Northern Territory Repealed Regulations

This legislation has been repealed.

BARRAMUNDI FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN

NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA

BARRAMUNDI FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN

As in force at 25 June 1991

Table of provisions

NORTHERN TERRITORY OF AUSTRALIA

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This reprint shows the Plan as in force at 25 June 1991. Any amendments that commence after that date are not included.

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BARRAMUNDI FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN

Fishery Management Plan under the Fisheries Act

Part 1 Preliminary

1. Citation

This Plan may be cited as the Barramundi Fishery Management Plan.

1. Commencement

This Plan shall become operative on 1 February 1991.

1. Application

This Plan applies to the managed fishery relating to barramundi declared by notice in Gazette No. G48 of 6 December 1989.

Part 2 Controls

Division 1 Preliminary

1. Interpretation

(1) In this Part, unless the contrary intention appears:

amateur's pot means a pot which a person who is not a mud crab licensee, within the meaning of the Mud Crab Fishery Management Plan, may use to fish for mud crabs under that Plan.

anchorage area means an area described in Schedule 1.

ancillary gear includes a gaff, creel, tackle box and tackle but does not include a trap for live bait or a net, other than a landing net.

barramundi means the fish of which the scientific name is Lates calcarifer.

barramundi licence means a licence entitling the holder to fish in the barramundi fishery referred to in clause 3.

barramundi licensee means a person holding a barramundi licence.

closed season means the period commencing on 1 October in any year and expiring with 31 January in the following year.

Daly River Seasonally Closed Area means the area described in Schedule 2.

day means a 24 hour period from midnight to midnight.

gillnet means a net or part of a net (including any warp, rope, chain, material, device or thing used in conjunction with or attached to the net or part) that:

(a) has a mesh size of not less than 65 mm; and

(b) is used or is capable of being used to catch fish or aquatic life.

headed length means the length of a barramundi with the head off, measured from the closest point to the tail fin on the curved edge of the rear of the gill slit to the tip of the middle ray of the tail fin, while the fish is lying flat on a measuring tape or measuring device.

head rope means a rope attached to a gillnet for the purpose of providing support to the net and which may, but not necessarily, have floats attached.

Mary River Fish Management Zone means the area described in Schedule 3.

Mary River Seasonally Closed Area means the area described in Schedule 4.

open season means the period commencing on 1 February in any year and expiring with 30 September in the same year.

open waters means those waters in which a barramundi licensee is permitted to fish under clause 8.

overall length means the length of a barramundi measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the tip of the middle ray of the tail fin while the fish is lying flat on a measuring tape or measuring device.

river includes a creek, stream, tidal arm, billabong, lake or other body of water, whether fresh or brackish, that, seasonally or consistently, flows directly or indirectly into the sea, and, for this purpose, a tributary, branch, anabranch, channel or division of a river, or a river flowing into a river, shall be deemed to form part of and be one river.

river closure line, in respect of a river specified in Schedule 5, means a straight line drawn between the co-ordinates specified in that Schedule for that river.

river mouth includes the body of water delineated:

(a) in respect of a river specified in Schedule 5, by the river closure line; and

(b) in respect of any other river, by an imaginary line, contiguous with the shape of the adjoining coast, bay or inlet, across a river.

seven inch net line, in respect of a river specified in Schedule 6, means a straight line drawn between the co-ordinates specified in that Schedule for that river.

tender means a tender which, under section 19(2) of the Act, is deemed for the purposes of registration to form part of a vessel specified on a barramundi licence.

unit of gillnetting means 100 m of gillnetting, measured along the head rope but along only so much of the head rope as has gillnetting attached.

(2) An approval of the Director under this Part may be subject to such conditions, restrictions or limitations as the Director thinks fit and specifies in the approval.

1. When barramundi not taken

Subject to this Part, a barramundi shall be deemed not to have been taken by, or to be in the possession of, a person if, as soon as practicable after it has been taken, after allowing for such things as detaching it from a line or net, weighing it in a landing net, photographing it, measuring it or affixing an approved tag to it, it is released to the water with as little injury as possible.

Division 2 Commercial fishing

1. Application

(1) This Division applies to a barramundi licensee and to a person assisting a barramundi licensee.

(2) Where an act or omission of a person assisting a barramundi licensee would constitute an offence against this Division if it were the act or omission of the licensee, the person may be charged with and convicted of the offence as if the person were a barramundi licensee and, for that purpose, a reference to a barramundi licensee doing an act or being prohibited from doing an act in this Division, including under a barramundi licence, includes such a person.

1. Buy-back schemes

The Minister may, from time to time by notice in the Gazette, establish a barramundi licence buy-back scheme whereby a barramundi licensee, in exchange for a determined consideration, transfers or surrenders to the Territory all or any units of gillnetting specified on the licence.

1. Fishery area

(1) Subject to this Part, a barramundi licensee shall not fish:

(a) landwards of the coast or a river mouth; or

(b) seawards of an imaginary line 3 nautical miles from the shore at mean low-water mark and parallel to the shore or to any river mouth.

Penalty: $10,000.

(2) A barramundi licensee shall not fish under a barramundi licence in the Mary River Fish Management Zone.

Penalty: $10,000.

1. Fishing permitted only in open season

A barramundi licensee shall fish for barramundi under a barramundi licence only during the open season.

Penalty: $10,000.

1. Minimum size limit

A barramundi licensee fishing under a barramundi licence shall not take or have possession of a barramundi that has:

(a) an overall length of less than 55 cm; or

(b) a headed length of less than 39 cm.

Penalty: $5,000.

1. Identification of gillnet

A barramundi licensee shall not be in possession of a gillnet to which is attached a head rope:

(a) on a vessel (other than when the vessel is in a port);

(b) at an approved campsite; or

(c) at any other place while fishing under a barramundi licence,

unless there is attached to the gillnet not less than 3 floats which are incorporated into the head rope (one of which is attached to either end of the netting with a third attached in the middle) clearly and legibly marked with the barramundi licensee's licence number, and no other number, in Arabic numerals, either incised into or painted (using waterproof paint or other indelible material) on the float, and there are no other floats attached to the net marked with another number.

Penalty: $5,000.

1. Minimum mesh size of gillnet

(1) A barramundi licensee shall not use a gillnet that has a mesh size:

(a) when fishing in waters between a seven inch net line and any river closure lines of the same river, of less than 175 mm; or

(b) when fishing in other open waters, of less than 150 mm.

Penalty: $5,000.

(2) For the purposes of subclause (1), mesh size means the size ascertained in accordance with this clause.

(3) The mesh size of a gillnet is the distance between the inner edges of the knots of opposite corners of the mesh, or, where the mesh does not have knots, the inner edges of opposite corners of the mesh, measured with the mesh closed.

(4) For the purposes of subclause (3):

(a) a weight of not more than 1 kg may be slung or attached to the lower knot or join of the mesh before the mesh size is ascertained; and

(b) the inner edge of a knot is the edge of the knot nearest to the knot of the opposite corner of the mesh.

1. Size of monofilament netting material

A barramundi licensee shall not, when fishing under a barramundi licence, use a gillnet constructed of monofilament material if the material has an international line size less than line 50.

Penalty: $5,000.

1. Amount of gillnet in use

A barramundi licensee shall not, when fishing under a barramundi licence, use more units of gillnetting than the number specified on the licensee's licence.

Penalty: $10,000.

1. Gillnet in possession

(1) A barramundi licensee shall not have possession of a gillnet other than at a time and place and in accordance with the conditions, restrictions or limitations, if any, specified in subclause 2.

Penalty: $5,000.

(2) A barramundi licensee may have possession of a gillnet:

(a) at any time:

(i) at a permanent residence of a barramundi licensee;

(ii) at an approved campsite; or

(iii) in a port;

(b) in open waters:

(i) subject to paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f), during the open season; or

(ii) during the closed season, while:

(A) in transit to or from lawful fishing; or

(B) lawfully fishing,

under a licence other than a barramundi licence;

(c) at an anchorage area:

(i) during the open season; or

(ii) during the closed season on a vessel (not being a tender) while lawfully fishing under another licence other than a barramundi licence;

(d) subject to paragraph (e), at any time while in transit between any of the following:

(i) the permanent residence of a barramundi licensee;

(ii) the premises of an approved seller, maker or repairer of gillnets; or

(iii) a vessel in a port;

(e) during the open season while in transit between any of the following:

(i) the permanent residence of a barramundi licensee;

(ii) an approved campsite;

(iii) subject to paragraphs (f) and (g), a vessel registered for barramundi fishing; or

(iv) subject to paragraph (g), a tender;

(f) at any time in closed waters in a vessel specified on a barramundi licence while in transit between an anchorage area and open waters;

(g) in closed waters in a tender during the open season:

(i) while in transit between:

(A) the vessel specified in a barramundi licence which, under section 19(2) of the Act, the tender is deemed for the purposes of registration to form part; or

(B) an approved campsite,

and open waters; or

(ii) while the tender is secured to the vessel referred to in subparagraph (A); or

(h) at any other time, place or waters, with the approval of the Director and in accordance with the conditions, if any, of the approval.

1. Position of gillnets set in river

(1) A barramundi licensee shall not set a gillnet in a river specified in Schedule 6 landward of the seven inch net line of that river:

(a) if the netting on the gillnet extends, or will extend, at any time while the net is set in the river, across more than half of the width of the water where the gillnet is set; or

(b) where other gillnets are set in the river, if the netting on the gillnet, measured with the netting on all gillnets that are within 25 m of any part of the gillnet, extends, or will extend, at any time while the net is set in the river, across more than half of the width of the water where the gillnet is set.

Penalty: $5,000.

(2) A barramundi licensee in possession of a gillnet that is set in a river in contravention of subclause (1) is guilty of an offence.

Penalty: $5,000.

Division 3 Amateur fishing

1. Amateur fishing gear

(1) For the purposes of subclause (2), amateur gear means a rod and line and attachments, a handline and attachments, a handspear, a long bow or ancillary gear.

(2) Subject to this Part, a person shall not fish for barramundi other than by using amateur gear.

Penalty: $2,000.

1. No tethering of barramundi

A person shall not retain a barramundi on a tether line.

Penalty: $500.

1. Size limits

(1) A person shall not take a barramundi that has:

(a) an overall length of less than 55 cm; or

(b) a headed length of less than 39 cm,

unless the person is the holder of a licence entitling that person to do so.

Penalty: $1,000.

(2) A person shall not have possession of a barramundi that has an overall length of less than 55 cm unless:

(a) under a licence entitling the person to do so;

(b) the barramundi was lawfully obtained for the purpose of live display in an aquarium;

(c) the barramundi was lawfully brought into the Territory; or

(d) in a permanent residence.

Penalty: $1,000.

(3) A person shall not have possession of a barramundi or the carcass of, or a fillet or other piece obtained from, a barramundi having an overall length of less than 55 cm taken by an amateur fisherman.

Penalty: $1,000.

(4) The possession in a place, other than a place of permanent residence, of a fillet obtained from a barramundi taken by an amateur fisherman being a fillet having a length of less than 27 cm, is prima facie evidence of possession of a barramundi having an overall length of less than 55 cm.

1. Bag limits

(1) Subject to this clause, a person shall not:

(a) fish for a barramundi on any one day if the person has previously taken 5 barramundi on that day; or

(b) have possession, other than in a place of permanent residence, of more than 5 barramundi,

unless under a licence entitling the person to do so.

Penalty: Possession of 6 to 14 barramundi – $2,000; or

Possession of more than 10 barramundi – $10,000, and, in addition, $50 for each barramundi in excess of 5.

(2) Notwithstanding subclause (1), a person shall not:

(a) fish for a barramundi on any one day in the Mary River Fish Management Zone if the person has previously taken 2 barramundi on that day in the Zone; or

(b) have possession in the Mary River Fish Management Zone of more than 2 barramundi.

Penalty: Possession of 3 to 14 barramundi – $2,000; or

Possession of more than 7 barramundi – $10,000, and, in addition, $50 for each barramundi in excess of 2.

(3) Where a fisherman is not alone and it is not readily ascertainable who took, or who has the possession of, the barramundi that have been taken, this clause applies to each fisherman, subject to this clause, as though each fisherman took, and has the possession and control of, all the barramundi.

(4) Where a fisherman establishes that:

(a) the fisherman is a member of a fishing party;

(b) the barramundi taken will be shared amongst the fishermen in the fishing party; and

(c) if the sharing was to take place amongst those fishermen in the party who are present or able to be assembled in a short period of time, no fisherman in the party would be guilty by reason of this subclause or otherwise of contravening this clause,

then this clause applies as though each fisherman took, and has possession and control of, his or her share only of the barramundi that have been taken.

1. Shady Camp – Fishing from barrage

(1) A person shall not fish from or within a 100 m radius of the barrage wall at Shady Camp Billabong:

(a) using bait; or

(b) using fishing gear other than that permitted by subclause (2).

Penalty: $1,000.

(2) For the purposes of subclause (1)(b), a person may fish from or within a 100 m radius of the barrage wall at Shady Camp Billabong using:

(a) a handline; or

(b) a rod and line,

to which is attached, either to the line or to a lure or attachment on the line, not more than one hook.

(3) For the purposes of subclause (2) a treble hook, or any group of hooks joined together, is more than one hook.

1. Fishing gear – Mary River

Subject to this Part, the only items of fishing gear which a person may fish with or have possession of in the Mary River Fish Management Zone are a hand line or a rod and line and ancillary gear except when that person:

(a) is legally fishing with an amateur's pot; or

(b) fishing under a licence which entitles the person to do so in the Zone.

Penalty: $500.

1. Seasonally closed areas

A person shall not during the closed season in the Mary River Seasonally Closed Area or the Daly River Seasonally Closed Area:

(a) take or have possession of a barramundi;

(b) fish other than with an amateur's pot; or

(c) be in possession of:

(i) a handline; or

(ii) a rod and line,

to which is attached a hook, lure or bait.

Penalty: $2,000.

Division 4 Fishing for the aquarium trade

1. Condition of aquarium licence

A licence entitling the holder to fish for aquarium fish shall be subject to the condition that the holder shall not fish for or take barramundi from within the Mary River Fish Management Zone.

Schedule 1

clauses 4, 15

Anchorage areas

The Mary River Anchorage Area

1. The waters enclosed by a straight line drawn across the mouth of Sampan Creek and another drawn across Sampan Creek 1.5 km to landward of and parallel to the first-mentioned line.

2. The waters enclosed by a straight line drawn across the mouth of Tommycut Creek and another drawn across Tommycut Creek 1.0 km to the landward of and parallel to the first-mentioned line.

The Daly River Anchorage Area

The waters of the Daly River around Palmerston Island enclosed by a line drawn parallel to and 1 km from the highwater on Palmerston Island.

The McArthur River Anchorage Area

The waters of Batten Creek enclosed by the river closure line of the McArthur River and a line drawn 500 m to landward of and parallel to that river closure line.

Schedule 2

clauses 4, 23

Daly River Seasonally Closed Area

The Daly River Seasonally Closed Area means all that part of the Daly River and Anson Bay bounded to the east by a line drawn across the river from the defined western bank of the old outlet channel of Moon Billabong at grid reference 6556 E 85101 N map 4971 Anson due south to the opposite bank, and, to the west by a line drawn between the most northerly point of Cliff Head at grid reference 6298 E 85211 N map 4971 Anson and the most westerly point of the north bank of the outlet regarded as part of the Reynolds River at grid reference 6326 E 85347 N map 4971 Anson, and includes all tributaries of the Daly River that are downstream from the boundary line first mentioned.

Note: The maps referred to above are part of series R621, edition 2-AAS, 1984.

Schedule 3

clauses 4, 8(3), 20(2), 22, 24

Mary River Fish Management Zone

The Mary River Fish Management Zone means that part of the Territory bounded:

(a) to the south by the northern boundary edge of the Arnhem Highway;

(b) to the east by the westernmost part of the Point Stuart Road commencing at its junction with the Arnhem Highway northwards to its junction with the road to the Old Point Stuart Homestead and then by the westernmost part of that road to the site of the Old Point Stuart Homestead at grid reference 8060 E 86324 N map 5273 Point Stuart and then by a line drawn due north from that reference point to the low water mark in Chambers Bay and then westerly along low water mark to a point on the low water mark as may be indicated by a marker, being a point 3 km east in a straight line from the northernmost part of the eastern bank of the mouth of Sampan Creek, and then due north for 3 nautical miles;

(c) to the west by the right side of the formed road known as the Old Wildbore Station Road commenc-ing at its junction with the Arnhem Highway at about grid reference 7725 E 85871 N map 5272 Mary River then north to grid reference 7766 E 86047 N map 5272 Mary River then east to grid reference 7813 E 86044 N map 5272 Mary River then generally north to the road's end at grid reference 7858 E 86216 N map 5273 Point Stuart and then by a line drawn from that reference point due north to the low water mark in Chambers Bay and then easterly along the low water mark to a point on the low water mark as may be indicated by a marker, being a point 3 km west in a straight line from the northernmost part of the western bank of the mouth of Tommy-cut Creek, and then due north for 3 nautical miles; and;

(d) to the north by a line drawn between the seaward ends of the eastern and western boundaries of the Mary River Fish Management Zone, which runs parallel to the shore and river mouths of Chambers Bay at low water,

and includes the Mary River upstream of the Mary River Bridge on the Arnhem Highway for approximately 6 km until the river braids at about grid reference 7916 E 86688 N map 5272 Mary River, and also includes the boat ramp immediately south of the bridge and the parking and camping areas adjacent to the boat ramp, but does not include any permanent residence or the buildings and grounds and immediately adjacent parking areas of the Annaburroo Roadhouse (also known as the Bark Hut Inn) on the Arnhem Highway; and being that part of the Territory as shown edged in red on the map held in the Head Office of the Fisheries Division, Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, Darwin.

Note: The maps referred to above are part of series R621, edition 2-AAS, 1984.

Schedule 4

clauses 4, 23

Mary River Seasonally Closed Area

The Mary River Seasonally Closed Area means all that part of the Mary River Fish Management Zone contained northward of a line drawn through the southernmost part of the barrage wall at Shady Camp Billabong at about grid reference 7959 E 86182 N map 5272 Point Stuart and extended due east and west to the eastern and western boundaries of the Mary River Fish Management Zone, but does not include all those parts of the Shady Camp camping ground, the Shady Camp road or any permanent residence that is within this area; and being that part of the Mary River Fish Management Zone as shown coloured brown on the map in the Head Office of the Fisheries Division, Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, Darwin.

Note: The maps referred to above are part of series R621, edition 2-AAS, 1984.

Schedule 5

clauses 4, 8(2), 12(1)(a)

River closure lines

Schedule 6

clauses 4, 16, 12(1)(a)

SEVEN INCH NET LINES

ENDNOTES

1 KEY

Key to abbreviations

amd = amended od = order
app = appendix om = omitted
bl = by-law pt = Part
ch = Chapter r = regulation/rule
cl = clause rem = remainder
div = Division renum = renumbered
exp = expires/expired rep = repealed
f = forms s = section
Gaz = Gazette sch = Schedule
hdg = heading sdiv = Subdivision
ins = inserted SL = Subordinate Legislation
lt = long title sub = substituted

nc = not commenced

2 LIST OF LEGISLATION

3 LIST OF AMENDMENTS

cl 4 amd Act No. 31, 1991, s 4

cl 17 amd Act No. 31, 1991, s 4

cl 20 amd Act No. 31, 1991, s 4

sch 5 amd Act No. 31, 1991, s 4