Joint operation to tackle illegal oyster scam
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Three key Government agencies have joined forces and launched a high-tech operation to tackle oyster thefts and address the growing black market that is hurting oyster farmers and could be potentially unsafe to consumers.
The aim of Operation Trident is to help dismantle the black market that rips off hundreds of thousands of oysters, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, across NSW each year.
To help scuttle the black market the NSW Department of Primary Industries, NSW Food Authority and NSW Police Force have today launched Operation Trident, a three pronged initiative to stamp out the illegal theft and trade of oysters.
“Last year alone an estimated 55,000 Sydney rock oysters were stolen from farms up and down the coast, most were mature and ready for eating. The value of the oysters runs into the hundreds of thousands and, like many primary producers, farmers were unable to insure their crop against loss,” Department of Primary Industries, Manager Fisheries Compliance, Glenn Tritton said today.
“Oysters are slow growing taking around 3 years to mature; this makes oyster theft even harder to swallow for an industry already struggling to recover from QX disease.
“A large proportion of oyster thefts are never reported, so 55,000 is a fairly conservative estimate. Operation Trident will encourage people to report all thefts, the more intelligence we get the better chance we have of catching those responsible,” Mr Tritton said.
Not only is it ripping off someone’s livelihood, but stolen oysters can be unsafe to eat.
“Stolen oysters pose a potential health risk if consumed, as they had not been depurated or filtered to flush out potentially dangerous toxins,” Food Authority Director General George Davey said.
“Stolen oysters that have not been covered by the NSW Shellfish Program are potentially very dangerous. This is a timely reminder for consumers to only buy oysters from a reputable supplier.”
Operation Trident will be a long term operation involving both covert and overt operations up and down the NSW coast.
“NSW Police Force and DPI will utilise state of the art surveillance equipment, including lasers, infra red cameras and high tech equipment to gather intelligence during Operation Trident,” Superintendent Terry Dalton of the NSW Police Force, Marine Area Command said.
“If you are ripping off someone else’s livelihood and selling potentially unsafe oysters to the public then you’re on notice that the full resources of these three agencies are now ranged against you,” Superintendent Dalton said.
“NSW Police Force Rural Crime Investigators and Marine Area Command Officers will be using a range of high-tech equipment and intelligence gathering to keep an eye on our oyster producing areas.
“The three agencies will share and review intelligence so the net is going to tighten around these thieves,” Superintendent Dalton said.
Apart from on-going overt and covert intelligence and surveillance activities, police Crime Prevention Officers and fisheries officers will also help distribute an information poster to hotels, pubs and clubs up and down the coast.
In addition, the poster will be distributed to hundreds of fish retailers across NSW by the Master Fish Merchants’ Association, while Restaurant & Catering NSW will distribute the poster to its 2,400 members.
The poster urges members of the public to call Crime Stoppers if they have any information about oyster theft and the black market trade.
“If you know anything, if someone approaches you in a pub or you run a restaurant and someone tries to flog cheap oysters then contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 and help us put an end to this scam,” advises Superintendent Dalton.
Download a copy of the poster (PDF, 128kb)
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