Jewfish found dumped in Palmerston, fears illegal swim bladder trade to blame

Posted September 28, 2017 19:58:55

Northern Territory police suspect the discovery of almost 20 black jewfish dumped in a bush with only their innards removed could be linked to a growing black market trade in the species' lucrative swim bladders.

The swim bladder is considered a delicacy and an aphrodisiac in Asia and is estimated to have increased in value to as much as $500 per kilogram, which equates to about four bladders.

NT Police said a man found the dumped jewfish while walking his dog near the intersection of Chung Wah Terrace and Elrundie Avenue in Palmerston yesterday.

Audio: Listen to Tales from the Tinny on ABC Radio Darwin (Tales from the Tinny)

"We believe that these fish were most likely a recreational take, the fish were all gilled and gutted and the air bladders removed but none of the fillets were taken," Water Police Sergeant Andrew Hocking told ABC Radio Darwin's Tales from the Tinny.

"The meat still has value to a commercial trader…[and] there is a requirement to tag their bladders. Bladders in those circumstances have no value to commercial fisherman at all."

Sgt Hocking said the black market trade in jewfish swim bladders could be quite significant.

"If this in an actual indication of what may be going on out there then we are very concerned," he said.

The NT Seafood Council said it had been told some fishing charters are illegally selling black jewfish swim bladders to capitalise on rising demand for the product.

"The stories that you hear from people who've either been on a charter fishing boat and the swim bladders were retained and they asked why and they were told 'Oh there's a good market for them'," said Katherine Winchester, chief executive officer of the council.

"There's also stories of black jewfish carcasses being left at boat ramps and the only thing missing is the jewfish swim bladder."

In a separate incident this week, about 400 reef fish were found dumped, whole, at nearby Marlow Lagoon in Palmerston.

"I would suggest that it's come from a commercial sector somewhere where a freezer might have gone off and they've dumped the fish along the track so they didn't have to take it to the tip where they could be identified," Senior Constable Sean Stanley said.

NT Police are urging fishers to report any suspicious activity to authorities.

Topics: fishing-aquaculture, illegal-fishing, law-crime-and-justice, palmerston-0830, darwin-0800, nt