Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person intentionally has in his or her possession or charge a boat; and
(b) the boat is a foreign boat and the person is reckless as to that fact; and
(c) the boat is equipped for fishing and the person is reckless as to that fact; and
(d) the boat is at a place that is in a part of the territorial sea of Australia that is in the AFZ.
Penalty: 5,000 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment, or both.
(1A) Strict liability applies to paragraph (1)(d).
Note: For strict liability , see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code .
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if:
(a) the use or presence of the boat at the place is authorised by a foreign fishing licence or port permit; or
(b) a Treaty licence is in force in respect of the boat; or
(c) the boat's fishing equipment is stowed and the boat is at the place in accordance with the approval of AFMA given under, and in accordance with, the regulations made for the purposes of paragraph 101(1)(c); or
(d) the boat's fishing equipment is stowed and the boat is travelling, by the shortest practicable route, through the AFZ from a point beyond the outer limits of the AFZ to another such point; or
(e) the use of the boat for scientific research purposes in the place is authorised under a scientific permit.
Note: The defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matters in subsection (2). See subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code .
(2A) For the purposes of paragraphs (2)(c) and (d), a boat's fishing equipment is not stowed unless all of the boat's:
(a) nets, traps and other fishing equipment; and
(b) associated equipment, including buoys and beacons;
are disengaged and secured, and where practicable stored inside the boat, in such a manner as not to be readily available for fishing.
(3) A reference to the AFZ in this section does not include a reference to coastal waters taken to be in the AFZ because of section 76.