83 Unlawful soundings

(1)

Any person who in the Commonwealth or in any Territory:

(a)

takes any unlawful soundings;

(b)

makes any record of any unlawful soundings;

(c)

intentionally has in possession any record of unlawful soundings;

(d)

communicates to any person outside the Commonwealth or any Territory any record of or information concerning unlawful soundings; or

(e)

communicates to any other person any record of or information concerning unlawful soundings with intent that the record or information may be communicated to any person outside the Commonwealth or any Territory;

shall be guilty of an indictable offence.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.

(2)

For the purposes of this section all soundings taken in the territorial waters of the Commonwealth or any Territory shall be deemed to be unlawful unless they were made under the authority of the Queen, the Commonwealth Government, or a State Government, or the Government of a Territory, or were reasonably necessary for the navigation of the vessel from which they were taken or for any purpose in which the vessel from which they were taken was lawfully engaged.

(3)

In any prosecution under this section, proof that any soundings were not unlawfully taken shall lie upon the defendant.

(4)

Any figure or word or sign representing a figure (other than the printed figures appearing on any official or recognized map or chart) appearing on any map or sketch of any portion of the coast or territorial waters of Australia or of a Territory shall, in the absence of satisfactory proof to the contrary, be deemed to be a record of an unlawful sounding, but nothing in this subsection shall affect proof of unlawful soundings in any other manner.

(5)

All records of unlawful soundings including all maps or charts having thereon any record of unlawful soundings shall be forfeited to the Commonwealth.

(6)

A reference in this section to soundings shall be read as including a reference to a hydro-graphic survey and a reference to the taking of soundings shall be read as including a reference to the making of a hydro-graphic survey.