Belly Fish, have a read of the issue I had today (Fisheries Lecture.........), similar to yours and I certainly got told by a Fisheries officer with a lot of attitude, unfortunately all that attitude was bad.

Legally you should leave the pot, rope and floats where they are and report the "hazard" to fisheries and/or VMR.

Common sense does not apply, but in saying that any normal sane person would do exactly as you and I did, we have taken other boaters into consideration and removed a potential unsafe hazard from the ocean, well done, but be carefull if you come across the same issue again.

You did the right thing, If there was a Fisheries number maybe you could have called that to leave a message of your intentions in case the Fisheries thought you were doing a shifty. I would have done the same and deal with any issues that arise after that .... common sense should prevail.

Reporting it to VMR is a good thing for us to put out a radio warning but we are the same as you, we cannot pull a cut off pot and bring it to shore.

If in phone range ring Fisheries HQ, and report location of hazard to safe boating. Contact local VMR and ask them to put out a securita announcement warning of the hazardand it's location.
Every half hour be responsible and do a bit of follow up action,ring fisheries HQ and ask for an update on what action is being taken to remove a major small boat hazard that can only be handled by them as per legislation.
If no positive plan put forward and confirmed by fisheries at the end of your day on the water ring the minister direct and advise him of the danger imposed by such an object and as human safety could be as much at risk as that posed by the gw in Warnbro sound why is there not an appropriate action plan being enacted, and has he been advised by his subordinates of the hazard and plans been undertaken to mitigate it.

Does this plan include having announcements placed with the commercial radio stations advising small boat owners of the hazard and its location. This was done for the gw in Warnbro which was deemed to pose a risk to life.

All of the above are responsible actions that should be undertaken by yourself (as a responsible small boat owner) and Fisheries, who after all have the responsibility vide they are the only ones authorised under current legislation to touch other persons fishing gear.

Problem solved, and it may help Fisheries keep some of their staff from the toe cutter review.

 You didnt "pull" the pot if they want to be technical.

It was "tangled in your prop."

Fisheries have discretion in prosecutions and really need to be challenged on some of their decisions as they seem to now think their role is as our moral guardian.

Part of the problem I reckon is people putting specific obscure scenarios to them and insisting on written interpretations, rather than just getting on quietly and doing discreetly.

Picking up old floats and rope on the beach is the same thing-technically illegal

I guess i was lucky Fisheries weren't at the ramp, so my version of "doing the right thing" didn't need to be challenged.

As I mentioned, I was forced to break the rules just to pull my own pot, since I had to pull his to get mine out.

....and I'd happily go to court to argue that throwing 25 metres of floating rope, book ended by a floating pot at one end and floats at the other is grossly negligent.

....and it's not as though I could take coordinates and radio them in, since this was free floating and drifting with the wind/current

In the end, I'm sitting pretty comfortable with what I did

I think you did the right thing Belly. If you explained the scenario to any "reasonable person" you would be seen as doing the right thing - removing a hazard. The pot I found washed up on Quinns Beach was collected by the owner yesterday. They said the pot was set off Hillarys boat ramp so it was a long way from home. When I told Fisheries I had taken the pot home and wanted to re unite it with its owner they had no problem with it. The girl I spoke to at Fisheries actually said onya for doing the right thing. I guess it depends who you get on the day - plenty of wanna be cops out there with attitude looking for a bust.

 I reckon its all about intent. Your intentions were of a safety concern more than illegally stealing his crays/pot. Bit like speeding your injured mate to hospital. That equals "well done" to me

does go back to my thought that "illegal" and "immoral" do not align in many cases.

In those cases I dont lose any sleep.

But absolutely right morally, and for common sense.

http://www.fishwrecked.com/forum/fisheries-lecture

And my Crab pots safety pull.

http://fishwrecked.com/forum/lost-crab-pots-what-do-you-do

Here is the story to do with the crab nets left unattended. I pulled them last year and posted about the implication:

Called fisheries to clarrify:

 

Posts: 5440

Date Joined: 16/10/08

Straight from the horses mouth