Fisherman Jakyb Trent Sharman guilty of catching 1.8 tonnes of snapper in marine park sanctuary zone
A commercial fisherman has narrowly escaped jail after being found guilty of illegally catching 1.8 tonnes of snapper inside an SA marine park.
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A Port Wakefield professional fisherman is the first person to be convicted of illegally fishing in one of South Australia’s marine parks.
Jakyb Trent Sharman, 26, has narrowly escaped jail after being convicted of catching 1.8 tonnes of snapper in a sanctuary zone of the park that covers the upper reaches of Gulf St Vincent.
Sharman, a deckhand on another commercial fishing boat, sold the snapper he caught illegally in the sanctuary zone for $23,206.
Environment, Resources and Development Court Judge Michael Durrant said Sharman’s conduct “undermined the object and purpose’’ of the Marine Parks Act.
He said Sharman’s conduct was “serious, repetitive and deliberate’’ and that he was “aware of the restrictions’’ applying to fishing activities in the sanctuary zone.
“This offending constituted a conscious decision to obtain a commercial benefit and there is a need for personal deterrence in this case,’’ he said in his reasons for sentence.
The ERD court heard Sharman caught the snapper on longlines during eight separate fishing trips in the sanctuary zone that extends from Port Wakefield to Port Clinton and water north of that line between September 25, 2017, and October 10, 2017.
Sharman has appealed his conviction in the Supreme Court before Justices Kourakis, Stanley and Hughes, but judgment has not yet been handed down.
The State Government introduced 19 marine parks in 2014. Each of the parks contains several zones, including sanctuary zones in which both recreational and commercial fishing is banned.
Since the parks were introduced 824 recreational anglers have been formally warned and 21 of those have been fined $315 after being caught a second time fishing in a sanctuary zones. Another 45 have received educational letters.
The Port Clinton Wetlands sanctuary zone that Sharman was illegally fishing in is a recognised aggregation site for large schools of snapper that congregate in the shallow waters to spawn.
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In sentencing Sharman Judge Durrant said over the 12-day period of his offending, Sharman had “repeatedly travelled’’ into the sanctuary zone “to set and retrieve longlines in flagrant breach’’ of the Marine Parks Act.
He said a custodial sentence was warranted because of the “serious, repetitive and deliberate nature of the offending’’ and that Sharman was “aware of the restrictions applying to fishing’’ within the sanctuary zone.
The maximum penalty for each of the eight offences Sharman was found guilty of is a $100,000 fine or two years in jail.
Judge Durrant sentenced Sharman to a single penalty of five months jail for the eight offences, but suspended it in favour of a 12-month, $500 good behaviour bond because of his personal circumstances.
He ordered Sharman pay compensation of $10,000. He will also face a costs order in relation to the investigation.
