Court backs lobster cruelty fine against Sydney Fish Markets store

THE state’s first crustacean cruelty conviction will stand after Nicholas Seafood at Glebe lost an appeal in the District Court.

Stills from a video of a Nicholas Seafood employee incorrectly killing a lobster.

• One of Sydney’s biggest seafood stores convicted of animal cruelty charges for torturing a lobster
• Lobster cruelty fine prompts debate over whether crustaceans feel pain

THE state’s first crustacean cruelty conviction will stand after Nicholas Seafood at Glebe lost an appeal in the District Court.

The conviction was recorded after photographs emerged of a staffer (pictured right) carving up a lobster without first stunning it at the store’s Sydney Fish Markets premises.

The store had appealed the “severity” of a $1500 fine imposed by the Sydney Downing Centre Court in February relating to a charge of an act of animal cruelty.

It had been enforced after a member of the public recorded a fishmonger killing the lobster without any attempt to stun the animal to mitigate its suffering.

The footage shows the lobster struggling as the monger attempts to butcher it.

It remained alive after its tail was cut off and its head was fed through a band saw 20 seconds later.

The RSPCA issued the company a fine but the owner instead opted to take the matter to court where Nicholas Seafood was subsequently found guilty.

In the District Court on July 17, the judge dismissed the appeal, citing longstanding Department of Agriculture guidelines regarding the humane killing of ­crustaceans.

The appellant claimed that the publicity garnered from the original conviction had affected business, and submitted the RSPCA’s media release as an exhibit.

However, the judge rejected the submission stating that courts were open to the public and the public was entitled to be informed of the dealings therein.

Crustaceans were added to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act in 1997 after it was scientifically proven that they feel pain and stress.

“This case sets an interesting precedent,” RSPCA NSW chief inspector David O’Shannessy said.

“The media from this initial conviction even made it to the Washington Post, and we’ve since seen groups in the UK lobby for similar legislation.”