I know you aren't meant to do it so its obvious the size of the snapper you have caught if the fisheries guys come around. But it keeps the mess off the kitchen floor plus Mrs brmbrm is happier. And also you don't get a bag of fishy crap smelling the place out.

pretty sure there is nothing in the rules that says you cant every charter i have been on we have filleted the fish at sea and given the left overs back to mother ocean .

Yes you can fillet at sea,but you must be able to prove it was a legal size.So only fillet say 30cm snaps  nothing near the minimin size.If you are over nighting clearly date the bags !You must prove to the fishery officer that the fish you have filleted is of a legal size.

That seems like a plan. BTW, I can fillet the left side of the fish great - the right side goes OK until I hit the bones rouind the gut, then it goes pretty random.

has anyone ever turned up too the ramp with fillets and been spoken to by fisheries? what was the outcome?

if you want to make your filleting easier make a slurry in your chilly bin and ice them snaps down the longer the better it makes a HUGE difference even leave em till the morning if its late and your chilly bin is up to it just hook straight into the piss . but couple hours will still help and get a decent long flexy knife that can hold a edge you can be wasteing ya time with some of the cheap crap knives out there .i spent few bucks on a KNIVES OF ALASKA coho fillet knife couple of years ago and never looked back .practice makes perfect but man filleting un chilled fish wit a shiiiit knife is hard yakka even for the best fish wife .

I would normally fillet at home and put frames in a bucket in the freezer then dump them next time I go out fishing. However if I have a few to do I will do some in the boat on the way home but I do keep the frames, and freeze them again.

We just make sure everything is way over the minimum, so the fillets obviously come from bigger fish, snaps are not worth it under 35ish

this the one DavidFisho???????

Am I allowed to fillet my fish at sea?

There are no regulations that prohibit the filleting of fish at sea. Where the fish in question is subject to a size limit, it would be beneficial to only fillet larger fish where there would be no doubt as to the original size of the fish.

If your fish is on or near the legal size limit it is recommended that you do not fillet the fish at sea.

Basically, you need to be able to satisfy the inspecting fishery officer as to whether the fillet came from a legal sized fish.

Yep thats the one lethal. So its allowed, but with care!