The old days seem like dots in the rear vision mirror.

"Common sense , that's no good for a resume. And besides, now I have something to talk about in an interview."

Well I'll do it - Thanks Banga , thanks for making the sea way a little safer and thanks for getting some rubbish out of the local waters. Nice job.

While I feel fisheries on the whole do a good job, it is stupidity to think that a Fisheries officer will travel from Geraldton to Kalbarri just to retrieve a reported floating rope which may or may not have something attached to it. That is absolute rubbish. What a waste of limited resources.

While most Fisheries officers come across really well and are easy to talk to, unfortunately there is always the guy who wants to bully and threated and not listen to reason.

What you did in my opinion was the correct thing, you may have averted the need for Sea Rescue and or Police to be called out to rescue someone who's prop has been damaged by the rope.

Recently off Hillaries we found a copper log floating in the water, we didn't leave it there, we pulled it on board and took it into shore when we returned to the ramp, just because it was a hazard.

Keep up the good work OLD BANGA, I for one don't beleive that you did anything wrong.

 yep glenn n I bet it wasnt the normal fisheries bloke thats been comn up here for years. Prob sum young ass cowboy straight out of of do it by the book school.!

I wouldnt have been so cordial unfortunately.  Barri is a bit different n if they dont like it they can go back to perth!

Next time just remember to say well it is my pot but I had to bring it back in cos it has no floats... Although you might get done for having a pot without your gear ID on the floats, oh and for not having floats....

A world gone mad!!!

In Peel estuary. A floatless old crab pot in the channel (and it was old, covered in slime and growth). About 10m of robe. We only saw it because we were slowly cruising. I summed up it was a hazard and pulled it. Obviously was old.

Got checked by fisheries and told them the story. They said it was illegal to do that, and if seen in future to GPS it and notify marine and Harbours or themselves.

Started counting my pots and LUCKILY for me I lost a pot previously and had nine onboard plus the lost one, so didnt have any above the limit. They said I was lucky because they would HAVE to ping me if I carried more than 10!!!!

I still prefer tyo be checked by Fisheries as I hope they protect the stock but advised them I thought it was stupid, and that I didnt want a boat to collect the rope. A nice debate followed but as they had no proof the pot wasnt mine they said they couldnt charge me for pulling it, but advised against it for the future.

Dumper is spot on with this. I was a little mentally deranged after the lack of common sense.

 its probably ashy or glassy running pots over anyway they love chopping pots did when they worked n do as amateurs

...how upset do most of us on here get when we hear/read about pot thieves/stealing crays/etc...these same scum would just as easily remove the floats from a pot and say it was theirs. Fisheries have to draw the line somewhere, regardless of weeks/months worth of marine growth on the rope.

And telling a fisheries officer that "this is how we do it in Kalbarri" probably ain't gonna get a happy outcome!

If you were fined (under these circumstances, no other breach etc) and chose to contest it I'm pretty sure the magistrate would rule in your favour (may even include the cost of contest), the fisheries officer would have known that and that's probably why he went with the lecture rather than the paperwork. On the whole fisheries do a half decent job but just like every other enforcement agency in Australia the have a few officers that like to throw their weight around.

Don't let them get to you Old Banga, what you did is what any reasonable person would do and that's all they can ask of you.

OK, so J bloggs goes out and knocks off a pot, cut the floats off and brings the pot in. No fisheries at the ramp... pot gone.

Just saying

 Yep there are very valid reasons for why you can't do that Old banga. While your intention was very noble and basic common sense it's also against the law. Best bet would be to just pull the rope up a reasonable way and cut it off for safety sake. 

I do agree with what your saying (Walfootrot), however, if fisheries aren't present then there is no issue. Sea-kem's solution is probably the the best way to deal with it, although the person who loses the pot may think otherwise. I was only talking about the actual situation faced by Old Banga and not anything else.

I would think that any lowlife filth who would steal someone elses gear would more than likely be shifty enough to either head straight back out once they realise that Fisheries are at the ramp and checking or find another way to conceal the fact that they had someone else's pot in their possession.

You could always put an unmarked float on the rope and then tell the fisheries... $5 for a float

You're a shifty dude...

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

 Simple in future its your own pot bringing it back in to fix it, we ran into a fuckwit like this at Leeuwin the other weak , sort of idiot who if put in a uniform all the blood drains from his brain to his cock, even his partner addmitted he was an anal fuckwit, who had been dobbed in by fishos in Rockingham way for infringing fisheries rules, well hated in that neck of the woods I imagine, can understand why , spoke to people like shit an absolute arseclown , mind you you  get them everywhere .

 Simple in future its your own pot bringing it back in to fix it, we ran into a fuckwit like this at Leeuwin the other weak , sort of idiot who if put in a uniform all the blood drains from his brain to his cock, even his partner addmitted he was an anal fuckwit, who had been dobbed in by fishos in Rockingham way for infringing fisheries rules, well hated in that neck of the woods I imagine, can understand why , spoke to people like shit an absolute arseclown , mind you you  get them everywhere .

so fisheries want you to plot the position of said pot (navigation hazard)report it , what if you don't have a gps , you did the righty old banger

I did exactly the same thing last year but to cover my butt rang the fisheries office in Freo told them what I was going to do got a name and id and they met me at Leeuwin ramp and pot was taken away funny thing I got a phone call two weeks later saying they had contacted owner who had decided he did not want the pot so they then offered it to me otherwise it was going to be disposed of always have a back up plan and cover your butt