Tantabiddi to Winderabandi Point spearfishing closure, Ningaloo Marine Park (Western Australia)

The central section of Ningaloo Marine Park state waters, between 21°56.300’S (Tantabiddi Well, north of Tantabiddi boat ramp) and 22°29.750’S (Winderabandi Point), is closed to spearfishing outright. Clauses 4(1) and 5(1) of the Prohibition on Recreational Fishing (Ningaloo Marine Park) Order 2005 prohibit recreational fishing by means of a pointed instrument — defined in the order as a speargun, harpoon, gidgie, Hawaiian sling or any other similar pointed device — in the General Use Areas and the Recreation Areas that fall in this latitude band, which together make up all the multiple-use water there. The closure covers the whole reef and lagoon fronting Cape Range National Park, i.e. the most-visited part of Ningaloo. Outside the band spearfishing is allowed in general-use water, but never in a sanctuary area, never for wrasse or rockcod/groper (cl. 9), never for Queensland groper, manta ray or molluscs (cl. 8), and never using compressed air (cl. 10). Read literally, clauses 4(1) and 5(1) close waters "north of 22° 29.7500’ south latitude; or south of 21° 56.300’ south latitude", a disjunction that would cover the entire park; the statement that general-use water outside the band remains open follows the administrator’s own construction — DPIRD’s clause polygon in its DPIRD-061 layer is bounded at exactly those two parallels, and the joint DPIRD/DBCA leaflet "Spearfishing in Ningaloo Marine Park" says "you cannot spearfish … between Tantabiddi Well and Winderabandi Point" — not the literal words of the clause.