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View Full Version : Angler Rage - who is on the hit list?



raefpud
24-05-2004, 09:34 PM
By being a regular visitor to these chatboards, i realise that us anglers hate jetskiiers (me especially - i wanna burn them all) we hate commercial fishers, petty crims and rip-off merchants, over and under fishing by ethnic minorities and many others that spoil our good time out on the water.

I'm interested to know your views on spearfishing - pros and cons and those that participate in this recreational activity.
Is it a sport???
I've recently heard some shocking stories about some of the ruthless behaviour by individuals and groups of spearfishers, and was wondering if any of you had witnessed any of these activities - some of u may remember a big wild, but tame, maori wrasse off bondi beach or sydney somewhere, that was quite a tourist attraction for many many years, until some cowboy spearfisher came and popped him off.
I'm really interested to hear any stories u may have about spearfishers, and your opinions of their activities as this will be beneficial to my research - thanks heaps in advance
Raef

el_carpo
25-05-2004, 12:37 AM
Hello,

I'm not a racist and never have been. Here in the U.S., the native people have won the right to spear fish. They claim that it was the traditional way of catching walleye. This was a giant issue in Wisconson. What they do is go out in motor boats and shine a big spotlight on the fish in the water at night. They then approach and spear them. They take as much as they want I believe and it is really hurting the population of walleye. The resort owners and fishing guides were and are very much against this for obvious reasons. While I have no beef with the natives who want to practice their traditions, I do have a prroblem with them using modern day equipment to do this. Their ancestors didn't have big motor boats and powerful spotlights nor did they have trucks to haul away the fish. There is a way of acting responsibly and good and there is a way of acting greedy and wrong (like killing them and taking their land for example, so many years ago ::).

If the spear fishermen are ruining things there, I'd go to whatever authority would be responsible and try to stop them. There's room for everybody if everybody acts properly. Just my two cents.

MTpockets
25-05-2004, 02:09 AM
I am a believer in freedom and moderation in life which covers all aspects of how and why we do things. I dont have a problem with spear fishing as long as it is controlled and maintained. I am aware there is laws here in Qld for spearfishing but am not up to date with it. Lets assume the law says you must be licenced to operate a speargun, and you are only allowed to spear in a certain area if the criteria is met. I am fine with that. They would also have to stick to bag limmits and size like we do. I have no problem with that.

The problem I do have is with the so called cowboys who do go out to pillage the reefs of all speicies and sizes in the name of "sport". I assume the numbers would be fairly low compared to anglers, but the number of water skiers is low compared to anglers too but they still ski past me at the pin and dis-obey the laws. If caught they stand to face a nice fine, but what about the spear fishers? Do they get caught? Are they even sussed out by authorities? What damage if any do they cause? I would like to see some info on the subject before deciding how I feel about them, but if they do this illegaly, then I am totally against it for sure.

Hope I made sense..... basically I dont think its a fair way to get fish and hope its controlled the same way we are controlled.

cheers
Les

Heath
25-05-2004, 03:18 AM
Where we fish, we encounter spearfisherman often. I've got not problem with sport of spearfishing at all, they can have all the sturgeon, YTK & small spaniards that they care to catch.

What I do have a problem with is their lack of common sence.

Why do they have to come so close to our anchored boat & baits? I mean there is a whole ocean out there & they have float past our boat getting tangled in our anchor rope & possibly causing us to loose a fish by being too close during a fight.

But I suppose its the same with Jetskiiers, jetski's are great fun, its just the ######## sitting on the thing.

bidkev
25-05-2004, 04:50 AM
<snip>some of u may remember a big wild, but tame, maori wrasse off bondi beach or sydney somewhere, that was quite a tourist attraction for many many years, until some cowboy spearfisher came and popped him off.
I'm really interested to hear any stories u may have about spearfishers, and your opinions of their activities as this will be beneficial to my research - thanks heaps in advance
Raef

Hi Raef,

Don't know enough about it to formulate an opinion but I can relate an incident to you similar to yours qouted.

My first holiday on coming to Oz was at Amity Point. I fished from the jetty there daily, and had a whale of a time. The locals were friendly, if bemused to see UK style 12ft beach fishing overheads being employed to pull in shark.

One day I noticed a middle aged lady sat on the jetty dangling her legs over the side and looking forlorn. I asked her if she was ok and she broke into tears when she pointed to a spearfisher on the ramp and she simply said, "the bastard!"

Apparently, there was a huge mangrove jack that lived in the wall on the other side of the ramp and this local lady (a snorkeller) had been hand feeding this fish for years. Along came this spearfishing "tourist" who had just that minute returned from "perusing" the wall, with this mj as part of his "bag". I don't know what other fish he had caught, but he had quite a haul and whilst the lady and I were talking, the DPI arrived and I saw a heated argument taking place between them and the spearfisher so he must have done something illegal. The lady had phoned the DPI herself.

I pursue my sport, he pursues his. If he has broke the law, then he deserves to take the consequences but even if he hadn't, it seems sad that such an incident had to take place.

OTOH, if *I* had caught that mj with rod and line, would I feel as saddened, or that lady as angry?

cheers

kev

bugman
25-05-2004, 04:54 AM
The arguement may have something to so with the fact that you can't spearfish along that rock wall near the boat ramp at Amity.

There are signs there saying as such. It's also illegal to spearfish under jetties in QLD.

If you don't follow the rules then you deserve the penalties - if you practise your sport in obedience with the rules and with courtesy towards other people enjoying their sport then there is no issue.

Bugman

peewee
25-05-2004, 06:34 AM
[smiley=thumbsup.gif] Good reply Bugman

jockey
25-05-2004, 07:28 AM
I've done it myself before (spearfishing) so I'm not against it, provided people act within the law and only take what they need.

The guy who shot that groper was a clown, but he didn't shoot 'bluey' the big tourist drawcard. He was braking the laws though as you aren't allowed to spear groper south of the border. You don't need a licence but I think the spearing clubs are trying to bring them in to stop this sort of thing happening.

On another matter, should people be allowed to feed the wildlife?

NQCairns
25-05-2004, 07:34 AM
Angler Rage - who is on the hit list? = GBRMPA and all marine lockout zones. >:( >:(

Maria
25-05-2004, 07:36 AM
I don't think spearfishing is any worse than normal fishing, as long as it's regulated and carried out in a responsible fashion. However, when spearfishermen get trigger happy and want to shoot anything just because it unfortunately pops its head up at the wrong time, that's wrong.

If they abide by size and bag limits, and only spear what they want to eat, then I can't see a prob with it.

Ben

northsboy
25-05-2004, 08:22 AM
Raef mate the person that shot the maori wrass down that way was probably the same person that did it up here! Big pet that sits under the dive pontoons!I agree with ben as well,as long as they follow the rules and regs and only take what they are going to eat.
Cheers

mackmauler
25-05-2004, 08:34 AM
the ones that know what they are doing make some amazing hauls, the variety can be amazing, the rewards are there and so are the sharks ;D

jockey
25-05-2004, 08:35 AM
That was a groper not a wrasse, but they are just as popular with the tourists.

Marie (or Ben) would you mind translating your 'signature' for us?

Maria
25-05-2004, 08:37 AM
Jockie,

My signature is Russian. Basically translated it reads "A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. A Fool learns from his own".

Ben

northsboy
25-05-2004, 08:52 AM
LMAO ROB!
Jockie, where about are you saying it was a groper? Down south or in cairns?

banshee
25-05-2004, 09:02 AM
The fish speared in Sydney was a Blue Groper.

jockey
25-05-2004, 09:05 AM
yep

I haven't heard about the incident in Cairns. What happened?

JB
25-05-2004, 09:37 AM
I know what you mean heath, had a small incident with a spear fisho drifting past while i was onto a cobe couple of weeks ago. He had no consideration at all and it was obvious what i was doing.. all he had to do was motor away another 10mtrs , instead of being 5 metres from my boat! He was told politley to "go away" ;)

bungie
25-05-2004, 03:52 PM
Got to meet "Wally" last week scuba diving off Cairns, awesome creature. Massive great wrasse.

quinnie_600
25-05-2004, 05:09 PM
Geez....Bungie that photo should be in National Geographic!!!!!!!!!
Awesome stuff.

Remo
25-05-2004, 05:16 PM
Whats the old saying "all things are good in moderation"

PinHead
25-05-2004, 05:40 PM
Personally..I go fishing to relax...nothing bothers me when I go. I can wait at a ramp for ages..never bothers me. Jetskiers don't bother me either..I usually fish at night and they are gone by then. Spearfishers...never encountered many. I fish to relax...work creates enough stress so I make sure nothing worries me when out fishing.

PinHead
25-05-2004, 05:41 PM
HANG ON...One thing does really stress me out when fishing...running out of Mr Stones finest brew...now that is nearly cause for wrist slashing

Fitzy
25-05-2004, 09:24 PM
I dont have problem with spear fishing. I dont think the practice is impacting upon fish stocks. I recon its like hunting. They cant use SCUBA gear while spearfishing & they're out there risking thier lives trying to get close enough for a shot.
I had a crack at trying to snorkle & spear some mullet years ago. Not easy! Recon I would have done better with rod n reel.

I do have a problem with spearfishing comps where fish are killed just for the sake of winning a prize or trophy & then the fish possibly gets dumped. This got some bad press in the past.

Also no chance to release undersize/protected/out of season fish once they've been mistakenly speared tho.

Generally if they're stupid enough to get out there with noahs & (in the north) mud geckos then they deserve to be able to take a fish.

Fitzy..

raefpud
27-05-2004, 04:47 PM
http://www.spearfishing.com.au/home.php?hist_id=3

If anyone here could be bothered to read this article, it is quite interesting but i'd like to hear other opinions on it

Raef

jockey
28-05-2004, 08:58 AM
From what I remember (I read it a while back) he approached the question of whether spearfishing is sustainable in isolation. He basically answered the question - if spearfishing was the only form of fishing going on, but still at current levels, would it be sustainable? Which isn't a meaningful question. Any type of fishing would be sustainable if you broke it down into small enough chunks. You need to go into the relative impact per person, per fish caught, per hour fishing and per year.

The other info he supplied is very interesting though. Especially the decline in coral trout size and catch rates.