A father of six was convicted by the Grade 5 Court today at Waigani and given a penalty of K2,000 which he must pay within seven days or face jail time.
Timson Morua of Chimbu Province was arrested and charged for two offenses under section 58 of the Fisheries Management Amended act for being in possession of illegal or banned fisheries products.
The PNG Power employee based on Daru Island was arrested in Port Moresby on March 28 at the Jackson Domestic Airport after 23.9 kilograms of dried and processed bechedemer or sea cucumber was found in his possession.
The sea cucumber species found in possession at the airport was the sand-fish species of sea cucumber.
Morua appeared before court where he pleaded guilty for being in possession to a banned fisheries product despite a moratorium being in place against the harvesting and selling of bechedemer.
He admitted he brought the products into Port Moresby to find a buyer after some villagers on Daru Island brought the sea cucumber to him.
He told the court his trip was originally to buy second hand items for his wife and bring back to Daru.
He apologised before the court for breaching the ban and asked the court for leniency in its sentence as he has a young family.
The 23.9 kilos of sea cucumber has been forfeited by the state (National Fisheries Authority).
(Caption: Picture of the Sandfish sea cucumber species. Source: selfiseafood.en.ec21.com)