Spear fisherman fined R10 000

10 Oct 2011

A spear fisherman who killed a rare potato bass while fishing off the beach in Scottburgh was sentenced to a fine of R10 000. The potato bass species is specially protected and can grow up to two metres in length and weigh up to 100 kilograms.

It is one of ten specially protected marine fish species along with the basking shark, the coelacanth, the great white shark, pipe-fish, sea-horses, sawfishes and whale sharks, seventy-fours, Brindle bass and Natal wrasse.

The fisherman, Dylan Maurice Pearson of Freeland Park, Scottburgh, pleaded guilty to the charges bought under the Marine Living Resources Act. His sentence was suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.

Magistrate Val Dube agreed to suspend his sentence after taking his personal and financial circumstances into account. She said that he was also a first-time offender who had admitted his mistake and co-operated fully with the court.

Pearson was arrested by Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife marine officers on 12 September after a member of the public reported seeing him with a large fish that was thought to be a potato bass on the beach at Scottburgh.

Illegal activities by fisherman can be reported to the Ezemvelo Marine Hot Line on +27 (0)83 380 6298.

Paddy Hartdegen

About Paddy Hartdegen

Paddy Hartdegen has been working as a journalist and writer for the past 40 years since his first article was published in the Sunday Tribune when he was just 16-years-old. He has written 13 books, edited a plethora of business-to-business publications and written for most of the major newspapers in South Africa.