Ric de Vries has spent a lifetime around the water. It started when an 18-year-old Ric moved to Cape Paterson and landed a job with Fisheries. That was the beginning of a love affair with the water that eventually led him to Mornington and his true passion: abalone diving. Now 60, Ric has spent the last 30 years diving for abalone and has seen the market for the delicacy shift under his feet. “When I started out 30 years ago, all the abalone we caught was exported around the world at premium prices,” said Ric. “It was a huge, high-priced…
Browsing: abalone
Diving for a meal of wild abalone in Port Phillip is something special, enjoyed by lots of people every summer. To keep the bay’s abalone stocks healthy, we all need to do our bit, which includes abiding by bag and size limits. Fisheries Officers recently focused their efforts on the bay, apprehending 2 men at Mt Eliza with 147 abalone, 144 of which were undersize. The daily limit is 5 abalone per person. Both men will be charged on summons. For everything you need to know about abalone, including open days in Port Phillip along with bag and size limits…
TWO abalone poachers from the peninsula have been given prison sentences for trafficking a commercial quantity of the endangered shellfish. Last Friday in the County Court, Judge Mark Dean jailed Andrew Carpmael, 49, of Rosebud for 18 months with a minimum of nine months. Simon Hillman, of Rye, received a 12-month sentence suspended for two years. Each man pleaded guilty to one charge of trafficking a commercial quantity of abalone. The judge also banned the pair from having commercial abalone equipment, Carpmael for 10 years and Hillman for three. Hillman, a professional diver who works at Peninsula Hot Springs near…