Abalone poaching is having a devastating effect on the commercial industry, according to a Eurobodalla abalone diver.
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The diver, who asked to remain anonymous, says abalone was everywhere about a decade ago but is now becoming harder to find.
“In a small area, you used to be able to find a lot of abalone,” he said. “Now, to find that same amount, you’re covering a massive area. There are even spots where there’s not any left.”
The Eurobodalla diver harvests abalone commercially for a company interstate, before it is exported to Japan and China.
He can tell when there have been illegal harvests because there’ll be a shortage of undersized abalone.
“You’ll notice when they’ve been there. You might have seen a spot with a lot of small ones there... and then the next time, they’re all gone.”
It is illegal to harvest abalone that is undersized.
“They couldn’t have been taken legally. Poachers are damaging it because they’re taking below the size limit. The limit was put there because abalone doesn’t spawn until they’re a certain size. If they’re not spawning, there’s less and less every year.”
Abalone is valuable because it’s considered a delicacy.
The diver said it was very popular in Chinese and Japanese dishes.
He said the “black market” stuff was mostly sold to restaurants in Sydney.
Abalone is found in the shallow water, down to about 30m deep along the NSW, Tasmanian, South Austraian, Westeran Australian and Victorian coastlines.
“Most of the NSW coastline is accessible to the general public so a lot of poaching happens because everyone can get to it easily. But in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria there’s a lot of offshore reefs and secluded coastlines, so it’s not so accessible to Joe Blow.”
He says it’s hard to picture where the industry will be in 10 years’ time, but if it keeps going the way it is, it’s sure to be depleted.
He said 10 years ago, a licence holder could harvest up to 10 tonnes a season. Now, he said it’s about a quarter of that.
“It causes depletion and it’s just not good. It just wipes them out. It’s not like 10 or 20 years ago when they were everywhere. Now you struggle to find them in places and it’s directly related to poaching.”
