Four prominent Wollongong personalities and two seafood businesses charged with hundreds of offences relating to the alleged over-fishing of eastern rock lobster off the Wollongong coast are set to front Sutherland Court for a joint hearing in November.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
One of the businesses, Seacliff Functions, is facing 73 charges, while its boss, Andrew Harrison and chef Emmanuel Efstathiadis, have a combined 14 stemming from the NSW Fisheries investigation, which took place between early 2013 and mid-2014.
The main target of the operation, Wollongong fisherman Pasquale Brancatisano, has been slapped with 117 charges, while his employer, fishing company Lochiel South, and one of its directors, Tory Lavalle are facing a combined 36 charges.
The prosecution will allege NSW Fisheries officers observed Brancatisano on many occasions sort lobsters into two or three bins on the deck of his boat, tagging the majority according to regulations, but leaving others untagged or tagged incorrectly.
These lobsters were then loaded into the back of his truck and delivered to the already named restaurants, Fisheries officials claim.
It is alleged several parties to the alleged crimes did not fill out compulsory paperwork required under law when dealing with the purchase or selling of rock lobsters.
Legal representatives for the four men and the two companies confirmed their clients' pleas of not guilty to all charges at Port Kembla Court on Thursday.
The joint hearing has been set down for a week, however the Mercury understands it may go for longer.
If the hearing does spill into a second week, the matters will coincide with a District Court appeal for another company caught up in the allegations - Harbourfront Restuarant.
Its operators, Avni Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty in July to two charges stemming from the investigation and were fined a total of $24,000.
Company director Angelo Scioscia appealed the decision on the basis of severity, with his lawyer claiming the fine was too high for an offence he said fell towards the bottom end of the scale of objective seriousness.
Judge Norman Delaney will deliver his judgment on November 25.