Fisherman Mark Eather fined $177,000 over lobster trafficking

HIGH profile fisherman Mark William Eather has been fined more than $177,000 and will not be able to hold a fishing licence in Tasmania after being sentenced for trafficking rock lobster.

Mark Eather leaves the Supreme Court in Hobart after his sentencing for rock lobster trafficking. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

HIGH profile fisherman Mark William Eather has been fined more than $177,000 and will not be able to hold a fishing licence in Tasmania after being sentenced for trafficking rock lobster.

Eather, 58, originally pleaded not guilty to trafficking in 605kg of untagged rock lobster between January 2011 and October 2011 in Boomer Bay.

The fisherman of more than 30 years, who was well-known in the industry as a champion of ethical and sustainable fishing, had been fighting the case through Tasmanian courts for more than five years.

Top chefs, including Neil Perry, Kylie Kwong and Chris Bonello, were among Mr Eather’s customers. He also sold rock lobster to Mona’s The Source Restaurant and the Agrarian Kitchen cooking school in Tasmania. The Crown had argued Eather engaged in trafficking because he did not hold an app­ropriate fishing licence at the time and the fish were not tagged.

The charges against him were thrown out by Justice Shan Tennent in June 2015, with a ruling that no jury could have found him guilty.

But an appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions was successful in overturning that decision and ordered a retrial.

Eather changed his plea to guilty he said “purely to cease this ludicrous case”.

In sentencing in the Supreme Court in Hobart, Chief Justice Alan Blow said Eather had a number of previous offences, such as marine farming without a licence and various scallop offences.

Chief Justice Blow said the Tasmanian seafood industry was very valuable and needed to be preserved for future generations.

He said heavy penalties needed to apply to deter “greedy and selfish people” from operating outside of the regulations.

Chief Justice Blow said the crime was “too serious not to impose a conviction” and fined Eather $7500 and applied a special penalty amounting to a further $169,666.

The conviction will also result in demerit points, meaning Eather will not be able to hold a fishing licence in Tasmania.

Eather said outside the court the charge had severely affected his family, personal life and business over the past five-and-a-half years.

“My business will continue because I’ve got fishermen who work for me all over the country, but whether I do any more business in Tasmania – it’s just ridiculous,” he said.

“I love Tasmania and Tasmania deserves better – there’s a lot of really good hardworking fishermen here who get the rough end of the stick from administrators who are more intent on putting obstacles in their road.”