Three men caught with undersized crabs which had their shells and claws removed were convicted in Mandurah Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Yi-Chen Chen, Yuen Tsang and Wei-Zhe Zhang did not appear in court, but sent endorsed pleas of guilty to the charge they each faced of possession of part of a crab other than a deep-sea crab.
The trio had been fishing for crabs near South Yunderup on December 10, 2016, when Fisheries Officers observed them removing the carapace and claws from crabs.
An inspection of their catch uncovered 39 crabs caught by the three men.
All crabs had either had their shells and claws removed, or their bodies broken in half.
All crabs were also undersized.
The court heard Tsang had told officers the trio had removed the shells from the crabs so they would not escape and “crawl all over the car”.
The maximum penalty was $5000 each.
Chen and Zhang were fined $1050 plus court costs, while Tsang was fined $900 plus costs.