Model agencies found guilty of price fixing

Here is a model exam example of collusion in markets!

A CMA investigation results in the Competition and Markets Authority levying fines on a number of model agencies, arguing that they've exchanged information to keep prices higher than they would otherwise have been.

The agencies have been fined a total of £1.5m, which strikes me as remarkably small, but they're appealing arguing that they “protect the interests of models and also ensure a sustainable market which benefits customers, the economy and society”.

The higher prices will certainly be in "the interests of models", but I'm not sure how this sits with the rest of the quotation.