219Passage of fish not to be blocked

219 Passage of fish not to be blocked

219 Passage of fish not to be blocked

(1) A person who—

(a) sets a net, netting or other material, or

(b) constructs or alters a dam, floodgate, causeway or weir, or

(c) otherwise creates an obstruction,

across or within a bay, inlet, river or creek, or across or around a flat, so that—

(d) fish will or could be blocked or left stranded, or

(e) immature fish will or could be destroyed, or

(f) the free passage of fish will or could be obstructed,

is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty—In the case of a corporation, 2,000 penalty units or, in any other case, 1,000 penalty units.

(2) A court convicting a person of an offence under this section may order the person to remove, within a specified period, the obstruction involved in the commission of the offence.

(3) If such an order is not complied with within the specified period, the Minister—

(a) may cause the obstruction concerned to be removed, and

(b) may, by proceedings brought in a court of competent jurisdiction, recover the cost of removal as a debt from the person against whom the order was made.

(4) An order made by a court under section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 in any proceedings for an offence under this section is taken, for the purposes of this section, to be a conviction for the offence.

(5) This section does not apply to or in respect of the following—

(a) any activity that is otherwise permitted by or under this Act or any other Act,

(b) any activity that is done in accordance with a permit issued by the Minister under this Part,

(c) any activity or waters of a kind exempted from the operation of this section by the regulations.

s 219: Am 1997 No 107, Sch 2.2 [1]; 1999 No 94, Sch 4.25; 2000 No 86, Sch 6.2 [17] [18]; 2001 No 104, Sch 1 [23].