dive boats rules etc

[mackmauler]

Hi, often get a few dive boats around here who think they own the place and make some noise and take rego numbers down for whatever reason, is there any laws about distance or is it the precautionary principle when they have a flag up.

[agnes_jack]

Gday Rob
There is a required distance that a boat must keep from a diver displaying the blue and white 'diver below' flag. Don't quote me exactly, but I think it is about 35m.

Regards, Tony

[propdinger]

and from some of my experience too bad if you were there first they like to pull up next to you and tell you to leave (happened 2 times to me ) i think its 30 or 35 mtrs i know its in the book of rules . i have no problems with divers i use to dive but when they tell you to leave it pi**es me off and legaly you have too.


cheers
jeff

[bugman]

Rob,

<disclaimer>
I'm pretty sure I'm correct here but then again I could be proved totally wrong and I offer my humble apologies if I lead anyone down the garden path.
</disclaimer>

Queensland transport uses the "The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea IALA Buoyage System "A"".

Under this convention when you see a International Code “A” Flag (blue and white dive flag)

This flag means: “I have a Diver Down, Keep Well Clear at Slow Speed”

The Water Regulations require all craft to reduce speed to five
knots max within 200m of a Code “A” Flag. This flag may
also be attached to a small marker buoy towed by a diver.

That means you can "move" still inside that radius but at slow speed.

Does that help?

Bugman

[Big_Muddie]

I extracted the following from the Current Regualtions (available at http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/T/TranstOpMSyR95_03L_030701.pdf) :

95 Speed limit for ship operating near person in water etc.
(1) A person must not operate a ship (including a personal watercraft) at
a speed of more than 6 knots in waters—
(a) within 30 m of any of the following—
(i) a person in the waters;
(ii) a ship at anchor, moored or made fast to the shore or
aground;
(iii) a jetty, wharf, boat ramp or pontoon in or on the waters;
(iv) a float or structure exhibiting a code A flag or other
commonly accepted signal indicating the presence of a diver
in the waters; and
(b) for which a speed limit of 6 knots or lower has not been stated
under a gazette notice.
Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.

So their seems to be a difference between what Brett found and what appears in the current Qld Regulations - but only in respect of max speed and distance from the flag.

A call to the Dept of Transport - Maritime Services would be prudent so that any confusion about the regulations can be cleared up.

My quick research on this only covered current Qld Regualtions.

[SeaHunt]

If people tell me to move they better have POLICE written on the side of their boat or they can go and #%!* themselves.

[mackmauler]

thanks guys, bugman i cant find anything better, with the attitude some of these guys have i bet its all in their head ::)

[Sportfish_5]

Spot on Bugman that is my interpretation of the rule as well !

You do not have to leave just because a dive boat pulls up. I had one last week drop his descent marker less than one metre from my boat while I was fishing the St Paul, all the while telling me that I had to move as soon as they were suited up and going in. Told him to go f!ck himself and learn the rules.

Had the last laugh on them as their marker moved while they were under and drifted south for approx 200m. While they got ready I proceeded to chunk up a couple of whole mack tuna into pieces and dropped into burley bucket along with all my oldest smelliest frozen bait.

Will give a hats off to the skipper of the Esperance Star as he is a gentleman unlike some of his fellow operators.

Cheers

Greg

[ba229]

Yep. If I was there first they can write down my rego and take a photo of my middle digit.

I wouldn't move.

[Big_Kev]

It seems like they have the gov in the back pocket, even sinking ships for them.

[jaybee]

All for the tourist dollar kev, haven't you heard lately, there is more money in tourism then in rec fishing, yeh rite. :-X
cheers
Joe

[ANYFISH]

gday all
my 2 brothers and me were down at the tweed 9 mile the other week and happily fishing away when a dive boat pulled up about 35 meters away. we were having lots of fun catching a heap of smallish refies and letting em go, all the while waiting for that "big one" to come along. ;D.
the next thing we knew we looked over the side and thought a bloody whale was swiming under the boat! after a few minutes we woke up to what was going on(WHEN THE FISH STOPPED BIGHTING [smiley=angryfire.gif] [smiley=angryfire.gif]). those bloody m*#grel dive boat operators had taken a huge swag full of their bloody tourists straight under our boat.
When we finaly got the sh*^s and moved the bloke still on the dive boat had the nerve to give me a wave. The only thing he got in return was 3 of the middle finger salutes.
oh well thats my bitch for the day. maybee there will be another dive boat sink in the tweed for their troubles. :-X :-X

cheers, anyfish

[Sportfish_5]

Should have tried to catch one of them ;)

[lordy]

gday all
my 2 brothers and me were down at the tweed 9 mile the other week and happily fishing away when a dive boat pulled up about 35 meters away. we were having lots of fun catching a heap of smallish refies and letting em go, all the while waiting for that "big one" to come along. ;D.
the next thing we knew we looked over the side and thought a bloody whale was swiming under the boat! after a few minutes we woke up to what was going on(WHEN THE FISH STOPPED BIGHTING [smiley=angryfire.gif] [smiley=angryfire.gif]). those bloody m*#grel dive boat operators had taken a huge swag full of their bloody tourists straight under our boat.
When we finaly got the sh*^s and moved the bloke still on the dive boat had the nerve to give me a wave. The only thing he got in return was 3 of the middle finger salutes.
oh well thats my bitch for the day. maybee there will be another dive boat sink in the tweed for their troubles. :-X :-X

cheers, anyfish



Chucking a couple of buckets of blood into the water as they were swimming by might have cleared them. Here sharkie sharkie sharkie :-X

[nofrills]

if the butt monkeys swim under my boat some one will be wearing a 9/0 .isnt there a flag that means danger,aka shark in the area ;)

[Gazza]

They should be restricted to the GNS zones :P ,and we keep a kilometre away ,and they keep a kilometre away.........sounds fair (sorta :-X )

[Cloud_9]

i think it sucks that because they ern a dollar from there boats they can tell you to move on .
its not just ther dive boats that can tell you to piss off pro line fishers can tell you to bugger off as well and if u refuse there is a fine i beleave.
so hopefully the new fishing party can fix this biased regulation. NSW regs are pretty tuff on that stuff from what i here. :-/ :-/

Cheers Cloud 9

[el_carpo]

Whew! That takes A LOT of nerve telling folks to scram like that! >:( I'm glad I haven't been put in that situation. I wouldn't trust myself to act decently if I were "ordered" to leave by a tourist baby-sitting jerk. I think it would be, "Drop depth charges and cast snagging grapples!" What was their problem? Is the ocean not big enough for them that they had to make a point of pulling up along side you and ordering you off? Sounds pretty rotten of them. If they are allowed to do that sort of thing, then they should be required to have marker bouys out in the water a day in advance or give notice in some other way so you don't get there and THEN get booted out not expecting to be. That stinks and it's also goofy. I mean think about it, if one of those crazy, wacko, anti-fishing groups got together and just had a revolving fleet of dive boats out there 24/7, they could effectively stop all fishing in a massive area!

[RobK]

G'day all

Like a number of respondents I fish as well as dive. I have seen bad and good behaviour from both camps. I have been on dive boats where I thought to myself if I was that fisherman I would be jacked right off. I have also seen fishing boats drive within metres of a dive boat displaying the correct flag with divers in the water. Trevor Jackson of Esperance has always been courteous in my experience but sometimes wears abuse purely because he is the skipper of a dive vessel. At one stage he has had a fisherman throwing sinkers at his boat. Who does this help?

Like any part of society you have people who only think of themselves in both camps and others who try to get along with others who use the same resource. I would like to see both camps work together more because both are suffering due to govt regulation and both are losing access to areas. Fighting with eachother only plays into the Govt's hands.

Have a look what happened in the GBRMPA recent closures. There was no unified voice representing all fisherman but individual interest groups campaigning for themselves. The end result is that the GBRMPA got essentially what they wanted.

Brisbane fisherman face the very real threat of losing Hutchies. I was told that by the scientist running the Grey Nurse shark project. Blaming divers for that is not the answer. They may benefit, but are not the one's closing it.We need to work together and put pressure on politicians and focus on the wider picture not just our own patch of dirt. NSW are probably further down the path already. There are areas where no one, divers or fisherman will be able to access if fisheries get there way. Think the solitary islands.

Regards

Rob

[-spiro-]

All the fellas that fish the top of Flinders to Hutchies know what pricks dive boat operators are. There is a big red cat that likes to try and check my esky when he goes past, even though im not in his direct root to where he is anchoreing. There is also a little red zodiac that thinks he owns Morton bay. These guys are the ones who get all these dive areas protected like Flinders and Hendersons, what about protecting our fishing spots like Smiths and Hutchies from them. Hendersons was a top spot for catching fish like squire,snapper,lippers,jacks and cobia. I fished it for years and never caught or sighted a grey nurse shark. Lets face it if you caught a grey nurse shark, most people would just cut the line and keep fishing. So whats there problem.

[bugman]

I try to treat everyone as individuals. If you act like an arsehole I'll treat you like one. If you treat me with respect and courtesy I'll return the compliment.

Wouldn't it be good if the whole world was like that.

Trevor Jackson's name has come up here a bit. I'm not sure if I've posted this before or not - but it's one bloody funny read.

http://www.diveoz.com.au/regular_articles/readit.asp?p=3&a=12

Bugman

[Quinny69]

I wouldnt go blaming the Divers for everything, the artifical reefs wouldnt be there unless it was for the tireless work of the URGQ (divers) ,think of that next time you pull a Snapper up from that spot.. The Pro fishers need all our attention atm, the Flat rock debacle is pathetic. Ive worked on a few Dive boats b4 (Esperance b4 Trev got it and a few others) and trust me, when you see a Dive boat or flag, slow down and LOOK, running over a paniced diver would wreck your day,,, as for burlying when divers are near by, go for it, Divers love watching sharks and other fishes, save them taking out bags of fish food. They arent hurting the area they use, they have NIL impact now that most tie up to moring bouys, just cause they are still allowed to use areas sportfishers arent doesnt make them the enemy.There are some bad DiVe opperators out there, but theres some BAD/MAD fishos too. #Matt Q

[Kerry]

I think there has to be a curtailing of this thinking/impression that divers are inert and much like the tourist industry in general who also think that are inert and have no impact.

Frankly similar to the tourist industry thinking they are right (like what else would you really expect) so do many divers and just being a diver doesn't make one the righteous one, not even by a long shot and in fact over the years divers have a lot to answer for but these days the old days don't exist as far as some are concerned.

Cheers, Kerry.

[RobK]

Kerry

You are right. No one is inert. We all have an impact on the areas we use, it is only the amount that varies. Some divers have a lot, some very little, same as fisherman. There were some divers in the past who did horrendous things, some probably still do, again like some fisherman do and others don't. I don't think you would be want to judged on what some fisherman did 20 years ago, but your own actions now.

The point is it is not individual divers, fisherman or chater operaters from both camps making or even influencing policy. It is people working within Gov't agencies making policy ( some of which makes a lot of sense, some which I personally think is riduculous eg closing flat rock to trolling whilst still allowing commercial operaters there)

That is a political decision as much as a scientific one. All groups need to work more together before we all lose acees to more and more of our oceans and National parks due to the actions of the minority. Have a look at Fraser island and the limitations placed on visitors in the last decade.

Rob

[nofrills]

nice one bugman ;D.
i reccon,some wankers go diving,and some wankers go fishing,and some wankers are pro fishers.and its these wankers that give the rest of us normal people a sus opinion of anyone else on the water.

[Lucky_Phill]

The Big Red Cat certainly seems to be the " eppy centre " ( that's not even a word is it ? ) of the problems around the nth end of Moreton. I have previously posted a report about the same sort of thing. At that time, the Cat was at anchor with NO flag up. as we appraoched to within about 30-40 mtrs, We saw the skipper running up the steps to hoist the flag, and then had the nerve to give us a gob full for being to close. He then wrote down rego numbers etc.

As the Bugmeister says, you treat me right and that will be returned.

Phill