Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said the diagnostic study would examine the domestic supply chain for Queensland caught prawn, coral reef fin fish, and inshore finfish species. “This joint Government and industry study has been prompted by a decrease in profitability in the commercial fishing sector, in particular... ...Read more »
A man has received a record fine after more than 8,000 oysters (703 dozen), which were unsafe for human consumption, were seized at the Sydney Fish Market, Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said today.Terry Allan Harding was fined a record-high $42,000 for five offences relating to the harvest and sale of unsafe oysters. Mr Harding, from Port Macquarie, was charged by NSW Food Authority officers with harvesting oysters from the Hastings River while all the harvest zones on the river were... ...Read more »
Governments are beginning to clamp down on illegal fishing in Australian waters to help ensure the sustainability of the seafood industry. A surveillance operation on a suspected abalone poaching syndicate has resulted in the apprehension of five men, Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said today. Minister Macdonald said the group were stopped by DPI fisheries officers at Bittangbee Bay, 30 kilometres south of Eden on the State’s far South Coast. “This is the second... ...Read more »