Stolen Crab Pots - Part 3

[oldboot]

I cant remember where I read the 24 hour rule, and I cant find any reference now.

cheers

[hungry6]

Well this was an eye opener for myself when I heard this. My brother inlaw from perth and a friend went out with 8 pots all were clearly marked with brother inlaw friends name and address, they were pulled up in the passage, caloundra end. A fine was issue because they interpreted as one person had 8 pots and the other had none, even though there were 2 of them in the boat. So I guess it's of to court for them, as to how the legislation is interpreted..

[oldboot]

I am not surprised, and I don't think he has a leg to stand on.

If there were 8 pots with one name on all... very clear.

This is why the pots have to have a name on them... to indicate ownership.

cheers

[robsue]

well i never knew that rule/ re must be user's name...........
when i take mates out i use my pots, which are correctly marked, {well i thought} with my details, i think it is a bit overboard that you are required to change details every time you take a different person out, i mean really, it has still got to be the same boat rego used, and do the deckies have to carry id on board for themselves, what is stopping you from putting jo blow's name on the other pots that are left set, personally i think that rule is going overboard.........

[oldboot]

Actulay I'm trawling the act at the moment.

seems the act requires full name and address......I don't know if the department has condecended to allow phone number or boat rego.

cheers

[oldboot]

Here it is out of the act.

185A crab aparatus

(1) A recreational fisher must not possess on a boat in any waters more than a total of 4 items of crab apparatus.

So if there are two of you in a boat and you own all 8 pots, it must be made clear that the other bloke is in possesion of 4 of those pots......the only way to do that is for his name to be on them.

Oh id does get interesting and very specific.
It realy is worth downloading a coppy of the act and regulations because the guides are not as specific in places.

section 188 using crab aparatus... I wont quote it all.

but

summary

A recreational fisher

can not use more than 4 items of crab aparatus ( we know that)

there is a tag on the aparatus with surname and address

the float has the surname of the owner

the float is a light colour and clearly visible and no less tha 150mm in any dimension. ( I see quite a few oval green floats that wont comply)

there are ver specific dimension on a suiside dilly, ring of solid steel, less that 1m and 6mm thick net must be multifilament.

I'll keep reading.

cheers

[dazza]

hi all,
i must break the law every time i take the wife or mates, pots have my name and details on them
thanks for the heads up
hungry- please let us know how they go
if fisheries are pulling up to 500 pots- has anyone ever been contacted to come and get them??
cheers
dazza

[Donny Boy]

Here it is out of the act.



the float is a light colour and clearly visible and no less than 150mm in any dimension.

cheers

So, would this explain why I was told you can't use 5 litre Plastic bottles as floats ???

They're visible from the next Postcode......but thinking about it ...I guess the side-on dimension is less than 150mm

[chewy01]

OK so i use the plastis tags to remark the pots but can i attach one of these to the float to name it? The writing comes off the tags with a it of metho so thats easy enough,but does the float itself have to be marked?If so ill have to go buy another 20 floats to deal with all the people i take crabbing.Interesting a mate brought his pots,the fisheries bloke checked us out and made no mention of his floats,which were milk bottles.Guess it depends on what sort of day they are having.

[TheRealAndy]

OK so i use the plastis tags to remark the pots but can i attach one of these to the float to name it? The writing comes off the tags with a it of metho so thats easy enough,but does the float itself have to be marked?If so ill have to go buy another 20 floats to deal with all the people i take crabbing.Interesting a mate brought his pots,the fisheries bloke checked us out and made no mention of his floats,which were milk bottles.Guess it depends on what sort of day they are having.

That screws me to, cause I have more than 4 pots and they all have my name on them. 4 off them will now be bearing the name of my usual deckie.

BTW, all my tags on my pots are engraved, and mesh behind them removed so now I have to replace the tags.

[Moonlighter]

I have just sent of e-mails to some DPIF people and local MLA I know and see what they say about this.

In my opinion this is an unfair, unreasonable and rediculous interpretation of the law and needs to be sorted. Its obvious that when there are 2 people doing the crabbing that they can have 4 pots each, and that the skipper was effectively lending the deckie 4 pots.

ML

[hungry6]

I wish you well Moonlighter I just hope common sense prevail. As from previous encounter with Govt. dep. I know they are lectured on the letter of the law and how to apply it to split hairs, My jaw dropped when I found this out as I have numerous pots similar to TheRealAndy ones, and at time there are 4 of us in the boat and there are 10 or more pots out there with my name only on them. We keep all our fishing gear in the same place and pool our money resource to buy bait, pots and what ever fishing gear, I guess crabNgear need to make pots with interchangable name cards, and this would make life easier for pots thieves.
I will keep everyone posted on this issue.

[GAFYM]

If a float has a name and address, as per the regs, why pull them to check if the same is on the pot? That seems to be a bit of overkill to me (especially when they are so overworked)
Was fishing down the Logan R on Thursday and the number of "floats" in the middle of the channel and hung up in tree branches was unreal. Quite obviously "floaters" after the big tides and more than likely had crabs in them which would eventually die from starvation once they had eaten the bait. Many of the floats had no Identifying names on them.
What would happen if they were pulled by the likes of you and i to check???

[TheRealAndy]

I have just sent of e-mails to some DPIF people and local MLA I know and see what they say about this.

In my opinion this is an unfair, unreasonable and rediculous interpretation of the law and needs to be sorted. Its obvious that when there are 2 people doing the crabbing that they can have 4 pots each, and that the skipper was effectively lending the deckie 4 pots.

ML

The more i think about it the less i think its unfair. The law clearly states 4 pots per person, and the only way to prove you are breaking the law is to prove you have more than 4 pots out with your name on it. IF I drop 8 pots with my name on, then I pull my boat out (this is what I do) then return 2 hours later, how are the DPI going to know that I have 2 people on my boat? Sure, most of us here are honest but we are only a small number. I am going to comply, even if means buying extra floats and tags.

If a float has a name and address, as per the regs, why pull them to check if the same is on the pot? That seems to be a bit of overkill to me (especially when they are so overworked)
Was fishing down the Logan R on Thursday and the number of "floats" in the middle of the channel and hung up in tree branches was unreal. Quite obviously "floaters" after the big tides and more than likely had crabs in them which would eventually die from starvation once they had eaten the bait. Many of the floats had no Identifying names on them.
What would happen if they were pulled by the likes of you and i to check???

The DPI are not going out to lift your pots. They are going out to enforce compliance. If they come across a pot with a non-complient float, chances are they will lift the pot. If the find 8 pots with the same name on the float, no doubt they will lift all pots. IF they are doing a blitz then chances are they might lift all pots. Kinda like doing an RBT.

The problem is that a lost pot continues to fish. A cod swims in to get the bait, then crab will go in to get the cod. Both die, the another cod swims to eat the old cod... Cycle continues. IF you put pots in during last weekend king tides then you are mad, even in small creeks with little flow there was enough tide to move pots. I have spent the last 20 odd years fishing nundah and cabbage tree creeks, and I have seen pots washed out of both.

If you go to pull a pot that is not yours, then you are breaking the law. IF the pot is old and slimy and you pull it, you are breaking the law. This is why I was talking to the DPI. I see no end of derelict pots up my local creek and I want them gone. I cant force the DPI to deal with it, because the have bugger all staff and they have to deal with the whole of moreton bay and all the tributaries. I cant deal with it myself because I will be breaking the law. I have been talking to quite a few environmental groups about this issue, as I would like to see a solution.

The reason I placed this post here was because I am sick of people whinging about stolen pots when most (I emphasise most) of the time the are simply lost, or in this case perhaps taken by the DPI. I would rather you all keep you pots, and keep our creeks and rivers clean. I would rather have you catching and eating crab, rather than leaving behind deathtraps. I would rather you all not charged for having to many pots. The laws are out there for a reason, and not all of them are bad. They are there to catch the crooks, not us.

[oldboot]

Note that only surname is required on the float, and surname and address attached to the aparatus......(in my case the address will be a P.O. Box)

new tags for me monday too.

now why pull the pots.

because there are a number of things you can and cant do wit a pot....they have to pull them to check compliance.
for example
specific size ane weight of the ring on a suicide dilly.

the posibility that incorrect aparatus may be attached to the float such as a fish trap or some other item that is not one of the specificaly allowed items

The float may be attached to a string of pots....and there are very specific rules about how that is done.

As far as things being obvious.........no such thing.

Now if you fish with your spouse or your children or even your brother or sister....you could get away with the same name

I will be interested to see what the new actual legeslation says about crab pots.

cheers