bag limits and boat searches

[aido]

not being a marine biologist, and using my alvey
measuring rule a the definative guide, what's the
law say if i keep my catch in an underfloor compartment
and just say there's my esky, that's all your looking at.

like would'nt the dpi / water police / whatever need a
search warrant to search all my boats compartments?
sounds too hard on a sunday afternoon to get one.

any ideas?

[NQCairns]

This is Australia, all they need is to say in court is that there was a lingering smell of fish on board as just cause to do WHATEVER they wanted (no free witnesses). You may be confusing the Rights an American citizen has in law like in in those TV shows, we dont have many rights in Australia to protect us as individuals until we reach a court and only then if you can prove your innocence. I would guess they would be fairly wise to underfloor hiding spots. nq

[Lucky_Phill]

Fisheries don't need a search warrant to search ya boat, on the water, at the ramp etc. If your fish is in a compartment under the floor, you ARE, trying to hide it !

Cut the fin of, put it in ya esky, make sure they are all legal and have a happy day.

Phill

[Jeremy]

Anyone who deliberately keeps undersize fish or breaks bag limits is a low life. If you need to keep your catch under your floor, you deserve to have the book thrown at you. Work on improving your fishing technique, not on breaking the rules.

Jeremy

[SNELLY]

This idea of only letting the powers that be only look at certain parts of your boat is like all the other so called "Civil Rights" do gooders

THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO NEED THEM ARE THE ONES WITH SOMETHING TO HIDE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mackmauler]

Aido, you could put a red scorpion cod into each compartment that will make their job all the easier

[craigie]

Underfloor Compartments are the first thing that comes to mind when the Boating and Fisheries Patrol start searching.
About 18 months back they busted a couple of dudes in the Pimpama River, who had 150 (under size and female) Muddies stashed away in bags in concealed compartments in the boat.The patrol acted on a tip-off and made the bust at 1.00am in the morning.

If you break the rules, eventually you will be caught. Poachers are not welcome in our society !!!!

Cheers Craigie.

[Mudcrab]

.........but did you know that if you buy say mullet from the bait shop and take them out on the water to use as bait then they can be deemed to be YOUR fish! If you fillet them, it gets worse!

[Gazza]

.........but did you know that if you buy say mullet from the bait shop and take them out on the water to use as bait then they can be deemed to be YOUR fish! If you fillet them, it gets worse!

More to the point ,WHY can the non-fishing population BUY fish that IS illegal to have onboard

p.s. i think underfloor storage(lower center of gravity) will be more popular as boats become more plastic and casting decks more in vogue.

Regards
Gazza

[Fisheasy]

Aido, why don't you get on the phone and ring them?

[aido]

thanks for the responses,
so a boat must be treated in law differently
to any other piece of personal property an
australian could own.
wtf? why should that be?

btw, i don't have much to hide, and have
passed every onwater or ramp check of my
catch.
was just just hypothetics at work,
not a 'how can i hide my cats dinner' question.

[Cloud_9]

Aido you need to choose your words more carefully.
people might think your like 1 of them new aussies with lots of mate that look the same that keep everything that gets caught in the fly screen nets they use.

[aido]

hmm,
i've learnt a fair bit about my lack of common law rights
with regard to searchs. seems every man and his dog can
search your house/car/boat/arse if he wants to think there
could be something in there.
sorry for doubting it, just hard to believe at the time.

well, lets try this angle...
from http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p00716bd.pdf

if queensland has jurisdiction over coastal waters from the
low water mark plus 3 nautical miles out from that, can we
just go out to say 35 fathom reef and disregard the crazy new
queensland laws?
no, i'm not talking about bringing home the cats dinner again, just avoiding having to go to uni and become a marine
biologist to safely fish and not worry about boggo rd, lol.

thanks again, aido.

[Gazza]

I understand Commonwealth 'Licenced Commercials' can land in the same port, same port as recfishos (nswreference,for now ) ,with different 'restrictions' of what is right/allowed

p.s. don't worry about Boggo Rd.......it's shut down ....for now!!! (i like the way you think )

Regards
Gazza

[shano]

yeah worry about wacole!