Man to face court for alleged permit breach

14 July 2010

A Churchill man may face court after allegedly breaching the conditions of his tree fern removal permit.

DSE Compliance Officer Anthony Ball said that as a condition of tree fern removal permits under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988, harvesters are required to tag each fern immediately after they are harvested.

It is alleged the man failed to correctly tag his load, leaving more than 120 ferns untagged.

The ferns were claimed to have been removed from private property and were being transported to Melbourne for sale.

“With only 10% of the harvester’s load of ferns having tags on them, the harvester could have potentially taken and transported up to 10 times the permitted number of ferns. We take offences that indicate the fraudulent harvest or sale of protected and/or threatened flora and fauna very seriously, as it undermines DSE’s capacity to manage and maintain the stability of our natural environments,” Mr Ball said.

The man may face court at a later date.

Tree ferns are protected flora under the Flora and Guarantee Act 1988 and must not be taken from any public land or taken from private land for sale without an authorisation.

If you encounter environmental crime or any suspicious activity that may be of interest to DSE, please report it on 136 186.