sec.177Authorised officer may dispose of natural resources unlawfully taken

### sec.177 Authorised officer may dispose of natural resources unlawfully taken This section applies if a natural resource is seized under this Act and an authorised officer reasonably believes the resource has been taken unlawfully. Despite any other provision of this Act, the officer may deal with or dispose of the resource in the way the officer considers appropriate if the officer is satisfied that it is necessary to do so— in the interests of the welfare of the resource; or to conserve the resource or environment. Subsection (2) applies even though a proceeding has not been started for, or a person convicted of, an offence. In this section— take , a natural resource, includes remove, gather, catch, capture, kill, destroy, dredge for, raise, carry away, bring ashore, land from a vessel or otherwise remove the resource. (sec.177-ssec.1) This section applies if a natural resource is seized under this Act and an authorised officer reasonably believes the resource has been taken unlawfully. (sec.177-ssec.2) Despite any other provision of this Act, the officer may deal with or dispose of the resource in the way the officer considers appropriate if the officer is satisfied that it is necessary to do so— in the interests of the welfare of the resource; or to conserve the resource or environment. (sec.177-ssec.3) Subsection (2) applies even though a proceeding has not been started for, or a person convicted of, an offence. (sec.177-ssec.4) In this section— take , a natural resource, includes remove, gather, catch, capture, kill, destroy, dredge for, raise, carry away, bring ashore, land from a vessel or otherwise remove the resource. - (a) in the interests of the welfare of the resource; or - (b) to conserve the resource or environment.