Ringnetting mackeral allowed still???

[xxxxhornet]

G'day all,

A mate of mine told me yesterday that Pros are still allowed to catch mackeral as bycatch when ringnetting tuna. He said there was also something about they could target either spotties or school (not sure which) and have a maximum quota, but still have the other as bycatch. Apparently they can tell which species they are by the way they are chopping? He reckons he saw it on a chat site ages ago (not this one - I checked QFM and couldnt find anything)

Now the way I see it if a Pro guy sees a mob of schoolies or spotties, he can run the nets around and if questioned by fisheries, claim it as bycatch.... WTF!!?

Can anyone shed some light or truth on this as I was under the impression they could only catch 'em the same as the rest of us.

[Fisheasy]

Tuna generally splash (as in they jump) when feeding whereas Mackerel tend to slash the water (though I've seen plenty of unbelievably spectacular jumps made by spaniards, generally spearing skywards) so if us rec fishers can tell the difference, the pros are twice as good at identifying them.
Ringnetting for spotties has stopped however I assumed they were still permitted bycatch? Anyway, why not make a call to the DPI and get the info from the horse's mouth.

[DaneCross]

I heard that pros are still allowed to ring net school mackerel. They are also allowed up to 200 spotted mackerel per day, per licence, in their possession as supposed bycatch. I think that they can still take 50 longtail tuna as bycatch as well, but I'm not sure.
DC