Tuna fish stolen from Oceanic Victor swim-in aquarium, suspect caught on CCTV
CCTV footage has captured a Victor Harbor man allegedly fishing at a local swim-in aquarium, catching tuna worth thousands.
SA News
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Thousands of dollars worth of tuna fish have been stolen and many others injured at Victor Harbor’s swim-in aquarium.
Oceanic Victor’s owners Michael Dyer and Yasmin Stehr came across CCTV footage last week of a man fishing at the aquarium on the evening of Thursday October 31.
The man was filmed catching an unknown quantity of expensive Southern Bluefin Tuna, and leaving hooks in the mouths of others he was unable to catch.
But Mr Dyer said it was not just the stolen and injured fish that were affected — all of the remaining fish in the aquarium were “spooked” by the incident.
“It’s just frustrating, people aren’t aware that you don’t just come in and hook up one or two fish … it does a lot more damage,” Mr Dyer said.
Oceanic Victor staff hand feed their fish, with Mr Dyer saying the tuna will find it hard to trust humans as a result of the incident.
“When they get hooked it takes a lot of time to pick up their trust to eat out of our hands again,” he said.
The tuna were sourced from Port Lincoln – from where the owners also come – and are extremely expensive because they have to be caught by licenced tuna fishers.
“The whole point of fishing is … you’ve got the whole ocean.”
The incident also had upset staff.
“These fish are not just our livelihood, they’re our passion … we’re upset that someone would do it,” said Mr Dyer.
Mr Dyer and Ms Stehr, who took over the Victor Harbor business two years ago, said they were committed to sustainable, educational tourism.
They wanted to send a message that “if you go out there — you’ll get caught”, as their security system was successful in tracking the culprit.
The alleged suspect is a 24-year-old man from Victor Harbor, who has since been charged with theft.
He was bailed to appear in the Victor Harbor Magistrates Court in January.
