Fisheries Declaration 2019

A person must not possess or use a trawl net in the central trawl region or northern trawl region in the period from midday on 15 December to midday on 1 March.

Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who possesses or uses a trawl net on a boat if—

the possession or use is only for testing the net or other fishing apparatus normally used with the net; and

the person in control of the boat has given the nearest Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol oral or written notice of the testing; and

the net’s cod ends are open; and

no fish are taken during the test.

A notice under subsection (2)(b) must—

be given at least 24 hours before the testing starts; and

state—

a square area, with boundaries no longer than 1n mile each side, where the testing is to happen; and

when the testing is to start and end.

Also, a person may possess a trawl net in the waters in the period mentioned in subsection (1) if the net is stowed and secured on a boat.

For subsection (4), an otter trawl net is stowed and secured on a boat only if—

during the daytime—

the net and any other fishing apparatus normally used with the net are drawn up to the boat and are visible from an aircraft or another boat; and

the net’s cod ends are open; and

the net’s lazy lines are on the blocks; and

at night—

the boat is at anchor in an area marked as an anchorage or boat harbour on a navigational chart; or

the net and other fishing apparatus are inboard the boat and are stored or suspended from a mast or boom.