freshwater permits why not salt

[Tropicaltrout]

Hi ausfishers

I was away at borumba a couple of weekends ago and me and a couple of mates got on to the subject of permits. how they benifit us and where the money goes and how the dam (borumba) seems better stocked since it introduction.

Why not have a saltwater permit? Ok we came up with some negatives like policeing it, etc.
but the positives such as if correctly mannaged it would be good for our boat ramps, lack of jettie and salt water re- stocking programs. but we all agree who would be responsable to take the funds,and put them to good use? I don,t know stats at all, but say out of 5 million boaties payed 20 bucks that would have to be good for our salt water fisho's. :)

What do you think its a good topic and would like to hear your feed back? ;)

[timbacutta]

The stocked impoundment permit is for stocking in put and take fisheries. Most, but not all species stocked, will not or cannot reproduce in the impoundments they have been stocked. This is a major difference between freshwater stocking and saltwater stocking. The main reason why the SIP works so well, is the small number of impoundments and the money is shared evenly between them according to size and where people fish.

A saltwater permit would never be able to reciprocate the success of the freshwater system due to the immense size of the coastline. I am not totally opposed to a saltwater permit, but more research is required to convince me fully.

Jeff

[Feral]

State law only covers to the old 3 mile limit, so how could they police if you had caught your catch within state law boundaries?

[d-man]

I've been to Florida a few times, they have a saltwater licence and a freshwater licence and the fishing there is pretty good in both the fresh and the salt. Saltwater licence funds go towards, habitat (restoration in estuaries and making artifical reefs), research, buy-back of commercial netting licences, regulatory services (more fish & wildlife officers etc.).
Florida has recognised that recreational fishing and tourism that it promotes brings a lot more $$$ into the state than commercial fisheries that were struggling anyway. Since the net ban in the early 1990s the redfish and snook populations have recovered to make a viable recreational fishery.
In a one month period we were pulled up by F&W officers, Water Police and Sheriff Dept. and had our licences, catch and gear checked 6 times. In about 40 years of fishing in Qld that has only happened once! It might seem like a bit of overkill and inconvenience but it keep everyone honest, and no one takes more than the limit or takes fish that are undersize or bigger than the slot limit.
The saltwater system seems to work pretty well there and I can't see why it wouldn't work here. Wouldn't it be nice if there were more Boating & Fisheries guys around to actually catch the people who are abusing our fisheries by taking undersize fish and crabs and cheating on the bag limits? That would mean more fish for the fishos who actually obey the regs.

[Matthias]

The problem with more policing means that the courts get choked up with minor offenses. This means that the DPI&F prosecutors are overrun with small time crime. However the introduction of the new laws regarding on-the-spot fines has come into place recently. Now the DPI&F can focus on prosecuting the people who are doing heinous stuff like illegal netting and making whale sushi. ;)

[rick_k]

gee I hate this Aldi keyboard. Why couldn't they leave the important buttons in the same spot. At least you now get the short version, as this is the third attempt.

License fees in the past and now seem to me to be a rip-off. They don't give us a greater voice. The ALP is at the mercy of the Greens, and the coalition still has to pay off the Democrats for the GST deal. Dept's of State Development are measured on export $$and 80% of the commercial catch is exported. And Depts of Natural Resouces don't get too many brownie points for keeping us happy. As Callum Brown (spelling?), a scientist employed by them in Qld once said to me 'If you can't take a rock out of a national park, why should you take a fish?' I agree Callum, glad you have gone back to Scotland, and may national parks decrease and state recreation areas increase.

If you want another example, find a Victorian duck shooter who bought duck stamps and licenses to buy and rehabilitate wetlands for said ducks. They paid their money. The gov't bought the swamps; what is happening to duck shooting in Vic?

And then we turn to commercial buy backs funded by amateur licenses. Policy is commercial returns are to be maintained. So we pay to buy out some, making the remaining commercial licenses more valuable, and they still pull out the same tonnage of fish.

Peter Lawlor had the right idea at the Eureka stockade. Subsidise our sport like all the rest (at taxpayer's expense) or better yet, fund us like the Arts. Or b@gger off and leave us alone.

Rick k

[Tropicaltrout]

Go florida

I would love to see it for myself, but that sounds like what the finnish product of the salt licence would do.

[maat]

Sounds like a bloody good idea to me

[drdonjuan9]

I can understand in the fresh water the money would go into stocking the impoundments...

But the proposed money from the license for saltwater would probably not be used to restock the estuaries, but going towards the funding for the politicians and their families for trips overseas.....

Thats my 2 cents worth!

:o

[caveman]

in NSW they already have it , it covers both fresh and salt water fishing