Officers watched Sooseala Ulberg, 52, as he gathered abalone in shallow water at Seaholme, near Altona, in January last year.

The officers told Broadmeadows Magistrates Court that Ulberg turned back to the water when he was intercepted and tried to throw the abalone in his underpants back into the water.

He then began shouting obscenities and threatened to kill the officers.

Magistrate John O'Callaghan told Ulberg that the most serious part of his offending was threatening and abusing the officers.

Mr O'Callaghan said the abuse was very serious.

Ulberg failed to appear in court last May and was arrested by police at the end of last year.

He pleaded guilty to taking abalone during a closed season, taking undersize abalone and abusing, threatening and hindering officers.

He was fined, ordered to pay costs of nearly $70 and banned from recreational fishing for 12 months.