Busted, but I got lucky

[rando]

I was in Gladstone two weeks ago visiting a mate of mine. One of his housemates is a professional fisher in the Live Trout fishery. This bloke offered me a trip to Swains for two weeks catching Trout, as they were short a couple of dory fishermen. I was very tempted but said I would have to come back to Brisbane to tee things up with the Missus,and if the offer was still open I would go out with them on their next trip.

My mate rang me Wednesday and said that Fisheries ,The Feds,and local police were all waiting on the dock when the boat docked and impounded the boat the catch and all the gear because they had been fishing in the green zone.

My mate said he had had, a low opinion of this fisher bloke and thought he was a bit "sus",but apparently both the flatmate and the skipper are just grubs.

Lucky I didn't go or I might be facing some serious legal issues and big fines. As I would have had no idea where we were in relation to the green zones, and If they had said we are fishing "here"I would have assumed they were in a legal zone.

Anyway I expect there will be a live trout boat and 4 fully set up dories up for auction soon.

rando

[Pazz01]

Hey Rando

I've heard that it is a pretty common occurance around the swains with pro's fishing in green zones. Apparently they go to all streches of the imagination to not get caught. Some will fish it during the night and early hours of the morning to sun up. Have no idea if they are catching trout tho, I only thought they bit during daylight hours.

The DPI have sonars and pick them up in the dark. And go pull up next to them in the dark with no lights on. I'm glad they get caught.

Pazz

[rando]

Pazz

My mate didn't say when they were ducking into the green zone, but he did say the authorities knew exactly, where they went ,who was on-board, and where they lived, etc.
The Flatmate even tried to get my mate to take his own boat out and they would "slip into the green zone after dark & clean-up"as I said previously a real grub.
I wonder how prevalent this is amongst the commercial boats

[Cheech]

That would have been a headache you didn't need! Lucky the timing was not right.

[Scott nthQld]

didn't the idiots know that all Pro's get pinged by the DPI and GBRMPA to stop the sneaking in to the green zones at night? They all get pinged every hour, so DPi was probably just waiting for enough times that it could be proven that
a) they were fishing
b) enough times to force a harsher penalty

I've been told by fisheries they are pinged after reporting a trawler doing the same thing, skirting in and out of a yellow zone, fisheries told me that they would ping them more frequently so they might catch them at it.

[rando]

Scott
I had only met this bloke once, had a look over the boat and had a beer with him.
My only comment ,is that he had never won a "Rhodes Scholarship"

[honda900]

didn't the idiots know that all Pro's get pinged by the DPI and GBRMPA to stop the sneaking in to the green zones at night? They all get pinged every hour, so DPi was probably just waiting for enough times that it could be proven that
a) they were fishing
b) enough times to force a harsher penalty

I've been told by fisheries they are pinged after reporting a trawler doing the same thing, skirting in and out of a yellow zone, fisheries told me that they would ping them more frequently so they might catch them at it.

Scott,

is there some device on the commercial boat that reports their position?

we were up at swains a few weeks ago and we saw a trout boat turn up at a reef we were at, they only turned up in the arvo stayed an hour or 2 all the dories went out and then took off.

Regards
Honda.

[FNQCairns]

So just how did they get caught?? When dealing with a business fishery's will be very sure of themselves in comparison to dealing with just another individual.

Long range land based radar, plane with infa red x plotter, satellite, boat with radar. They where a long way from shore...no small effort to get a solid fix afterall the fish have no idea if they are living in green/yellow zone compared to blue.

[Scott nthQld]

Scott,

is there some device on the commercial boat that reports their position?

we were up at swains a few weeks ago and we saw a trout boat turn up at a reef we were at, they only turned up in the arvo stayed an hour or 2 all the dories went out and then took off.

Regards
Honda.

I was told there was a device on board that automatically sends the authorities their GPS postion every hour, I was also told that each commercial boat had to have one as part of their licence and only the DPI had control as to the frequency of the transmission. I spose though is a pro was able to figure out say what time's their position was sent, then that would still allow them to duck into a green zone and get back out before they get pinged.

Was told that doing this was all part of the measures taken to stop fishing in green/yellow zones since they can't have men on the water 24/7.

[rando]

FNQ

A bloke I worked with in my radio days, got fined for fishing in a green zone just after they were gazetted.They got him on radar from a fisheries vessel.He said he didn't know they were in a green zone, but knowing him, I would say he was trying to pull a swift one. He was a bit of a smart-arse, He copped a fair old fine for it, court appearance, barrister, so it was an expensive exercise for him & fair enough too.

I don't know how this latest bloke got spotted but my mate said they knew everything about them before the authorities even boarded the ship.
It sounds to me like they were onto their activities, could be why they were short of crew. The Trout boat guys were obviously aware they were fishing green zones because of what was said to my mate.

[Awshucks]

Randy you and your "mate" need to pick your company a bit better.

[rando]

Awshucks

YEAH, I'll have to start hanging out with supreme court judges & Mining Moguls.;D

This fisherman bloke was renting a room in my mates' place, Oldmate didnt find out what he was like till after he moved in.

The bloke I worked with years ago was just a smart-arse, always putting shit on people. I'm glad he got booked,,,, he squealed like a stuck pig about it too.

[smashed crabs]

Would be the planes that got them , day or night don't matter they still see you You can't escape gear that picks up on heat like an outboard or person ,you would of all seen the planes with that gear that spots boat people.

Our plane up this way is a customs plane i think ? It's usually seen out wide early morning heading north to Cairns then takes a different route back south again .
Always keeps a direct path and only deviates if action is required , i have had this plane many times drop in and circle , even while i have been in greenzones at night layed up from rough weather , if your fishing they will see you and you will have a welcoming party at port .

Anyway nice one good to see the bastards caught

SC

[HeadBanger]

Very lucky mate, I'd hate to be in that guy's position right now. But he obviously did know the rules and his attitude towards it seems enough to 'throw away the key' so to speak. It's good to see the laws being enforced though, would've been even worse if they were keeping undersize fish::)

Cheers,
Kaidon

[uglyfish]

Scott,

is there some device on the commercial boat that reports their position?

we were up at swains a few weeks ago and we saw a trout boat turn up at a reef we were at, they only turned up in the arvo stayed an hour or 2 all the dories went out and then took off.

Regards
Honda.
Yep they sure do, it's called VMS vessel monitoring systems.
It send threw gps cord and data to the fisheries every 10 min or something can't really remember.This system can never be turned off with out a plausable excuse.
Why were the feds involved? It's. Not what I'd call a federal offence really, unless there's more to meets the eye....

[ShaneC]

But VMS and VTS are really only used on big ships in restricted shipping space. I will lay money that not many pro boats have it......

[FNQCairns]

But VMS and VTS are really only used on big ships in restricted shipping space. I will lay money that not many pro boats have it......

This is what I thought too although I am very slack on the subject. Possibly long range ocean prawn trawlers but a trout boat....I dunno.

[pickenshovel]

i was a coral trout fisherman when i was a young bloke(18 yrs ago ) , we used to get buzzed by the planes a few times a month , they used to come in low as well , crapped me pants a few times as u dont hear them coming until they are right on ya,
best job i ever had , getting paid to go fishing with handlines in a dory , and living on the reef for a few months at a time was unreal , most beautiful place ive ever been..... ah memorys
http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo348/pickenshovel/img022xxx.jpg

[uglyfish]

I looked up vms they are used by most commercail fishing boats working in the gbrmp (mainly otter trawl), as mentioned the L3 industry has not yet introduced them but its on the way..Still id love to know why the feds were called in???

[rando]

Dunno why the feds were there, uglyfish. I see if I can find-out!

[samson]

sounds like drugs not greenzones were the problem no need for the feds otherwise.

[Scott nthQld]

Ah but what you are forgetting is that it is federal. The GBRMP is under federal jurisdtiction when it comes to the zonings, so feds could have just been GBRMPA reps.

[SatNav]

"But VMS and VTS are really only used on big ships in restricted shipping space. I will lay money that not many pro boats have it......"

1. That would be easy money you are laying and throwing away there.

[nickstock]

IAnyway I expect there will be a live trout boat and 4 fully set up dories up for auction soon.

rando


Hi Rando,

That would be a nice situation mate but it does not work like that. There are a few commercial lads up here that have been caught fishing in Green zones on more then one occasion and are still 100% full steam ahead.

The commercial fishing industry in FNQ is in shambles and the authorities that are supposed to be monitoring it are under staffed and way over budget.

A damn shame for the future of fishing, when we have fools like Garrett trying to lock up the GBR to fishing when they cannot monitor what is happening now.

Nick

[ThePinkPanther]

Vessel monitoring systems (VMS) are used in commercial fishing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_fishing) to allow environmental and fisheries regulatory organizations to monitor, minimally, the position, time at a position, and course and speed of fishing vessels. They are a key part of monitoring control and surveillance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitoring_control_and_surveillance) (MCS) programs at the national and international levels. VMS may be used to monitor vessels in the territorial waters of a country or a subdivision of a country, or in the Exclusive Economic Zones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Economic_Zone) (EEZ) that extend 200 nautical miles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile) (370.4 km) from the coasts of many countries.
Detail of VMS approved equipment and operational use will vary with the requirements of the nation of the vessel's registry, and the regional or national water in which the vessel is operating. Fisheries followed by VMS fall into two main categories:

Local/regional fish such as scallops in the Northeast U.S., anchovies in Peruvian waters, or rock shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico
Highly migratory species (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_migratory_species) (HMS) such as tuna and billfish, or Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) in the Antarctic. which can be caught in multiple regionsIn this discussion, VMS relates specifically to fisheries management systems. VMS is sometimes used as an informal synonym for other such things as the Automatic Identification System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System) (AIS) or Vessel Traffic Service (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vessel_Traffic_Service) (VTS). AIS and VTS are quite different from VMS, although they may be complementary may apply to marine oversight and sensing programs that deal with the safety of navigation, hazardous material spills, and environmental threats such as algal blooms. VMS uses different radio technologies, is long-range, and handles commercially sensitive information.