Good haul. Totally agree its a safety risk the new rules.

yep great bag there.

and it seems fisheries are just asking people to be deceptive to not get pinged with this insane ruling. think divers are going to start tying off cray bags to the anchor rope, dropping bags if a fisheries boat turns up etc. etc.(even if they have been law abiding ....just cant take the risk if one is slightly hairy and unseen.)

fisheries just loosing support of divers for what ?

sorry for rant/ cant wait for some whites to turn up in pots. haha

 Other day I watched some free divers . Man they are good. ( holding breath). Bring cray to surface check properly. No dig at all by the way . Balls of steel in my books. If they hit surface with under size or hairy , what happens ??. There has got to be some leeway for tank divers. Fine hairs very hard to see( first stage ). Sorry but I think it's crap. Impossible until there on deck . Deeper you go harder it gets . 

 Free diver guage . Look . Mmm. Hit surface classed as take rule. As I said before . Guys are unreal but can they do all this before hitting surface( keep in mind new regs in guide ). Quotes diving . ?. Is all of this due to them not winning in local court? Who knows

good to see some whites hitting the decks.

This new "rule" is the most retarded thing fisheries have done yet. Fully discriminating to the divers, and I have absolutely no idea why.  What have divers done to cop this? Surely divers as a whole would only take a small percentage of the rec total allowable catch??? Yet it seems almost a deliberate attempt at making it substantially harder and now also much more dangerous, to catch legal crays. I just can't get over the fact that potters are allowed time to filter and check their catch on their decks, and now divers are no longer allowed the same right. 

Fuckin blows me away. 

 Scotto . Hit surface . Fisheries there done. Depending on officer . I know you love free diving ( just states diving). It's crap rule . Hold your breath . Guage . Look for fine hairs , then surface . I don't think so. Going to be more on this issue . Even on tanks today screwed up . As I have said before you guys have balls of steel . Do what they require before hitting surface impossible tanks or free dive. Anyway I hope everyone gets good feed before Xmas .

 have lost so much respect for West Australian fisheries over this law change . Absolutely disgusting behaviour of a spoilt boys club

Got spanked in courts so they change the laws to suit themselves

Theyre supposed to be protecting our fishery not playing politics

It's dangerous and not necessary and surprises me the minister ticked off on it- they all need the sack

Spotting hairy crays underwater is near on impossible  

As far as I can see there has been no change to the regulations on the State law publishing site.

A moral or legal obligation to ensure the safety or well being of others.

I totally agree with all thats being said , and although not a tank diver , I have mates who are , and wish to see no one

hurt or injured or worse because of this PI...ing contest the fisheries have on.

as well as just setting up law abiding divers for a fall , when some cray with barely there hairs hits the surface.

There must be a lawyer or two whos a diver as well that can bring a class action against them surely.

You dont need a accident to happen , to prove the actions of others, esp law makers, are failing in there

duty of care , by exposing divers to a risk that didnt excist before , but now does.

As said the 5 minute rule should apply , to all , satisifying both partys, if only they could see sense , or in this case , be made to see sense

by a bloody court.

Untold P.R damage to them on this , making it much easier for blokes sitting on the fence with fish rules , to say arh stuff them , lets just kill the pig .

And there alienating there greatist advacates and eyes out there,   US!

 ...is to take only males. 

Am I missing something now??
I don't dive anymore, but always tried to check for eggs (obvious), setose and hair underwater, but double checked on the boat, and I agree often missed fine setose female underwater.
So returned then.
What happens now??
Are you not even allowed to bring them to the surface. Surely that is "kak" (Saffa for sh*t)and If I dived now I would need reading glasses underwater to spot the fine hairs.
I don't need distance glasses, but sure need reading glasses, so I couldn't possible 100% ID the fine hair. Thus am I totally discriminated against IF I dived for crays.
What is the difference with the old 5 minute rule, and how do potters then get away with it.
If it was harmful to a cray lifted from the water, why then don't they ban potters (FFS don't start this).
This rule suxs as I would never want to break a rule, and this makes it about 100% possible that I would.

BUT why is it unsafe. Is this legally unsafe, or another safety issue I am missing that could physically hurt a diver. If this was the case then surely there would be no question about a legal challenge.
Don't at all mind fisheries, they are there to protect the fishery we all love, but sometimes rules are not thought out well, and need to be corrected. This surely is one of those stupid rulings.

This is only my take on it , as  said as a snorkler and long term boat minder for the boys when they dive , so here goes.

Diving is a listed top 10 most dangerous sport along with base jumping , bull riding , horse riding etc.

Pulling pots is not in there, but I digress, Its a thing not to be taken lightly as this weeks death , and many others show, with diving accounting

for roughly 176 people dying whilst diving in aust - 2002 to 2009, a average of 23 per year , and since 2009 , that figure must have surely not gone down.

Most of course are not from shark attack , but its in there, as memorys of the lad from Albany , the mindarie lady , etc etc come back.

My mates spend only as little time down there as needed, and grade to a certain degree, conditions permitting on the bottom.

When conditions are at there  worst , the guys arrive at the surface looking a tad stressed after a 30-40 minute dive.

As you have stated , a very obvious cakka or berried female  will never make the cut , and is left alone to do what they do.

As a long term cray measurer , its this perdantic rule change abosoluty forbidding you to arrive at the surface with a cray 1mm under size , or have the slightest hair showing,

thats such bulls...t , and not allowing you to re inspect thats the killer.

I have no idea what others do , but sometimes they arrive with say 10 crays between them and 3 or 4 go back , as the safe, detailed inpection of the catch continues in the boat.

Thats my view but happy for long term divers  to hear there feedback.

 Jesse and I dive together and work as a team I spot hold torch gage and bag crays but only take one bag down . doing it this way is not a problem

 Agree sometimes seeing hair can be a problem.  The one bag thing well thats how we do it .

There's an easy fix guys.
Drop a pot down off the side of the boat before dive. Load all crays in it before coming up from dive. Once back on the boat, take dive gear off, crack a beer & then pull pot up. Crays brought into boat by pot not diving so you have the time to check all on deck & return those non compliant or over boat limit. ;)

Typical fisheries i reckon. A few people will get busted under the new rule and it will be highlighted how stupid the rule is then they will change the rules again.

Man those crays look good!

 That is a corker COLT!!

F&%K em.....

It would be worth sending them on a goose chase, dobbing yourselves in for alledgedly having too many crays per diver only for the Fisheries to pull up, you all get out of the water with no crays and then pull a loaded pot...

Classic....

Take as long as permitted to sort and walla they've watsed their time....

I dont really dive but for those that do i think you might see the rule reversed pretty smartly....