Fisheries Amendment Act 2007

Fisheries Amendment Act 2007

No. 51 of 2007

table of provisions

SectionPage

ClausePage

1Purpose

2Commencement

3Definitions

4Access licences

5Offences relating to aquaculture and live fish

6Aquaculture licences

7Offences relating to recreational fishing

8Recreational fishery licences

9General permits

10Levies for aquaculture licences

11Regulations

12Insertion of new Division heading

13Insertion of new section 153C

153CRestriction against commercial net fishing in Western Port

14Repeal of Act

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Endnotes

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Victoria

ClausePage

Fisheries Amendment Act 2007[†]

No. 51 of 2007

[Assented to 17 October 2007]

Fisheries Amendment Act 2007
No. 51 of 2007

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

Fisheries Amendment Act 2007
No. 51 of 2007

1Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to amend the Fisheries Act 1995—

(a)to prohibit commercial net fishing in WesternPort; and

(b)to define recreational fishing equipment; and

(c)to make other miscellaneous amendments to that Act.

2Commencement

s. 2

(1)This Act (other than sections 3(2), 7, 8 and 9(2)) comes into operation on the day after the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

(2)Subject to subsection (3), sections 3(2), 7, 8and 9(2) come into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(3)If a provision referred to in subsection (2) does not come into operation before 1 April 2009, it comes into operation on that day.

3Definitions

See:
Act No.
92/1995.
Reprint No. 5
as at
1 July 2006
and amending
Act Nos
16/2004, 87/2005 and 80/2006.
LawToday:
www.
legislation.
vic.gov.au

(1)In section 4(1) the Fisheries Act 1995—

(a)in paragraph (h) of the definition of commercial fishing equipment omit
"crab pot,";

(b)insert the following definition—

"stock in relation to fish, includes the releasing, putting or introducing of fish into waters;".

(2)In section 4(1) the Fisheries Act 1995—

(a)for paragraph (a) ofthe definition of commercial fishing equipmentsubstitute—

"(a)any fish trap, hoop net or fishing net (other than recreational fishing equipment when used by a recreational fisher in accordance with this Act);";

(b)for paragraph (f) of the definition of commercial fishing equipment substitute—

"(f)any recreational fishing equipment when being used by or under the supervision of a fishery licence or permit holder (or the agent of such a holder) as part of a commercial fishing activity;";

(c)insert the following definition—

"recreational fishing equipment means any fishing equipment prescribed in the regulations to be recreational fishing equipment;".

4Access licences

s. 4

After section 38(1)(b) of the Fisheries Act 1995 insert—

"(ba)sell any fish of a specified priority species;".

5Offences relating to aquaculture and live fish

After section 42(1)(b) of the Fisheries Act 1995 insert—

"(ba)stock fish into protected waters; or".

6Aquaculture licences

(1)In section 43(1) of the Fisheries Act 1995—

(a)after paragraph (b) insert—

"(ba)stock fish into protected waters;";

(b)in paragraph (c), for "generally." substitute "generally;";

(c)after paragraph (c) insert—

"(d)possess specified commercial aquaculture equipment or possess commercial aquaculture equipment generally;

(e)engage one or more people to do one or more of the things listed in this subsection.".

(2)In section 43(1A)of the Fisheries Act 1995, for "(1)(a) to (1)(c)" substitute "(1)(a) to (1)(e)".

(3)In section 43(4) of the Fisheries Act 1995, for "take, store and consign for sale" substitute
"take, possess, store or sell".

7Offences relating to recreational fishing

s. 7

For sections 44(1) and 44(2) of the Fisheries Act 1995 substitute—

"(1)A person must not—

(a)take or attempt to take fish from marine waters or inland waters; or

(b)use or possess recreational fishing equipment in, on or next to Victorian waters—

unless he or she is authorised to do so by a recreational fishery licence or is otherwise authorised under this Act.

Penalty:If the offence involves the use of a recreational hoop net: 10 penalty units.

In any other case: 5 penalty units.

(2)A person must comply with sub-section (3) if the person claims to be the holder of a recreational fishery licence and the person—

(a)takes or attempts to take fish from marine waters or inland waters; or

(b)uses or possesses recreational fishing equipment in, on or next to Victorian waters.

Penalty:5 penalty units.".

8Recreational fishery licences

s. 8

For section 45(1) of the Fisheries Act 1995 substitute—

"(1)The regulations may create classes of recreational fishery licences and may specify that the holder of a recreational fishery licence of a particular class may do one or more of the following for any purpose other than for the taking of fish for sale—

(a)take or attempt to take specified fish from marine waters or inland waters;

(b)use or possess recreational fishing equipment in, on or next to Victorian waters.".

9General permits

(1)In section 49(2) of the Fisheries Act 1995—

(a)in paragraphs (a) and (b), for "take fish" (wherever occurring) substitute "take or possess fish";

(b)in paragraph (g)—

(i)omit "(other than for sale)";

(ii)for subparagraph (ii) substitute—

"(ii)to hatch, rear, breed, display, grow or sell fish or fishing bait; or";

(c)in paragraph (h)—

(i)for "take fish" substitute "take or possess fish";

(ii)for "event." substitute "event; or";

(d)after paragraph (h) insert—

"(i)to sell any fish of a specified priority species; or

(j)to take or possess more fish than the catch limit for that species of fish; or

(k)to take or possess fish that are less than the minimum size, or that are more than the maximum size, specified by the regulations or by a fisheries notice for that species of fish; or

s. 9

(l)to take fish of a specified species of fish during the closed season for that species of fish; or

(m)to take, land, process, sell or possess fish of a specified species of fish that is prohibited from being taken, landed, processed, sold or possessed—

(i)absolutely or during a specified period; or

(ii)in any waters or specified waters; or

(n)to carry out an activity in a fishery if the activity is not inconsistent with any regulations, management plan or Ministerial direction.".

(2)For section 49(2)(f) of the Fisheries Act 1995substitute—

"(f)to use or possess specified commercial abalone equipment, commercial fishing equipment, commercial aquaculture equipment or recreational fishing equipment; or".

10Levies for aquaculture licences

s. 10

In section 151(2) of the Fisheries Act 1995—

(a)in paragraph (e), for "held." substitute
"held; or";

(b)after paragraph (e) insert—

"(f)in the case of an aquaculture licence, as the total of one or more amounts determined in respect of areas specified in the licence.".

11Regulations

For section 153(4)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1995 substitute—

"(a)so as to apply by way of general or of specially limited application; and

(ab)so as to differ according to differences in time, place or circumstance; and".

12Insertion of new Division heading

Before section 153A of the Fisheries Act 1995insert—

"Division 4—Cancellation of licences and restrictions on fishing".

13Insertion of new section 153C

After section 153B of the Fisheries Act 1995 insert—

"153CRestrictionagainst commercial net fishing in WesternPort

(1)Despite anything to the contrary in this Act, a holder of a Westernport/Port Phillip Bay Fishery AccessLicence is not authorised to use any fishing net in WesternPorton and from 1December 2007.

(2)The holder of a Westernport/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licence that is in force immediately beforesection 13 of the Fisheries Amendment Act 2007 comes into operation may be entitled to be paid an amount determined by the Treasurer and the Minister.

(3)Despite any Act (other than the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities) or law to the contrary, the State of Victoria is not liable in any other way for any loss, damage or injury whatsoever resulting from or arising out of the restriction on the use of any fishing net in Western Port under subsection (1).

(4)Any amount determined by the Treasurer and the Minister under this section must be paid out ofthe Consolidated Fund (which is, by this subsection, appropriated to the necessary extent).

(5)In this section—

Western Port means all of the waters of the bay known as Western Port which lie north of a line bearing 53° east from Cape Woolamai to the opposite shore and a line running directly from West Head at Flinders to the southern most point of Point Grant on Phillip Island;

Westernport/Port Phillip Bay Fishery Access Licencemeans the class of access licence referred to in regulation 201 of the Fisheries Regulations 1998.".

14Repeal of Act

s. 14

This Act is repealed on 1 April 2010.

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Fisheries Amendment Act 2007
No. 51 of 2007

Endnotes

[†] Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 22 August 2007

Legislative Council: 20 September 2007

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Fisheries Act 1995 and for other purposes."