NSW fisheries officials are demanding stab-resistant vests and capsicum spray to do their jobs safely

Supervisory fisheries officer Joe Wright knows all too well the dangers of confronting a fisherman suspected of an illegal catch.

He says situations can quickly become hostile.

“People drove cars into me, they got very aggressive,” he said.

Mr Wright is one of dozens of fisheries officials in New South Wales who have been threatened with abuse while working to protect oceans, rivers and estuaries.

These officers are now demanding stab-resistant vests and capsicum spray, fearing that workers are at risk of being injured or even killed.

The union representing the officers says they are unsafe and “operationally ineffective” when they come face to face with poachers and organized criminals.

In March, a fisheries officer in Iluka on the NSW north coast was threatened with a wood bat and chased through the town in his car after conducting covert surveillance at night.

The officer had been monitoring a trawler suspected of illegal fishing.

The suspect faces thirteen criminal charges in court, including resisting and obstructing a fisheries official.

Mr Wright says many officers do not feel safe doing their jobs.

“The fact that no New South Wales fisheries officer in recent history has been killed doing his job there is a testament to the caliber of people who actually do this job,” he said.

The high value of premium seafood has increased the appeal of illegal activities.

“All you need is a wetsuit and an abalone removal device,” Wright said.

“In a few hours you can literally take hundreds and hundreds of abalones.

“There is a very valuable market for these species.”

Attacks, gunshots and death threats

More than a dozen officers have been threatened with shooting or stabbing or significant threats of violence over the past decade, according to the Public Service Association.

“Our counterparts in Victoria are equipped with stab resistant vests and capsicum spray, we are just asking for the same equipment,” Mr Wright said.

NSW fisheries officials have the authority to use body-worn cameras, but Mr Wright said they cannot activate them on private property without the consent of the person they suspect of wrongdoing.

New laws are also being demanded that give them basic search rights, such as those of inspectors in Queensland and Victoria, along with GPS monitoring for commercial fishing vessels.

Fisheries officials who are members of the Public Service Association of NSW (PSA) have refused to carry out night-time inspections of trawlers without police assistance from September.

Inspections of all commercial fishing activities in inland waters outside non-police hours have also been halted.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries says it “disagrees with PSA’s assertion that the department requires fisheries officers to perform work in an unsafe environment”.

Try pepper spraying

In correspondence between the ministry and the Public Service Association shown to the ABC, Department of Fisheries and Forestry deputy secretary Sean Sloan accepted there were inherent risks associated with the role.

“Our existing safety processes and systems have been carefully developed over time and are continually assessed,” he said in the document.

“It is a built-in and fundamental aspect of our security framework that we direct officers to withdraw from situations they believe are not safe.”

The department said it has conducted a 12-month trial of capsicum spray on the state’s south coast and is introducing an improved body-worn camera system.

The department will not release results of the trial while the matter is before the Industrial Relations Commission.

Industry representatives say there is “absolutely” a risk of physical harm to fisheries officials.

Abalone Association NSW co-chair Stephen Bunney is a second-generation abalone diver. He says illegal poaching is increasing on the far south coast.

“We’ve seen organized crime come back into New South Wales, especially around abalone and some other species here on a large scale,” he said.

“Last year there was over 50 tonnes of illegal fishing in New South Wales, so that’s serious organized crime, you’re looking at over $15 million worth of product.”

At the same time, the level of sophistication also increases.

“The organized crime people have a lot of facilities in communications and night vision,” Bunney said.

He also questioned how serious the risk had to be for NSW police to gain jurisdiction.

“If we start talking about organized crime and gangs like that, I would say compliance certainly plays a role in gathering intelligence and interdicting it wherever it can be done safely.

‘But… you really have to hand that over to the police, because you’re talking about organized motorcycle gangs, you’re talking about crime gangs.

“Compliance officers… they do a great job, but the police are the police.”