39   Obstruction of recognised fishing grounds

(1)  A commercial fisher may request a person to remove anything which has been placed or left by the person, without lawful excuse, on a recognised fishing ground and which is obstructing the lawful net fishing activities of the commercial fisher.

(2)  A person who fails to remove any such obstruction after being directed by a fisheries officer to do so is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: In the case of a corporation, 100 penalty units or, in any other case, 50 penalty units.

(3)  A court that convicts a person of an offence against this section may order the person to remove the obstruction. If the obstruction is not removed in accordance with the order, the Minister may cause it to be removed and recover the cost of the removal from the person as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

(4)  In this section, recognised fishing ground means any area of the sea or of other public water land used regularly or intermittently for net fishing by commercial fishers, being an area identified by or in accordance with the regulations as a recognised fishing ground.