UPDATE: About 30 dead penguins that washed up at Altona beach on August 20 were killed in a commercial fishing net, an investigation by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) has found.
The finding has led to calls for mesh or ‘‘mash’’ nets – sunken nets that stand up like a wall from the bottom – to be banned in Port Phillip Bay.
DEPI officers interviewed a commercial fisherman following a call from a member of the public.
“The fisherman co-operated fully with DEPI officers and gave admission to the penguins becoming inadvertently trapped in his net.” DEPI spokesman Travis Dowling said.
“He was devastated. As the entanglement was an accident, no legal action will be taken.’’
Mr Dowling said it was a sad and unfortunate event. ‘‘DEPI is now working with the fishing industry to better understand how this occurred and what measures can be implemented to better protect our wildlife and prevent this happening again.’’
An angler, who asked not be named, said mash nets should be banned, as they were in Western Port Bay.
“These mash nets, they’ll set a mile of them along there from near the Williamstown [Timeball] tower all the way along, and everything that comes into shore at night gets caught,’’ he said.
“They get snapper, they catch seals, they get everything. Mash nets should be banned in the bay because this is what happens. Every time there’s a net, there’s an accident.”
Phillip Island is home to Victoria’s largest colony of little penguins, which are protected under the Wildlife Act.
DEPI said in the case of an accident, it was not an offence to dump dead or injured protected animals or not report their deaths.
Asked if it believed mesh nets should be banned, DEPI said it would “improve reporting requirements for any interactions of commercial fishers with protected species”.
