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HIGH and DRY
28-08-2008, 10:19 AM
I did this recently, and only thought of the repercusions when i got home!!!

So here it is:

about 2 months ago, i caught a reasonable feed. couple of squire, a tailor, couple of moses perch and a few bream. scaled and gutted in the freezer, they were being saved for an upcoming BBQ. anyway, the freezer got turned off, and to be on the safe side, i decided to fillet the fish for strip bait and take the frames out for burley.

it wasn't till i got home i realized how that may have looked to a fisheries officer. here i am fishing away, and i've got 15 or so fillets sitting in the esky, and by this stage, no frames left as i have mashed them through the burley pot beyond recognition! All fish were of legal size, and they were not filleted on board, but how do they prove that???

any thoughts ??

pete

fish-n-dive
28-08-2008, 10:27 AM
I assume you have a good lawyer? ::)

Scott nthQld
28-08-2008, 11:22 AM
the rule is that filleting on board, all fillets must be over 40cm. But you may not remove fish from the boat, fillet and return them to the boat. It's pretty black and white, and I'm sure your explanation would not be considered by any autorities.

JIMBO99
28-08-2008, 11:45 AM
Jimbo99
what ever happened to cleaning (filleting ) fish on board the boat and leaving the frames out where they could be used as food for other fish, crabs, etc. as a matter of fact when do professional reef fishermen who snap freeze fillets into blocks get to fillet and process their fish ? or is there a different law in their case? All bringing fish back to the ramp whole does is despoil the ramp area with fish frames, as i'm sure you have all seen at any ramp in moreton bay.>:(

the gecko
28-08-2008, 12:14 PM
Now that you mention it, Ive bought whole Tailor and Whiting from a seafood shop, and filleted it on board for bait. This also may not look good to a DPI officer. I buy from the same shop, so I can prove it if I need to, but I know what youre saying, it doesnt look good if you bring strip bait on board as fillets.

If a fisheries officer is in doubt about your catch, he will confiscate it and ask a marine biologist to decide what species it was, and if it was undersize. They are very accurate at estimating overall size from fillets. You are allowed to fillet on board if you leave the skin on for ID, so being in posession of filliets in itself, is not an offence. Youre only in trouble if its close to undersize.

I wouldnt be taking bream or moses perch out as bait, but Tailor is excellent bait, and I use it all the time.

cheers
Andrew

STUIE63
28-08-2008, 12:23 PM
I thought all fillets had to be 40cm in length with skin on or this this only coral fin fish
Stuie

davez104
28-08-2008, 01:07 PM
Lifted from the DPI website:

In relation to coral reef fin#sh, a recreational fisher:
must not possess, on board a boat, a fish other than in any of the following forms-whole, gilled, gutted or filleted
may possess, on board a boat, a fillet of a fish other than a Chinese footballer (blue spot) trout as long as the length of the fillet is at least 40 cm, and the skin and scales of the fillet are attached to the fillet
must not return fish that have been taken ashore from a boat and filleted, and then returned to a boat, unless the length of the fillet is at least 40 cm and skin of the fillet is attached to the filletSo if the fillets are over 40cm, and the skin is still on, there should be no issues at all.

Dave.

the gecko
28-08-2008, 04:55 PM
Thats ok for coral reef fish, but pete mentioned fish like bream and squire. 'Just above legal' fillets of bream would certainly be questionable and raise a few eyebrows.

Anyway, good on him for being brave and raising the issue. He didnt do anything wrong, but he did raise important questions. How do you prove that flesh bait is really bait? What starts off as a 50cm legal fillet, is now down to 20 or 30cm in half an hour, as you cut strips off it for bait. How do you explain that to the dpi?

cheers
Andrew

dfox
28-08-2008, 07:53 PM
Jimbo99
what ever happened to cleaning (filleting ) fish on board the boat and leaving the frames out where they could be used as food for other fish, crabs, etc. as a matter of fact when do professional reef fishermen who snap freeze fillets into blocks get to fillet and process their fish ? or is there a different law in their case? All bringing fish back to the ramp whole does is despoil the ramp area with fish frames, as i'm sure you have all seen at any ramp in moreton bay.>:(

Commercial fishers must apply for a filleting permit to allow them to fillet fish out to sea. As with whole fish, by the end of each day at sea, there log books must be filled out with the number,type and weight of fish in filleted form on board.
With species that have quota's the fisheries have a formula to calculate the filleted weights into whole fish weights ... foxy

Donny Boy
29-08-2008, 04:28 PM
I thought it was compulsory to give them to the missus to clean....

You know....it's the "Hunter" syndrome. The " I hunt .....you clean, thing......"


(yeah !!....right !!...lol...)

stingau
01-09-2008, 02:33 PM
Thank You to High and Dry for starting this topic as I had contemplated doing something similar.

While cleaning out our lge deep freezer I found in the bottom of it a cple of packets of fish fillets that my missus had brought from the supermarket and had been forgotten some of which I am sure are marked imported.

I put them to one side intending to take them out with me to use as bait or even to put in the crab pots. Judging by the size of the packets the fillets would be less than 15 to 20 cm long.

As a result of the comments on here I emailed the DPI and posed the Question even stating that I would be leaving the fillets in the original wrapping with date and price sticker.

To my dismay I recieved a phone call the same day saying that I am unable to do that so I asked what else can be done with them as I didnt want to just throw them out, Could I mash them up for burly and was told that depending on the quantity if found on board would be treated with suspicion.

Their advise was to throw it out to the local stray cats. So those of you who live in the Morayfield area be warned no it is not a biblical miricle and raining loaves and fishes but me doing what the DPI told me to do.

SEMPER UBI SUB UBI

castlemaine
01-09-2008, 03:03 PM
Similiarly a mate and I caught 8 snapper between us one afternoon. Back at the boat ramp he had to rush back to a meeting at work. I ended up driving home with 8 snapper and while cleaning them thought if I was pulled up along the way I'd be in breach of being 'in possession' of more than legal limit. Unfortunately may be a case of no excuses.8-)

tunaticer
01-09-2008, 06:14 PM
I wonder how we would go whilst out on the boat with bought whole mullet for crab bait to take a fillet off for fishing bait then using the frame for crab bait in the pot?

Is there any discernable line between bait and possession of eating fillets?

Also along the same lines, I am sure I am not alone in that i carry a cooking device on board my boat (smoker in my case) for lunch sometimes. Am i breaking the law filletting a fish for immediate consumption on board my boat? Or would I need a Fast Food outlet licence for the privelige?

Jack.

HIGH and DRY
01-09-2008, 06:47 PM
so, at the end of the day, regardless of the origin or story behind having fillets on board, it is point blank breaking the law. I am lucky i asked, as i may have done this again in the future!

As for the mullet fillets, bought from the servo etc. I assume that because some species of mullet have no size limit (please correct me if im wrong), that they are disregarded, and can be used as bait.

Now, to throw a spanner in the works, i was having this whole conversation with a work mate (busteronenut), and he raised this very good point:
what if im in possesion of a flathead fillet, over 40cm, but lets say nearing 70cm. now with flathead having a maximum size, (as do some other fish) where do i stand in relation to this matter???? As you can tell, not much work gets done at our workshop!!:P

pete

FNQCairns
01-09-2008, 07:02 PM
So it is illegal to tow the boat to the de-rigging area without parting the fish away to those that caught them first::). What's Cartmans favourite saying:P

cheers fnq

bushbeachboy
01-09-2008, 07:25 PM
. What's Cartmans favourite saying:P

cheers fnq

Lol FNQ. ;D

reidy
03-09-2008, 11:32 AM
Good day all,
Not up on the regs up your way but would a 40cm fillet cut down the middle (halved length way) be classified as a strip bait or is it still a fillet?
Cheers
Reidy

the gecko
03-09-2008, 02:02 PM
Hi Guys,

Mullet has no size or possession limit, so you can do whatever you want with mullet.

A 70cm flathead fillet in Qld would get you a fine for sure. It not the size of the fillet that counts, but the size of the fish that it came from. Obviuosly it came from a flathead around 90-100cm so its illegal. even a 60cm flatty fillet would get you a fine, and rightly so. Just keep the fish whole while at sea, and fillet it at the ramp. Why take a chance?

A legal fillet cut in half, now counts as 2 fillets for the purpose of bag limits according to dpi. So if you have 5 snapper, or 10 fillets, and you cut one fillet in half, you are then over your limit.

Andrew

BigE
04-09-2008, 08:01 AM
hope we rember the thoughtful attitude of the DPI&F next time you get asked to "help out" with some reseach or Kreel survay at the boat ramp. Love seeing my tax dollars at work making regs like this makes me feel all warm & Green.

BigE