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Lobster three fined $110,000

Under threat: The black market is a danger to WA fisheries. Picture: Mogens Johansen/The West Australian

WA's lucrative lobster black market has taken a significant hit after three Cervantes fishermen were convicted and fined more than $110,000 for illegally selling rock lobsters after a covert operation by fisheries officers.

Fisheries Department compliance and regional support manager John Looby said the penalties handed last week to Arthur Anthony Della-Santina and brothers Norman Thomas Gazeley and Allan John Gazeley were an important win in the fight against the lobster black market.

"We deliberately pitch the penalty scale high for illegal commercial activity because it's very difficult to catch and as the activity can be profitable, the penalties need to be an effective deterrent," he said.

"The fact that three men got around $118,000 in penalties - it's the type of message we want to send. If you do engage in black market activities, the department does have the methodologies to apprehend you and the penalties could be quite severe."

Della-Santina and the Gazeleys were convicted of charges including dealing in 100 rock lobsters in a black market sale to an undercover fisheries officer in 2011.

The men were charged after an investigation, codenamed Operation Cosmos, targeting illegal commercial trading.

Della-Santina and Norman Gazeley had also faced charges including overpotting and processing lobsters for a commercial purpose without a licence and they were convicted after a trial in Perth Magistrate's Court last week.

Della-Santina was fined $35,762, which included a $21,762 mandatory penalty, while Gazeley was fined $43,750, which included a mandatory $28,250 penalty.

Allan Gazeley had also been due to stand trial but was convicted of the charges in his absence after he did not turn up to court for the trial. He was fined a total of $34,128.

All three men's recreational fishing licences were suspended for 12 months.

Mr Looby said the illegal sales of lobster were at the top end of fishery offences.

He said taking fish and selling them for commercial gain without a licence not only jeopardised the livelihoods of legitimately licensed fishers but also threatened the sustainability of the fishery.

"If we lose control of the fishery and it crashes, we may never get it back at the same level, so this type of natural resource crime is particularly serious," he said.