Cronulla serial abalone poacher Steven Brear admits to fishing charges

A prolific fishing thief who has been convicted of poaching a seafood delicacy in four states wanted to try his luck ‘one more time’ for a potential profit of only $491.

Serial abalone poacher Steven Brear has pleaded guilty to trafficking the fish and appeared in Sutherland Local Court for a sentencing hearing. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

A serial seafood delicacy poacher was caught in a covert sting stealing protected fish once again, a court has heard.

Steven John Brear, 52, fronted Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday for a sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty to a range of fishing offences relating to 2021 and 2022.

The court heard the recreational fisherman from Cronulla, who was never granted a commercial licence, had been fined and committed fisheries offences in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania dating back to 1997.

Agreed facts tendered to the court said fisheries officers were conducting covert patrols near Ulladulla on May 9 this year when they spotted Brear, in diving gear, near Warden Head.

Brear was seen putting a large bag into his je tski’s compartment, returning to the boat ramp and driving away.

Steven Brear who is a serial abalone poacher has pleaded guilty to trafficking. Picture: Ashleigh Tullis

Officers watched Brear pull over on the Princes Highway, walk into the bushes and emerge a short time later carrying a white box.

Six eastern rock lobsters were found, despite two per person being the legal limit.

In total, 94 abalones were discovered during the search, with two being the possession limit.

Brear was charged with trafficking an indictable species of fish, two counts possessing more fish than the limit in circumstances of aggravation and possessing prohibited sized fish.

Fisheries officers arrest abalone poacher Steven Brear on his return to Melbourne from Tasmania.

Meanwhile, Brear was also caught breaching a number of fisheries rules in July 2021.

NSW fisheries officers were conducting a covert patrol along the coastline of the Royal National Park between Bundeena and Otford.

They saw him drop two lobster traps into the water despite recreational fishers only being permitted to use one trap at a time.

On October 1, Brear was seen in the same location on his jet ski removing and replacing 19 sets of commercial lobster fishers’ traps from the water.

Officers also discovered Brear did not hold a current recreation fishing licence from July 29 to October 1.

Brear was charged with two counts of unlawfully using a net or trap for taking fish; setting an unidentified trap; interfering with set fishing gear without reasonable excuse and three counts of failing to pay a recreational fishing fee.

Steven Brear was caught with 546 abalones while driving off the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and jailed for 17 months.

Brear has previously been jailed for two years and fined $180,000 for one count of trafficking in fish; and in October 2007 he was caught with 546 abalones while driving off the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and jailed for 17 months.

In court, a fisheries prosecutor said trafficking abalones was a serious offence because the species was afforded the highest level of protection and the crime involved dishonestly and financial gain.

He noted Brear knew the regulations because he had been sentenced and convicted in NSW previously for similar offending.

The prosecutor said Brear had committed 25 fisheries offences on 10 separate occasions and all but six involved abalones and lobsters.

Fisheries officers caught Steven Brear with hundreds of poached abalones.

The court heard Brear was “trying his luck one more time” knowing full well his actions were illegal.

Brear, who represented himself, acknowledged he was “undeniably stupid” and “dumb” when he took the abalones, adding he knew he had a bad fishing history.

He claimed he did not take the abalones to make a large profit noting the $491 he would have gotten from the sale of the fish would have been less than his expenses to stay on the south coast.

Brear also claimed he had not stolen fish from the traps he was checking but was rather trying to find ones he believed had previously been stolen from him,

The case was adjourned to December 6 for sentence.