Shaun Cox: Pomona man makes $200k from illegally caught golden perch

A commercial fisherman who pocketed more than $200,000 by selling hundreds of illegally caught fish at the Footscray Market has faced court.

The junction of the Darling and Murray rivers at Wentworth. A man who caught golden perch in the Darling River and had them transported to Victoria for sale has faced court. Picture: Toby Zerna

A commercial fisherman pocketed more than $200,000 by selling hundreds of illegally caught fish at the Footscray Market over three years, a court has heard.

Pomona labourer Shaun Russell Cox, 38, pleaded guilty to knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime at Mildura County Court on Wednesday.

The court heard $205,602.66 was deposited into two bank accounts belonging to Cox’s partner after he sold golden perch he illegally caught in the Darling River in NSW.

Cox used a transport company to deliver the fish to a buyer who would sell the fish at the Footscray Market between July 2017 and March 2019.

The court heard Cox held an expired South Australian commercial fishing licence at the time.

He would catch golden perch using nets in the Darling between Wilcannia and Wentworth, then place them in white polystyrene boxes that had the expired licence number on them.

The court was told 65 consignments to Melbourne were made, with 11,844kg of the illegally caught fish delivered.

Cox made admissions to NSW Fisheries officers, telling them he knew it was illegal to catch the fish without a licence but he was unaware golden perch were commercially protected in that state.

Judge John Smallwood said penalties relating to fish taken from NSW was a matter for NSW and Cox was only being sentenced for what occurred in Victoria.

However, Judge Smallwood said he’d visited the Darling in 2019 and it was “not a pretty site”.

“The environmental crime in NSW is complete when those fish cross the Murray River, so I have to be very careful – despite how I might feel about it,” Judge Smallwood said.

The court was told Cox had not been charged for taking the fish in NSW and had received a $12,000 fine.

Judge Smallwood said Cox could have made a significant amount of money from the sale of the fish had he not been caught.

“That’s a lot of golden perch,” Judge Smallwood said.

Cox was fined $10,000 for dealing with the proceeds of crime and a further $1000 over the sale of the fish caught without a licence.

He will also have to pay a pecuniary penalty, an amount to be decided after costs incurred by Cox during the sale of fish are taken from the $205,602.66.

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