Stolen Pots Wellington Point Wednesday 1/4/2015

Had all 4 pots stolen out the front of wellington point during Wednesday.
4 blue 'heavy duty' rogue pots from BCF
pots all had holes repaired with white string
1 pot has the plastic pipe attached to the steel ring on one end via a green string
floats are the white grooved ones that crab'n'gear stock with a piece of plastic pipe down the hole with reflective tape on the end - fashioned as a flag look a like.

Pots had been out Monday night, checked Tuesday afternoon/night and rebaited and were gone by Wednesday night.
Pots were located on the right of the beacons heading out from the ramp at wello, in line with the second last set of beacons and the point on the right.

If anyone was out Wednesday and saw the pots or anything please let me know.
No crabs for Easter now.

We're they close to any pro pots. I have heard that if pots are to close some pro's will remove them.

reason I stopped crabbing down wello a few weeks ago.i learnt a leason there last year at easter time.weekend b4 was good couple of days b4 good Friday was good,good Friday every pot was slashed.mind you mud isn't any better...

No pro pots that I could see. Made sure to keep distance between mine and other pots to avoid this.
I was hoping to get in before the easter holidays started.

Does anyone know what they do with the pots once taken? Do they sell to pros, change floats and add to their own collection?

Does anyone know what they do with the pots once taken? Do they sell to pros, change floats and add to their own collection?[/QUOTE]


don't think anyone will answer this question, if they do know they are an accessory to me if they don't report them

I will rephrase then, does anyone have any theories as to the lives of the pots once removed from their original owners?

This is what I do to my crab pots to mark them with surname & place of residence permanently.
Use a dremel & mark the uprights of each pot.
If they are stolen the pots can still be identified as someones other than the thief.

May not prevent pots being vandalized but is a good deterrent for pot thieves.

Go back to chicken wire mesh pots.

I had similar thing around paradise point... (my post can be found in reports - I got crabs").

I spoke with fisheries who launched an investigation with Water Police.

I cant say too much about it - as it is still ongoing but

1) I urge everyone to report it to Fisheries - I thought they wouldnt care - but I found them to be VERY interested and proactive and dedicated significant resources into my complaint - including covert work, baiting potential thieves and working with Water Police, and update emails etc.

2) I now dont leave my pots out of site generally as I have also learnt the hard way - unless we use the best investment in crabbing I have bought in a long time - a $150 waterproof night vision capable fish eye camera that records to SD card, we can leave tied in the mangroves overlooking a float in our line of drop. Every boat that goes near our pot - is recorded! Fisheries do this - but with much more sophisticated equipment.

3) As for guessing what is done with the pots - well the cheap BCF ones we had - they were all sliced open in the bottom, crabs removed and thrown back in with float attached.... The expensive pro style ones from Crab'n'gear were stolen - All of them..
Fisheries said they just put a new float and rope on them, and use them in a different location. Fisheries spent days pulling every pot around paradise point in early April - to check if they had my pots - but nudder..

4) Make your pots somehow identifiable - either engrave the uprights, or engrave the rings if 10 / 12mm quality ones or both - that way if it is stolen, rebirthed and used - and pulled by water police or fisheries - they can ID it as yours.

5) Fisheries inspector told me when they do catch someone - and raid their house - it was common to find a large stack of stolen pots etc - and so there is a chance if your pots are identifiable - they still could be returned down the track.

Best wishes and plenty of crabs,

Brad.

Some pros are notorious for doing exactly what you describe. Weekend warriors will steal even the cheap pots.

We just used the generic plastic ID tags that BCF sell so easily removed and then nothing really to identify them as our own.
Assuming they would be smart enough to not use the pots in the same area it would seem unlikely to see them again. Even if they are found i doubt they would have been looked after and I have already replaced them now.