Former sergeant Neale Carlon and ex-business owner Michael Ross Williams fined $3k for illegal fishing

An ex-cop and a Darwin businessman have paid a hefty price for a handful of fish after being busted illegally angling in a vital reef protection area.

Former NT Police Sergeant Neale Carlon and ex-business owner Michael Ross Williams faced Darwin Local Court on Thursday to plead guilty to their illegal fishing trip on June 19, 2024. Picture: Zizi Averill

Two retirees have paid a high price for a handful of fish after being busted illegally angling for a protected species in a no-go zone outside Darwin Harbour.

On Thursday ex-NT Police Sergeant and Batchelor Police Station officer in charge Neale Carlon and former business owner Michael Ross Williams faced Darwin Local Court to plead guilty to fishing in the Charles Point Protection Area on June 19, 2024.

Their lawyer Richard Bryson told the court the boat’s skipper Williams organised the offshore fishing trip to cheer up Carlon after the death of his father.

Five hours after launching from the Dinah Boat ramp, the two retirees were busted by Fisheries Officers with the rods, reels and hand lines cast into the no-fishing zone.

The reef fish protection area was declared in 2015 to protect vulnerable species. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford.

A search of the boat found nine Golden Snapper on board — in excess of the three fish recreational catch limits — as well as a black Jewfish, two trevally, one rock cod and six barred javelin.

Williams told Fisheries officers he did not realised they had breached the law, saying they were “having a great day catching lots of fish”.

Williams also told investigators the 19 fish haul was “less than a quarter of what we threw back, we kept throwing back fish”.

Former Darwin business owner Michael Ross Williams faced Darwin Local Court on Thursday to plead guilty to his illegal fishing trip on June 19, 2024. Picture: Zizi Averill

Prosecutor Jon Bortoli told the court that reef fish were particularly vulnerable, as populations were highly localised, slow to mature and spawn, while captured fish have a low survival rate after re-release.

Both Williams and Carlon maintained they were unaware they were not permitted to fish in the protected areas, despite the no-go-zones being in place for a decade, and marked by maps online, on signs at boat ramps, and in most fishing books.

Williams told investigators that he had fished in the protection area multiple times as it was not marked in his ‘Fish Finder Book’, while the ex-police officer said they were shown the angling spot by a friend who used to be a fishing guide.

Former NT Police Sergeant Neale Carlon faced Darwin Local Court on Thursday to plead guilty to an illegal fishing trip on June 19, 2024. Picture: Zizi Averill

Mr Bryson said the men in their “twilight years” had simply “made a mistake”, and were not engaged in a some elaborate, clandestine commercial illegal fishing operation.

But Mr Bortoli said their ignorance of the law was no excuse.

“If you engage in recreational fishing … you do your due diligence and know exactly where you can and can’t go,” Mr Bortoli said

The reef fish protection area was declared in 2015 to protect vulnerable species, but a recent Golden Snapper Stock Assessment report found that the prized fish population was still one-fifth its original stock due to overfishing.

Fisheries Minister Gerard Maley has warned that “tough decisions” would be necessary to restore the Golden Snapper numbers, telling Estimates that the new NT Fisheries Compliance Unit had conducted 241 patrols and 1200 vessel and vehicle inspections. 

Judge Giles O’Brien-Hartcher said significant deterrence was needed to protect the future of these vulnerable species, and fined each of the men $1500, with a $150 victims levy.

“Everyone wants to keep fishing sustainable,” he said.

“(Since) fishers want to protect this resource into the future, they should be looking out for what is the right thing to do.”

A conviction was not recorded against Carlon, who pleaded guilty to being an amateur fisher in a protected area.

Mr O’Brien-Hartcher said it was “regretful” that he had to record a conviction against Williams, after he pleaded guilty to fishing in a protected area, exceeding the Golden Snapper bag limit, and trafficking a priority fish species.

Originally published as Former sergeant Neale Carlon and ex-business owner Michael Ross Williams fined $3k for illegal fishing