Originally Posted by
Noelm
OK, Here is my thoughts on beach netting (any pro fishingfor that matter I guess) I think there is some room for beach hauling, the tricky bit is, how to manage it? and things like, ‘tonnes of Jewies” “A guynetted the Noosa river in 1970 and there has never been a Jew there since” “ bycatch” and emotive rants like that will achieve absolutely nothing, exceptmaybe get a few “bites” on an internet forum! I THINK perhaps a stricter license and zone setup might be better, so, let’s say that the area from (say)Brisbane to Noosa (this is just an area I use as an example) can sustainably support 2? 4? 10? Beach haulers, this then becomes their only zone to fish, and it needs to be the whole of the east coast, so crews from QLD can’t go to NSW(and vice versa) and work when it suits, they are issued their license and zone and that’s it, if you want to expand your operations, you buy another zone, so there is no more numbers of crews working. What will/may this achieve? Perhaps prices may be higher to the end consumer, good or bad? Maybe a bit of both, higher prices mean the fishermangets more money, and just MAYBE it could make sending the catch offshore just abit more expensive, so more of our local product could find it’s way to ourshops, and less Basa and shit! That is only a “maybe” mind you. What about a quota system? In a way, I personally don’t fully agree with a quota setup (not100% against it either) if one guy can’t get his quota for whatever reason,then tough luck, you should not be able to buy quota, now I can see that a quota maintains a “total allowable catch” but I am still not convinced on that being the best way to govern how we go about maintaining stocks. Now we come to species that a certain license may not be entitled to catch, I don’t really see how simply dumping it is the complete answer, but with current laws that’s how it is, but if it was not that way, how do we prevent an unscrupulous operator to “accidently” catch “tonnes of Jews” and sell them? I kind of see somehow if the product could still be sold, and the profit goes to (say) research or perhaps to pay for more inspectors, or some other avenue, might be a better option, but the fisherman does NOT get the cash, would this prevent “accidental”catches? I propose that if a large catch of “something” is taken, by accident,then dumping it dead seems like about as bad a waste of resource as we could ever get, far better to make use of it somehow (in my opinion) For rec fishermen to make any difference to how pros operate, there needs to be a united non emotive voice, individuals who rave and rant just give the opposition better ammunition to use, rants can be disproved in an instant! So…. That’s my views on it, the method and target makes little difference, we could just as easily be talking about Prawn trawlers, their area (as mentioned before) Brisbane to Noosa can support X number of Prawners, then that’s it, that’s their area, take it or leave it? Any thoughts? Flame me if you like, I can take it? and more than happy to say “yep, I can seewhere I am wrong and that’s a better idea” this is not some sort of science, just my opinion, as we are all entitled to have one.