Fishing & Boating in Lock-Down

On the 17 August NSW Marine area Command made the following statements on their web site

All New South Wales including Greater Sydney:

Recreational boating and fishing is allowed BUT....

• You must remain in your LGA or, if you need to go outside of your LGA, up to 5km from your residence.
• Coastal Waters are included in the adjacent LGA or to anyone living within 5km. Police will treat coastal waters out to 3 nautical miles.
• A person cannot travel along a water system outside of their LGA or further than 5km from their residence to reach coastal waters
• A person may be on that main body of water but cannot travel through or past other LGAs to reach other rivers, estuary’s or open sea.
• You must always be within your LGA area, 5km from your residence or if applicable coastal waters connected to your LGA.

In Declared Areas – ie Sydney LGA

• You must always be within your LGA area, 5km from your residence or if applicable coastal waters connected to your LGA.
• In a Declared Areas “recreation” is no longer a reasonable excuse to be away from your residence.
• General boating is considered “recreation” and is NOT allowed
• Fishing from a vessel or on land is permitted as it is considered “exercise” and therefore allowed.
• Sailing, jet skiing, water skiing or other physical activities would be considered “exercise” and is allowed
• You must always wear a mask when outdoors.

The instructions are clear in most cases but try to understand what “General boating” is compared to “Sailing” and or “jet skiing”

Within the Eurobodalla it is very simply: STAY AT HOME except if you are going fishing within 3 nm in Coastal Waters (See below) BUT take your recreational fishing Licence, a rod and a reel. On a sailing boat (ie one which is underway via wind power but not motor assisted then you are OK. So dont motor across the bar except if you have your fishing licence and a hook attached to some line – fishing tackle.

Dont go outside the LGA and dont try to go out to sea past the Coastal Waters limits during this lock-down.

Now lets look at rules and regulations regarding the “high sea” etc

The Public Health Act which is the one the NSW Government is using to try to stop the COVID virus until 20 August 2021 only applied to the land and not to the sea – below the relevant water marks high or low. So you did not need to comply but last week they introduced a significant changes.

Public Health (COVID-19 Additional Restrictions for Delta Outbreak) Order (No 2) 2021 under the Public Health Act 2010

They added:

1.5 For the purposes of this Order, the coastal waters of the State are taken to form part of the local government area to which the particular waters are closest.

Now there are various references to Coastal Waters in the Acts and regulations but it is generally known as: Coastal Waters is a belt of water between the limits of the Australian States and the Northern Territory and a line 3 nm seaward of the territorial sea baseline. Jurisdiction over the water column and the seabed is vested in the adjacent State or Territory as if the area formed part of that State or Territory. This was introduced to cover gas and oil rights on the northern states.

Just to give you some reference to know where you “stand”.

Territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22 km; 14 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea (includes its seabed and subsoil, and to the air space above it) is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state.

An Exclusive Economic Zone (those with a commercial Master ticket will know this) extends from the baseline to a maximum of 200 nautical miles from the land. A nation has control of all economic resources within its exclusive economic zone, including fishing, mining, oil exploration, and any pollution of those resources.

Why was this regulation required? Because the Coastal Waters (State Powers) Act 1980. states “coastal waters of the State” means, in relation to each State

(a) the part or parts of the territorial sea of Australia that is or are within the adjacent area in respect of the State,…

Now this Act does not cover the restrictions imposed by the COVID regulations but only fishing, sea-bed and other things.

However this Act does not cover COVID movement restriction but only fisheries and the sea-bed so the Authorities needed to add the section 1.5 referred to above.

What happens when you travel outside the Coaster waters zone after lock down is any-ones guess.

We will leave the issue of "open waters" and "enclosed waters" for another time. - ie what safety equipment is required and where this is defined. See a previous FB post of the Association if you ever get fines for non-compliance.

Final word: Stay at Home until the numbers drop.