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Thread: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowed???

  1. #1

    Double Island Lagoon netted by the pro's!!!How can this be allowed???

    Well I've been heading up along Teewah Beach running my Connect Camps now for the past 6 months and have slowly but surely been enjoying putting my 'at risk' boys who are on the program onto some fish.

    http://www.su-connect.org.au/

    At first I focused on Teewah Beach but found that with all of the big swells we've been having this year that it was just too hard for the boys..aged 11-15 to fish especially as many are fishing newbies and on a 3 day camp leaving from State schools in North Brisbane.

    Fishing the beach also meant we needed to rely on people like Wazza the Wormer who, though incredibly generous were not always there to donate fresh worms when we needed them and thus I moved on to fishing in the Double Island Point Lagoon over on the Rainbow Beach side just opposite the famous Double Island Point surf break.

    Well the journey, thanks to many of you wonderful blokes who have donated your used and/or unused fishing gear has been great and little by little I have been able to put the boys, (many of whom don't have Dad's or have Dad's that don't fish) onto some fish which has certainly put a smile on their dials.

    And at this point I'd like to make a special point of thanking the following people or companies who have helped by donating either time or goods to make this happen.

    These include:
    Ken Burgess of Frazerods (of Joyner ph.0427832618) who has cut rods down, refitted them and serviced our reels all free of charge!!! Top bloke Ken.
    Alvey Reels who sold us their gear at cost price or (at the cheaper end of their lines) gave us things like scalers, casting plugs and fish rulers for free which is great.
    Sandgate Tackle world who have been amazing in supporting us by giving us loads of terminal tackle, spooling our reels and even given us the odd spool of line and loads more. These guys are awesome!!
    Platypus fishing lines who gave us free new Platypus Premium to spool up all of those reels many of you donated to us. They also gave us hats etc.Top crew!!
    TT lures gave us approx $400 worth of lures, jig heads and ZMan Plastics! Wow!! I was blown away by their generosity!!!!
    Not too mention the many guys on here who donated rods reels and various fishing bits and pieces. Thanks to all of you!

    Well so back to the story:Click image for larger version. 

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    So now having realised that the DI Lagoon was a productive place for us as there are yabbies on site which the boys enjoy pumping, there's heaps of bait fish which we have been cast netting (not that I'm much of a teacher when it comes to this and my net is pretty small) I've been going back their each trip and little by little we've managed to pull a feed out of this fragile/pristine little lagoon.Click image for larger version. 

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    So you can imagine my horror when on my trip up this week I was told that Professional Fishermen had been netting the area and hauling tons of fish down the beach at Teewah in their 4by's. Oh my gosh I thought...I hope they haven't been netting the lagoon??!!

    So as I'm driving in I meet this Pro going the other way and I ask him straight and he tells me that they have indeed but no probs..,as loads of fish got away under their nets!!

    I then arrive at the lagoon and am taken aback by dead undersized bream, flathead, sharks and sea birds littered around the lagoon edges!!
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    So further to the advice of the pro we get our yabbies and set up in our usual 'sure fire' spot to fish and 'nothing'!! And I mean nothing!!! The fishing was useless and so we then tried several other spots around the lagoon and you guessed it...a big fat donut!!

    So what the heck!!

    How is it that the greens can shut down vast areas of fishing across our nation and fragile, pristine lagoons like this that are just a spit away from Brissy are 'all go' for the Pro's to net whenever they feel like it!Click image for larger version. 

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    Not happy Jan!

    Sadly the great little spot we'd found that had been saving our fishless trips is now 'totally shut down' for 'who knows how long'??
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    Does anyone else out there care and if so what can we do?????

    Any suggestions or help would be most welcome.

    Ps. If you are a pro and you are reading this I understand that you have to make a living too but what about all of that water out in that vast big Ocean???? I get that Pro's have had licenses to fish areas like this for years but surely with all of the population growth and tourism in mind we could look at alternatives to netting such an amazing place as DI Lagoon!!!

  2. #2

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Malby

    Contact fisheries with your photos and story as well as your local MP.

  3. #3

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    It would be good if you could send this story, just as it is, to the new qld minister of fisheries....seems that this new govt might have some balls to see the greater good rather than pander to a few relics of days gone by.

  4. #4

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Malby,
    This has been happening for a long time. Unfortunatly it is not a Green/Yellow zone.
    The whole of teewah to inskip will be hard to fish this time of year. Do a search as Slider has posted some ideas on this matter.
    Instead of creating a protection zone hundreds of kilometres from our shores. How about protecting a bit of paradise at our backdoor. I think after a prolonged spell of rough weather a lot of species rest up north of Double I think it should be protected.
    In saying that I also understand people have to make a living. The mullet continue to swim north why not make it yellow?
    Regards Brett

  5. #5

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    I fished Teewah the day the pro's were going back and forward all afternoon with there catch. estimated at least 10 + ton.
    Everytime they went past what a shame.
    WHEN IS FISHERIES GOING TO UNDERSTAND THE HUMBLE MULLET IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE FOODCHAIN.
    TAKE AWAY THE AMOUNT OF FOOD AND YOU AFFECT ALL PREDATORS ABOVE.

    Oh and by the way before I get jumped on about food for people think about this,-

    - how many fish and chip shops serve mullet when you ask for fish and chips
    - the roe is sent overseas
    - yes you can buy whole mullet for bait?, or would you buy it to eat yourself after it has been sitting in the sun or on the back of a truck for half a day.

    I heard that they now send mullet to the Middle East, so if this is true we pillage our shores for overseas.

    The Fisheries Minister and fisheries need to do something now for the future.All we ever hear is for a sustainable future well lets do something about mullet netting.
    As I have said in the past give a clear plan to allow the real profisherman (not just partime netters) to adjust ie. a ten year plan and reduce quotas by 10% a year at about year 5 there should be notable difference in fish numbers and then it can be reviewed.

    My thoughts anyway.
    Historian/Collector of Old Sidecast Fishing Reels

  6. #6

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Quote Originally Posted by malby View Post
    Does anyone else out there care and if so what can we do?????
    Get in contact with Lindsay Dines (Ausfish member 'Slider') and find out how you can help him in his bid to have the Cooloola coast zoned as a recreational fishing zone.

  7. #7

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Yeah it's a bloody disgrace. You can't blame the pro's they don'tknow any better, but a lagoon is used by all the amateurs using the beach and i think thats a low blow. Full stop beach netting has to be scaled right back. buy out the licenses and cancel the ones that haven't been used for a few years, or give em a red claw license instead . I paid $15000 tax last year and thats only my income tax.... so that should go a long way towards buying out a license.... Bloody criminals running this country pretending to care about it...

    I'm sick of struggling to catch a fish off the beach, and i can beach fish, been doing it for 30 years. gets worse every year


    btw Apollo is on the money

  8. #8

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    I've been seeing the rot carry on for years in that area. I understand that the pros are trying to earn a living but fair suck of the sav when it comes to how much they take. I can't even be bothered wetting a line off the beach as time and time again you can't even loose a bait. Something needs to be done about it especially when the so called government is locking up the coral sea which is inaccessable by most and yet they aren't interested in what is happening in our back yard. Malby you should pass this info onto Warren Truss our federal member for Wide Bay and David Gibson our state member and hopefuly one of them will give a big enough toss to actually do something.

  9. #9

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Just chips please feel free to let Lindsay know that he can use my entire article 'as is' if it helps.

    I was soooo despondent after the other day.

    I would love to see the Cooloola Coast re-zoned but would be happy to 'at least' see the Lagoon zoned recreational. It's only decent!

    No excuses I am happy to pass this info on the Federal members etc. Just pass me their emails and I'll send them a link.

    If any of you know anyone else that could use this as fire power then feel free to send me an email so I can send a link to this post.

    I feel like Beach and lagoon fishing so close to Brisbane should be protected and I'll definitely do what I can to see that appropriate steps are taken.

    If anyone out there disagrees feel free to have your say too.

    I notice at least one person putting dislikes against some of your posts?

  10. #10

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Couldn't agree more Baydog.

    And here's a Big Thought....

    How would you be if you were one of the many people 'right now' heading up the beach for your hard earned school holiday fishing break along Teewah or DI Point to get up there and discover its all 'no go' and the fishing's been shut down by a mass of nets being dragged about the area!

    Particularly the DI Point side but probably they've been netting in front of Teewah too due to low swells. What a tragedy!

    The by catch from these mullet nets is also really a worry..

    No wonder you can't catch fish off the beach!

  11. #11

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Perhaps we are coming at this from the wrong angle. A few interlocked Coles shopping trollies placed every 50 metres or so, would slow the netters down and form an artifical reef that would attract more fish.

    Seriously though, I understand that the pro's make a very very marginal living - just look at the ute's they drive and the price of Mullet. I also understand that most of them receive some form of welfare, in addition to their small fishing income.

    If we are effectively paying them to fish, as taxpayers - would it not lead to a better overall outcome to pay them not to fish? i.e buy the few remaining licenses back.
    Follow Mullet Musketeer - the Landangler at
    http://landangler.wordpress.com/

  12. #12

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Hey Malby,

    How do you know these fish were killed by nets? how many fish were on the beach in total was it just the fish in the pics?

  13. #13

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Bg1000 I have been up there many times this year and this is the first time anything like this has happened. I have never seen a bunch of dead fish in number like this around the outside of the lagoon (in and out of the water) and yes there were more than this. It coincides with the day after the netting had taken place (confirmed by fisheries and the Pro concerned) and most were undersized fish, sharks and sea birds. I did not photograph every one and did not check everywhere around the lagoon but this is what appeared on one side of the lagoon. The side closest to the land. I will let people draw there own conclusions.

    I called fisheries to confirm netting of the lagoon was legal and they told me that it was and this was a common occurrence after netting and that the only issue from their point of view was that it should have been cleaned up better (they confirmed that bycatch and death of smaller fish was normal). I did not pursue it any further and thus wrote the above article exploring options of ways forward.

    Like others have said I'm not against the Pro's making a living especially as they have a license. I'm just very sad that a fragile ecosystem like this lagoon can be netted for mullet and so many fish of all varieties taken destroying things for recreational anglers.

  14. #14

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    All good an dandy for those trying to protect environment Malby and I commend you and others.

    However, there are two sides to a coin. You're seeing this from a recreational angler/ educator point of view.

    I'm seeing this from an open mind and unbiased.

    You can blame DPI Fisheries management for that. Pro fishers are told in strict terms, they can only catch what is endorsed on their licence, anything else is deemed to be bycatch and must be left behind. If the Pro's are caught with anything else other than their target species then they can be heavily fined, gear confiscated etc.

    There are a lot of issues behind the scenes.

    As for mullet, if the pros where not allowed to do it, there will be many recreational anglers, includes crabbers that wont have bait, also a lot of people, business and infrastructure would be out of business...its a multi million dollar industry with international export market.

    Bondy

  15. #15

    Re: Double Island Lagoon netted and cleaned-out by the pro's!!!How can this be allowe

    Mullet Musketeer
    I have no idea what kind of living the beach haulers make from their activities .
    I would exercise caution, though, drawing conclusions from the work vehicles they use. If my living was earned driving on the beach .The vehicle I would use would be an expendable one.
    Just my thoughts fwiw
    rando

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