Tourists and locals clash over cockle poaching at Lake Illawarra
Locals living near Lake Illawarra are forming citizen militias to fight hordes of poachers illegally collecting huge hauls of cockles. They say they have been forced to act as fines are no deterrent for those selling the shellfish on the black market for fat profits.
NSW
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Locals living beside a South Coast saltwater lake are forming citizen militias to fight hordes of poachers raiding its waters to illegally collect huge hauls of a tasty shellfish.
The state government has warned the residents of the dangers of confronting the cockle poachers at Lake Illawarra near Wollongong.
But the lake’s defenders say they have been forced to act because there are so few NSW Fisheries patrols and inadequate fines — often just a few hundred dollars — are no deterrent to poachers who can sell the cockles on the black market for fat profits.
A NSW amateur fishing licence is needed to collect only 50 cockles, also known as Venus shells, at a time.
But Lake Illawarra residents have filmed people bragging about hauls in the hundreds.
Kevin Lightowlers, from Warrawong, compelled one man to count his catch on video and throw most of the shellfish back into the water.
“I’ve seen a group of eight with at least 1500 cockles between them, which is more than a thousand over the bag limit,” Mr Lightowlers said.
“Overfishing like this will kill the lake; everything will die off and the lake will turn to crap.
“Fisheries are pulling these guys up but the fines aren’t doing anything — I see the same guys all the time.”
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After complaints from locals, a Department of Primary Industries (DPI) Fisheries crackdown on harvesters between December 20 and January 31, which included undercover officers, netted 146 alleged offenders with 9409 illegally harvested cockles.
In total, 54 fines worth $18,300 were doled out, in addition to 116 written warnings.
“It is important that the public do not try to take matters into their own hands by conducting unauthorised inspections of other fishers’ catch,” a DPI spokeswoman said.
An online petition for “fully trained volunteer locals with powers to detain and prosecute” to battle the cockle poachers has attracted 1959 signatures.
Vanessa Wright, who grew up and now holidays at Oak Flats on the lake, confronted a man with an overflowing bucket of cockles.
The man falsely argued the catch was legal because he was splitting it with 10 family and friends waiting in nearby Central Park.
“We’ve got 10 people, so we have 500 cockles,” the man said.
Cockles can’t be collected on behalf of someone else with a fishing licence who is not actively gathering the shellfish, according to the DPI.
The “cockle thieves” have reached “epidemic proportions” according to Ms Wright, who founded Facebook group Lake Illawarra Protection Taskforce to rally the community.
“I started the group so people could be more aware of the issue, with the intention of supporting Fisheries and police,” she said.
“Droves of people are driving down from western Sydney and loading bucket after bucket of cockles into their (car) boots.”
Shellharbour MP Anna Watson has called for a temporary ban on cockle collecting in the lake to let stocks recuperate.
During summer, local Rick Olender sees busloads of people arrive at the lake early most Saturday mornings, and leave with catches well in excess of the legal limit.
He suspects some sell them commercially on the black market, based on Facebook ads spruiking Lake Illawarra cockles.
“This summer has been worse than ever, even though a lot of the vigilantes have frightened some of them off,” Mr Olender said.
Lake Illawarra resident Toby Napper said: “It’s sad people are overindulging in taking cockles, which will ruin the lake’s ecosystem.
“It’s worse that out-of-towners are responsible because they won’t be here to deal with the fallout, when our kids can’t enjoy the lake.”
The cockle wars aren’t limited to Lake Illawarra.
Two men were found with 6000 cockles at Lake Macquarie, four women were caught with 892 cockles at Kogarah Bay and a trio were busted with 830 cockles from Merimbula Lake in recent years.
Originally published as Tourists and locals clash over cockle poaching at Lake Illawarra