THE plight of a Tamworth man left fearing for his life after receiving death threats on Facebook has again highlighted the destructive power of social media.
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In recent days, Dean Ross has been the target of vicious “name and shame” campaigns on several Facebook sites devoted to exposing illegal fishing practices.
“I can’t go out because I’ll probably get bashed over a fish,” he said. “I go down the street and I get laughed at because everyone knows me now.
“I had girls coming up to me at the (Tamworth) show telling me that all these people are after me and they reckon they’re going to get me.”
Photos of the trophy fisherman posing with a massive Murray cod caught at Copeton Dam were pulled off his own personal Facebook page and circulated widely.
Mr Ross was promptly condemned for not releasing the iconic freshwater fish, which is a threatened species, back into the system.
The pictures attracted dozens of expletive-ridden comments, but some went further and openly threatened the 22-year-old with violence.
One woman posted that “someone needs to string this guy up”, while another person wrote Mr Ross “needs to be chopped up and fed to the cod”.
A fellow fisherman invited Mr Ross to come out with him, saying “I bet he don’t (sic) come back”, and another requested his address and details of his car.
Numerous posters said they were contacting the NSW Department of Primary Industries to report Mr Ross for breaching the state’s strict bag and size limits.
But what the hate-filled posters did not know – or did not care to find out – was that the fish were caught last August before new restrictions came into effect.
While the ethics of Mr Ross’s actions can be questioned, a spokesman for Fisheries NSW said the matter had been investigated and “no offences” were committed.
Mr Ross said the malicious campaign against him on the social media platform had even seen his sister’s two-year-old son and a good friend targeted.
“I only put the pictures on there so my friends could see it and someone’s gone on there, found them and posted them all over the web,” he said.
Mr Ross is seeking legal advice.