Game Over

[Slider]

Didn't get to have a spin yest afternoon, but should have. And should have kept spinning til 10pm, even if I was catching nothing, as it would have been less frustrating than watching the maroons being belted.
So went down this morning and spun in the same gutter as the last couple of mornings. Worked for an hour without a strike as did Joe who turned up early and without waders despite it being cooler this morning. 3 layers for me and no chance of taking a shirt off in the cool southerly. Stumps were pulled just after 7 and in the post game analysis, Joe tells me that a crew of netters moved in to the camp yest and were hitting the beach at 2 this morning.
Now I can't categorically state that they shot a net and that is the reason why there were no strikes this morning. And I don't really need to as it doesn't matter anyway. There are going to be nets shot as these guys are booked in to the camp ground for 3 weeks and they will, if they haven't already, shut the fishing down entirely.
Every year it's the same thing - we'd be getting fish from xmas into May (algal blooms permitting) and then a net would be shot for mullet at the mouth and the game would be over til the nets stop working at the end of the year. I'm pretty certain I know how it all works and why regarding the spooking of the fish and how the netters counteract the spooking. It takes some explaining and as time permits I'll write a semi detailed synopsis of the whole deal that readers should be able to apply to their own fishery if it is commercially fished. Many Ausfishers and readers of my Teewah Beach report in QFM will have read this stuff before, but many won't have and they might find it interesting.

Agree or disagree, I am always keen for feedback.

Lindsay

[plaztix]

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

I have seen the result of this before. The week before the straddie classic years ago, we were cleaning up on solid green backs. Netters came in 2 days before the classic started and the beach fishing turned to shite for the whole week. If we caught one of the quality fish that we were catching every day the week before, we would have won best tailor.

The most frustrating thing is seeing good tailor sitting in the back of a trailer, no ice, in the sun for hours before they pack up and bugger off.

We thought that for sure they would have turned it back on by the end of the week and never figured out why they shut down for so long, so am interested to hear from you.

[JEWIENEWIE]

Slider, everything you say makes sense to me mate. I go camping for a ong stint every year up 1770 way and camp on the beach. I normally get there before the mullett netters arrive and enjoy catching tailor off the beach. The netters arive about a week or two into my stay and the fishing off the beach just shuts down.
Now i know why.
Jewie

[Slider]

Thanks Plaztix, that's the perfect introduction.

Fish are like any animal on the earth, if their existence becomes threated, then they take evasive action. They also have refined methods of communication that enable them to warn other fish of danger. Most fish drum muscles against their swim bladder to make a vocalisation which travels very effectively in water (5 x the speed sound travels in air). So much so, that yellowfin tuna have been recorded on hydrophones from a distance of 65km away. Most fish recorded so far - and there are thousands of species that have been recorded and their vocalisations placed on a database incl 2 in Australia (gar and black jew) - have several different vocalisations. They may make a particular sound when spawning, or feeding or when in distress. The scientists targeting yellowfin for example can tell how many tuna are in a school, what size they are and what they are doing - spawning, feeding, .... from 65kms away.
So what happens when fish become panicked in a net, is that they are all releasing distress vocalisations and splash the surface or clash with each other which are sounds that fish not in the net pick up readily through their inner ear and their lateral line. All fish species that are vulnerable to these nets, now recognise these sounds as being danger and they move away from the source. They also relay the distress on to fish further from the source which helps survival of their species which is an evolutionary trait in most animals. These distress signals are not 'species specific' - tailor for example recognise netted mullet distress signals and react instantly.
I have watched a couple of times mullet being netted here when schools of mac tuna and spotty mackerel are feeding on the surface in Laguna Bay. The instant that the mullet start to panic in the net (can be seen splashing and leaping), then the schools of mackerel and tuna disappear altogether. And it is virtually instantaneous with schools 5kms away gone in a few seconds. Reportedly 40km away also but I can't confirm this. The bait they were feeding on is still there as they are unaffected by the nets, but the pelagics go and won't be back for 1.5 to 2 weeks if at all - being late in their season here.
And that seems to be how long before all species that have abandoned an area due to netting, take to return to a location. The netties of course are aware of what to expect and are waiting for them.
Earn Grant disputed that any of this could be the case as the pros would never get any fish either. And I had to watch and think about that one for a few months before I worked out how the netters get around this.
When a net is shot, it causes the 1- 2 week area abandonment of the area. This area abandonment could be for 30 or 40 km and potentially more from the netting point depending on the size of the haul. The pros, aware that it is fruitless to target the same area, shift their focus to D.I. or Rainbow (further than the 30 or 40kms) and one local guy has Sandy Cape up his sleeve as well. That gives him 3 locations + the Noosa River to spread his netting activities over. By the time each area has been netted, a week or 2 has passed and the fish are returning to the first netted area. So they rotate their target area to allow time for fish to return to each area. Also, the mullet upstream are largely unaffected by all of this happening on the ocean beaches and continue to exit the mouths of the streams to spawn, ensuring a relatively consistent supply of fish for the pros.
Many would say 'good on the fish for learning to avoid the nets'. But it's not necessarily a win for the fish as most of the species affected are on a spawning migration. To deviate away from the areas that have been used for spawning for milions of years and are conducive to good recruitment, means that they are spawning in areas less conducive to good recruitment. Less fertilisation of eggs due to current or other factors and fewer larvae surviving due to distance from suitable estuaries must result in population fall. This population fall is compounded heavily by the taking of spawning fish and is the reason I summise why species suffer population crashes.
It is reasonable to assume that more offshore species such as snapper, which are a smart fish that can spook easily, would be affected by seiners in winter. Certainly any offshore netting activity would have some affect on the movement of snapper and any offshore species that is targeted by nets.
The studies that have been carried out on 'net avoidance' are conclusive - fish learn to avoid them. It's a fact. But the only way they can do it over the areas that they do is via communication and they have all the tools to do it incredibly well.
There are all sorts of variables associated with this - the geography of the coastline and location of streams; the number of nets in an area and the size of each haul. I think I could explain most of these variables with accurate information provided and a map.
There is no doubt any more that something along these lines is occurring, but the research in this area is still in it's infancy and non existent in Australia.
My fear is that by the time we recognise what is happening, it will be too late for these species to recover as has happened in plenty of other places around the world.

So there you go Plaztix - it would prob have been another few days before fish were being caught again at Straddie.
I've lots and lots of examples of very similar things happening in a variety of places and I'll use them if I need.

Lindsay

[jayvee]

SLIDER: that is a fantastic and detailed read mate cheers heaps for putting it up!
JAYVEE

[FISHAWN]

thanks for that slider, very imformative read.
SO basically the netters will be working the coast for the next 3 weeks?
where are they camped ?

[slyman]

Cheers slider for that post, very informative. A couple of years ago my brother and I made a trip up your way, and after we came out of the first cutting we turned south towards the river and we came across a netting operation, one net had already been hauled and was sitting up the sand in the sun, this net was chockers full of fish, a pile of fish maybe 20 - 30 mts long, 3-4 wide and easily 1-1.5 deep.
The noise that was coming from this pile as they thrashed about in the net was incredible, I guess that noise would be transferred through the sand and fish in the water would pick up on it too? A second net was in the water and as we left they were getting ready to haul that one in also. As we drove away, I saw a woman walking along, a tailor in each hand held by the tail, noses just above the sand, easy 70cms each. Needless to say, we got no fish that weekend, and now I know why.

simon

[Slider]

No Fishawn, they will be working the coast until about November. The K8 license that applies from Noosa River mouth to Inskip and can be used from 1st of May til August 31 - there are 17 of these licenses in existence and usually 13 or so operating each season. There is also an N1 license which a Tewantin fisherman has one of and can be used all year round - it is one of 2 licenses permitted to net Sandy Cape all year round as well. This particular license is used throughout the mullet season for mullet, bream, tarwhine, golden trevally, whiting, tailor, dart or any other viable species that happens to be around. When the mullet start to thin out is when the greenback tailor are normally spawning along Teewah Beach. This license targets these schools with great efficiency and with mature tailor being fish that spook particularly easily, then area abandonment is thorough. It also works the Noosa River for prawns and mullet from Nov to April.
This fisherman on his own shuts down from Waddy Point to Rooney Point on a very regular basis - all year round.

One crew at the wilderness camp so far and the Tewantin fisherman crosses the ferry each day. No other netters arrived as yet.

[FISHAWN]

makes me feel sick !
so they be working from Noosa all the way down to tweed heads ?

[BrandonH]

Great read as always Slider!! its a shame about them netting tailor only use for it (as far as pro's are concerned) is cat food

cheers
Brandon...

[JEWIENEWIE]

One question i do have for you slider is that the mullett netters at times net the estuary where i camp. I have also noticed that when they do this, all the fish disappear as well but there are always the flathead. They seem to be not affected by this???
Very curious as i have a great belief in your theory and have witnessed it first hand but why do the flathead remain on the bite?
Any thoughts?
Jewie

[plaztix]

Looks like i should think twice about my trip up to DI in 3 weeks

It all makes very good sense and it also makes me think about a few instances in which it also applies to us as fisherman.

I have on a few occasions been onto good sized schools of squire / snapper and anyone else who has would know that you can keep pulling fish all day if the school hangs around. At the risk of putting people off catch and release, as soon as a decent fish is released back into the school the school disappears or if the fish pulls the hooks at the boat same thing. The way we used to get around this was throw the fish that we weren't keeping into the live bait tank until we were at the end of the drift and then release them.

I guess the level of stress or the sheer volume of fish that these netters are stressing has an amplified affect on a greater area but it applies to us in smaller levels also.

[Slider]

You're onto it Plaztix - the level of stress is very important.
I've classified stress into 3 levels - Lvl 1 - a single fisherperson hooked on to one fish which can cause other fish to spook - such as the very good example you've given Plaztix regarding snapper. I made mention in Greenbackathon I think about dropping tailor and spooking other fish.
Lvl 2 - is a very small commercial haul; multiple cast nets or a gathering of anglers such as at Fraser using rod and reel.
LVL 3 - is a normal commercial haul of more than a tonne which is obviously the worst level and has by far the greatest impact.

Spooking can be reversed if enough berley is used. - In the Solomons, the Chinese netting tuna had found that the tuna would take off after netting. So what they do is net massive quantities of baitfish and dump it overboard as berley which draws the tuna back again. I've worked out another way of achieving this that doesn't cost baitfish but the technology is a dangerous one. Fish can be attracted using sound as the drawcard - To attract spotty mackerel for example - record frogmouth pilchards and play the sound into the water. Or as Gareth at Tackle Tactics put it - if you want to attract a rabbit, make a sound like a carrot.

Jewie, I've also noticed that flathead do not seem to be affected and are about the only fish that is caught here all through winter. I figure that they must be able to go under the nets and as such the nets pose no threat to them. I can't ever recall seeing flathead in a seiners net.

Brandon, thanks. I try not to think about cats eating these fish tho it is the case. which of course makes a mockery of the pros argument that they are providing the fresh seafood to those that don't fish. That argument in this instance does not wash at all.

Fishawn, yes and beyond.

[bg1000]

Slider,
What happens when half a dozen fisherman, fish one gutter catching tailer for the afternoon. Do these fish not let out the same vocalisation and put everything off the bite as when caught in a net....

[Slider]

Not enough stress (lvl 1) bg1000 to cause a major area abandonment. Can still get localised spooking as outlined in Greenbackathon. The nets are the fishes major concern and they freak them out more than anything else. The tailor would be emitting distress vocs when hooked but it seems that unless the fish is dropped and bolts with the other fish following, then they remain unaffected to a point. Remembering also that berley can reverse spooking, and with bits of pilchard floating around in a gutter as with a hundred anglers chasing tailor - then the spook factor is reduced.