You don't understand Bob - It's all our Fish Bob - Yours, mIne, my kids, your kids, their kids etc. Recreational fishing with commonsense constraints and bag limits - will be sustainable for Generations
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One thing not raised here is that, by and large, this board is a collection of the top 20% of anglers who are "mad keen".
We buy the fishing mags, are across most of the rules, regs and issues and in large part see the value of license fees "IF" they are directed the right way.
We all know SIP works, but lets face it, this created and maintains an artificial recreational fishery which did not exit and it should be paid for by "us".
For the less "mad keen" the big issue with a recreational license is simply people stop fishing. Occassional anglers, holiday anglers, potential visitors and, far more importantly, potential "mad keeners" stop or never start in the first place.
The sport/passtime has gone from being one of lifes simple easy pleasures to a minefield of rules, regs, bag limits, zones, fines etc etc over my 45 odd years of active participation to a point (already) where far smaller numbers of people regularly fish.
Yes, pressure of life and alternatives to ways we spend our time and money exist but I have no doubt fishing and participation rates drop in direct proportion to the number of regulations, rules etc placed in the way.
Every time a fishing license has been introduced into an Australian state, participation rates have fallen. Some would argue this is a good thing, not so the boating and tackle trade. Some may even conclude this is the very reason for more regulations, stop the great unwashed from fishing and "destroying our preciuos environment".
When the massive zoning of the GBR was introduced participation rates in the far north fell by 42% in a single year. You will see a similar drop off in the bay.......just ask your local boat dealer how he's going! Some people come back, many do not and if a recreational salt water license was ever introduced you would see increased drop outs.
I'll even give you a personal insight. I live 45 minutes from Prossy dam and arguabley some of the best impoundment barra fishing in Australia. I have over the years, brought SIP permits and fished the dam, even caught a few but just as regularly, the thought crosses my mind, maybe I'll head out the dam for a change. Second thought, is my SIP still current and usually the answer is no....followed by. ^%#$@ the fishing, I'll just sit and watch the footy. Who loses? The garage, the tackle shop and "me". This is what will happen if QLD ever introduces salt water licensing. You, me and the majority of Ausfishers would buy one before we fed ourselves but the majority of occassional fishos would put it off and put it off and "maybe" buy one just before annual leave, or maybe not and the drop out would continue and continue a slow slide to the point where fishing is the exclusive passtime of a few ecentric old codgers, like me. Our bargaining power, political influence would slide away and die. Those here who talk "big picture" and talk about the value for the future of rec licenses need to consider a different future. One where very few people fish, those that do contribute to a slowing decreasing pool of funding, where more is paid by increasingly few participants and it all just dies away.
A different future is less bloody rules and a return to the glory days when recreational fishing was a common passtime for almost everyone and with that political masters recognised its value, both to the economy and social fabric of our society.
Some rules are great, common sense and enhance the fishery, like slot sizing of barra and flatties & sensible bag limits, others like zonings and fines for zoning breaches, crab pot marking and I put saltwater licensing clearly in this catagory are, by design or consequence, just rules which make it all too bloody hard and not worth the bother.
KC
Originally Posted by Nowhere Bob
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