Men caught with 6000 cockles at Lake Macquarie

[nsw_fisheries]

http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/gen/news/fb_04mar09_men.htm

"This document has been posted for information and to encourage discussion among yourselves. For more information from NSW Fisheries on the issue, please visit our web site on www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au"

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Men caught with 6000 cockles at Lake Macquarie
March 9, 2004
Two Sydney men will be prosecuted in court after being found last night at Lake Macquarie with more than 6000 cockles – 60 times the daily legal limit.

NSW Fisheries officers, acting on a tip-off from a concerned member of the public, caught the men with seven large containers of cockles at Stingaree Point near Dora Creek.

The Acting Director-General of NSW Fisheries, Paul O’Connor, said the men, aged 40 and 34 from Fairfield, will be summonsed to appear in court on illegal fishing charges.

“This is one of the single largest seizures of cockles in NSW in recent years.

“There is a bag limit of 50 cockles per person per day, and the maximum penalty for exceeding this limit is an $11,000 fine and/or three months jail.

“As each man was legally allowed to collect 50 cockles, their catch of more than 6000 meant they each had 60 times the legal limit.”

The NSW Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Ian Macdonald, said the case showed that people who break the State’s fishing laws can expect to be caught and prosecuted.

“ Our State's fisheries are a community-owned resource. We all have a responsibility to protect and safeguard this natural asset for present and future generations,” Mr Macdonald said.

“Illegal fishing threatens valuable fish stocks, undermines licensed commercial fishers and the regional economies they support, and endangers the health of consumers who eat seafood.

“Illegal fishers make their profits at the expense of law-abiding fishers and thwart the NSW Government’s efforts to maintain and enhance fish stocks.”

Anyone concerned about illegal fishing should contact their local NSW Fisheries office or the Fishers’ Watch number 1800 043 536.

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Eric Aubert on 8437 4948 or 0419 185 375.

[ba229]

$11,000 ? how about making these fines a little more serious.

how about $50,000 and your boat. and if there is 2 people take the boat off one and if the other has a boat at home take that aswell.

i don't know how much cockles are worth but that penalty would mean they are only a paying tax i would imagine.

[propdinger]

cockles====== are they pippies?????

[Jeremy87]

Good question propdinger, what the hell is a cockle and why would anyone want 6000 of them. I wonder who had to count them all ;). Anyway thats definatly worthy of an $11 000 fine. They should introduce a law that people caught commiting crimes like this should be banned from fishing and cockle collecting etc so they can't do it in the future.
jeremy

[basserman]

i'm a NSWelsh man i i don't know what a cockle is i have hread of pippis but ???

[michael_Brewer]

last time we stayed at kirkleigh, somerset dam(freshwater), we collected about 30 "mollusc thingies" along the shore line. If I remember correctly they resembled a mussel! is this a cockle? i think they were black on the outside and the inside was a shiny....and colourful like alot of shells are. ok.... very poor description.................... :-/ :-/ :-/
what are they though...cockles???
cheers
Mick

[Zeeke]

pretty sure cockles are small moluscs that have a dome like shell that affix themselves to rocks in tidal areas.. commonly used in the asian food market in soups and such..

Tim

[imported_admin]

They are sometimes refered to as Baby Clams due to the ridges on the side.

Cockles Katelysia scalarina Anadara trapezius

Distribution - Cockles are also known as Venus shells and can be found from NSW to southern Western Australia, including Tasmania. Sydney cockle, A. trapezius, inhabits estuaries, mud flats and seagrass beds. Sand cockle, K. scalarina, inhabits tidal flats and estuary mouths on protected or sandy subtidal sediment underlying seagrass beds to about 5 metres depth.

Size - The Sydney cockle can attain a maximum diameter of 8 centimetres, whilst the sand cockle reaches 4 to 5 centimetres.

Characteristics - Cockles are bivalve molluscs belonging to the family's Arcidae and Veneridae. The shells (valves) are oval and oblique in shape with outward radiating ribs on the surface. They are usually white, cream or light brown in colour.

Confusing species - The presence of pronounced ridges makes sand cockles easy to distinguish from pipis, which have a smooth shell. The concentric less prominent ridges of surf clams (Dosinia sp.) distinguishes them from cockles.

[Take5]

They are a top bream bait, but I would never think to put them in a pasta or a soup. They are a realy bloody when you crack them open. So 6000 cockles, some of which would make two baits = a whole lot

[Heath]

Asian's love cockles. Most of restuarants in Cabramatta have cockle soop etc.

Fairfield is the next suburb to Cabramatta. I reckon we can safley say they were on their way to the restuaraunts.

[stark]

Cockle Soup

http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/14/083312.SHTML

Not the same little chappie, but you get the idea.

Cheers
John

[basserman]

6000 would make for one hell of a soup! :P

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

They are a very popular little item up around this region. And they go in everything from fried Kwea Teow (spelling) to seefood laksas to threaded on a stick at a dip dip store. Pretty tasty little blighters, with quite a strong seafood flavour.
Be warned though:
One little slightly dodgy one will have you spending up to 3 days within 5 steps of a dunny, and a real dodgy one will introduce you to a stomach pump. Sort of went off them after having a slightly dodgy one a few years back. Don't miss them. :-/
Never had them in aus though, so as long as they are fresh, have a go.
Cheers
Jeff

[Take5]

Hmmmm .......... I think i will

[propdinger]

think i might stick with my prawns, fish and mussells

jeff

[porl]

cockles, steam them in wine and garlic and italian parsley until they open, take them out, reduce the liquid - toss in butter and a good fresh cooked pasta, maybe some chilli flakes, toss in the opened cockles in the shell, stir around and mix in, season with sea salt and pepper. Done well you pay around $30 for a plate of this in a good quality italian restaurant. Living in brissie i am forced to buy crap bottled stuff, i gotta get to dora creek, but how to catch a cockle i have no idea. and i'd never use 50.

[porl]

oh, i forgot the olive oil but that's at the beginning and its just something your meant to do without thinking which is why i did not type it without thinking.

[neptune]

I get into enough trouble with one cockle.

[porl]

Linguine Vongole.

Cockles + very good olive oil + garlic + wine + pasta + italian parsely + cracked pepper = DIVINE pasta dish that appears in many restaurants for about $20 a dish.

I live in brissy and just got back from Adelaide where they were selling them live at the central markets for $3.50/kg. Am kicking myself for not bringing back a kilo or two in an esky cause on the way from the airport i stopped at a few big seafood outlets and no, no live vongole, just frozen ones at twice the price.

So, can i get them in Queensland ? From above it appears their distribution does not extend into Qld ? I'd love to be able to get out to moreton bay and dig some up ...

[Derek Bullock]

Wow

Took a double take when I saw the subject heading then realised I had misread it.

I thought it was about someone with 6000 cock les but then I realised it wasn't about an alien after all. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D


Derek

[ba229]

Now, now Derek. Potty humour won't get you anywhere #;D

[dasher]

Yep they are pippies. Didn't know they were known as cockles in NSW ??? Eating wise they are great, we used to eat them straight off the beach many years ago, these days they are harder to find and generally a lot smaller. :( Best way to get them firstly find a beach where u know they are. ::) Then for those old enough, get into the Chubby Checker dance in the wash on an outgoing tide, you'll feel some with your feet and you'll see the others just under the sand in the wash. And for you youngies, well you'll just have to do a search on Chubby. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[bugman]

Reminds of the tale the Fraser Barge operator told me a few years back.

A group of people got on the barge at Inskip with a couple of car loads of people and a flat tray 4x4. Oh and there was thing called a TRACTOR with a tilling rake attached.

Barge operator gets a bit suspicius and calls fisheries.

By the time fisheries arrive the group had plowed up around 500m of beach and collected over 20 crates of pippis on the back of the 4x4. Needless to say fisheries didn't like the idea much and asked them politely to put them back while impounding the 4x4, tractor etc and gave them a lovely little ticket to appear in court at a future date. ;D

Bugman

[ba229]

Hey dasher, a pippi and a cockle are different things. At least they are here in Lake Macquarie.

Pippi's are the things you find at the beach and cockles are a bit like a mussle and live in clumps in silty or weedy water.

[rando]

Porl. Try horseshoe bay, a couple of years ago I made a killer pasta dish of cocKles and pippis caught fresh while we were anchored up in horseshoe just as you discribed. Served it to about 8 friends and washed it down with a very good Chablis nicely chilled. Fantastic!!!
By the way, a mate of mine who skippers a charter boat up on the reef told me that the Razor shells you find in the area are equally good tucker.
Bon Appertite'
Rando

[DICER]

pitty those guys didn't have a "killa" pasta dish themselves, or a fast tide to wash those cockles and anything else, etc, far out to sea!

no pitty,

DICER

[toorbul_terror]

Fairfield? What Nationality

[ba229]

Australian

[nonibbles]

I hope they get charged by at least the same multiple of times they breached the limit (but I bet they don't) another family member will probably be out getting more the day they are in court.

[Boxhead]

Fellas, fellas, fellas, lets give this poor Sydneyites the benifit of the doubt.... Maybe they had been camping there for 2 months and just go their limit every day? We are probably lucky that one (or both) of them did not injure themselves on council property and sue there arses off...