Off-coast fishing banned in Perth

[Roobone]

I watched this story on Landline last Sunday. Did anyone else catch it. Below is the link to the Landline website and story dialog.



http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2006/s2037365.htm

[ziggy.]

Yer I saw it, it's the Barrier Reef marine park all over again ! The guy from the government came across as if he really did not give a stuff about the fishermen pro or amateur or maybe I read him wrong.

It's happening everywhere.

[TerryF]

Barrier Reef marine park all over againNo, it's not that at all.

This is Fisheries management for the sustainability of the fish and fishing, and has nothing at all to do with Marine Parks and "saving" the environment.

That ABC Landline programme covered the closure of commercial fishing off Perth, and warned of restrictions on recreational fishing.

That commercial closure leaves a 14,000 square kilometre recreational only fishing zone - which is very large in anyone's language - right next to a Capital city and metropolitan area where most of WA's population lives.

Ths sting is that the recreational fishermen will have no-one else to blame if the fishing keeps going downhill.

So yes there are more restrictions coming for recreational fishing for offshore demersal fish, some unique to WA, because they have been seriously overfished by both commercial and recreationals and the alternative is likely they will disappear or not be worth fishing for.

This is not a simple problem and the "solutions" are not going to be simple, and you can bet that many WA recreational fishermen won't like them.

They need to get informed and get involved and they'll understand the reasons, and then they won't be talking about "fighting against" some of the things that MUST be done - but rather fighting FOR their and their kids' and grandkids' fishing future, oh, yes and fighting for (not over) the fish too.

Plenty of info about all this for people to read. Some links:-

FMP 225 http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/mp/mp225/index.php?0602 "Managing the Recreational Catch of Demersal Scalefish on the West Coast - Future Management Scenarios for Community Consideration"

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/frr/frr163/frr163.pdf Fisheries Research Report No. 163 – Spatial scales of exploitation among populations of demersal scalefish: implications for management. Part 1: Stock status of the key indicator species for the demersal scalefish fishery in the West Coast Bioregion.

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/WestCoastDemersal/index.php Protecting Our Fish For The Future – West Coast. New Management Strategies for Demersal Scalefish

Media releases

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/media/index.php?0000&mr=479

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/media/index.php?0000&mr=480

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/media/index.php?0000&mr=482

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/media/index.php?0000&mr=486

Various threads on the Western Angler Fisheries Management and Environmental Issues Forum http://www.westernangler.com.au/forum/tt.asp?forumid=3

TerryF
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