May Be Too late (for Pilchards)

[jaybee]

Just talking to my bro, he is up mooloolabah again, last year boats were seining pilchards, (test) more new boats have arrived in the last few days, he estimates they are 50 to 60 foot shark cat hulls and loading new nets on the drums today. Apparantly there is a guy up there in a wheelchair and last year and again today he was giving them heaps and he was led away today, dont know if it was by police or by fishers. I beleive the government have already made their mind up and these guys are waiting for the go ahead. TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
:-[

[Master_Jig_Builder]

Jaybee do you know what their quota is by any chance?

[jaybee]

Sorry havent been able to find that out apparantly last year they were comming well and truly loaded.

[Kerry]

35 years ago pilchards were never even heard of around this part of the world. In those days everybody chased doggie mackeral using herring (green or blue backs). Then these things called "West Australian Pilchards" started appearing in shops and almost in a season the doggies snubbed their nose at anything that didn't look like a pilchard.

As far as I knew then pilchards weren't very common over this side of the country at all so have things changed and if not then it's taken a long time for someone to realize what's going on and move in.

Cheers, Kerry.

[jaybee]

In the Sunday Mail yesterday P24

As Conservation efforts have increased, huge schools of small bait fish have returned to Moreton Bay. was reading on the net a few days ago how herring used to be netted in parts of england until they were decimated, maybe the old timers chased herring over here because thats all our forefathers used can't really be sure. I can remember pilchards dying off and nearly choking the tweed, the fisheries commissed trawlers to scoop them up for removal. In WA they are practically closing the season for a few months each year because of the mortality rate but only when the pilchards start showing up dead.

Distributed from Hervey Bay in southern Queensland, around southern Australia to Red Bluff in Western Australia (Ref. 188, 26420). Pilchards are also found in Bass Strait, across the north coast of Tasmania and along the east coast to Hobart (Ref. 6390). Stock structure: Genetic studies on pilchards have been conducted at the University of New South Wales. Early work (Ref. 26426) proposed the existence of at least 3 separate breeding populations of pilchards in Australian waters.
here is the web site if you would like to read more...http://www.fishbase.org/Country/CountrySummary.cfm?ID=1670&Ctry=Australia&genusname=Sardinops&speciesname=sagax&vc_code=036
I agree with
then it's taken a long time for someone to realize what's going on and move in.
however, are they moving in on the pilchards because other stocks have been decimated to the point where they cannot make a living?