Ban nets and ban pros .

[bannana]

Sorry that you misread my post. I stated that there are those pros who do the right thing, by adhering to their quotas and treat their industry in a professional and conservational manner, and I have no qualms about them, but there are sharks out there who abuse their privilege and harvest anything and everything - by fair means or foul. These are the ones who need their licences revoked. It happens in every industry - it's just that this one is dear to our hearts.
By all means - bring the book to bear on unscrupulous rec' fishos as well - I can also remember back 20 years when some unnamed 'recreational fishos' here in Melbourne only worked for 9 months of the year - and spent the other 3 months chasing, catching and selling their snapper to all who anted up. Luckily, Fisheries caught up with them and they paid dearly for their sins. Boats, cars, tackle - all were purchased by illegal sales of snapper - and forfeited when caught!
My objection to paying off pros who commit these sins is justified, but too many bleeding heart, politically-correct humanitarians feel that they need to be suitably compensated. For abusing the system and pillaging a finite resource? I don't think so!

Mate I dont think we are that far apart, i also agree that if your are a pro or rec who runs the gauntlet and breaks the law then of course the punishment should be increased to the death penalty. The harsher the penalty the better in my view as long as it can be proved as a deliberate act and not a simple mistake then absolutely the punishment should be at a minimum that they can no longer earn a living from our waterways as well as a jail term.
However for the guys who are battlers paying there taxes like us providing for there families doing nothing wrong and then guys like us just want them to stop netting our local rivers and creeks then i feel that it's only fair to compensate them for giving up there livelihoods. We cant put all these guys in one basket!!

[youngy]

Hi guys, this is a very important issue with me and i believe we have a lot more Rec anglers doing the wrong thing than Pros, however it is a lot easier to overfish an area with nets than it is a rod and reel.

I can't believe that a high tourism area like the Gold Coast is not Rec only, i know i would be happy to halve all estuary bag limits if this happened, the value of tourism fishing is worth far more than a few dollars a kilo in dead fish.

I moved to the Gold Coast 19 years ago to fish, fish numbers are still excellent although there are a lot more fishos chasing them now, the main thing is you don't fish where they net you are just wasting your time.

The Nerang River has not been netted for that long i can't remember when it was permitted and despite being one of the most heavily fished rivers in S/E QLD still provides a feed of fish every day of the year.

There is no way the Broadwater should be netted 4 days and nights a week by 5 boats, unfortunately i don't ever believe i will see this stopped in my lifetime by we can only try, cheers wayne

[robfish 1]

Sigh...for the third time - to all of you who are complaining that we shouldn't penalise the smaller, conscientious pros....I AGREE with you! It's those unscrupulous mongrels who don't care about the resource, or tomorrow, or anybody else that I have an issue with. Be it pros or rec' fishos, they need if caught, to have their privilege to fish withdrawn - and far heavier penalties applied if caught again! I'm so sick of seeing cricket score catches of snapper, whiting and flathead at the PPB ramps, that I rarely launch in those areas anymore. I fear what I might do. And yes, I've faced drawn knives before when (accidentally) knocking over an esky or bucket full of undersized fish. I guess I'm just lucky that there were more of us than there was of them! Strange how some ethnic groups become so agitated! I've also had, (many, many years ago), on air arguments with a well known angling club over publishing their huge competition catches and their admission of the discarding of dead fish after the weigh-in.
Most of us do the right thing, and abide by the (sometimes frustrating), laws - and no one likes cheaters - or those who rort the system, so heavy penalties/punishment must follow.

[banshee]

The answer is so simple.The commercial sector needs to be given land (compensation) to set up a viable Aquaculture venture,the status quo would remain as is with regards to co-ops,marketing etc.It's just that the commercial fisherman would be harvesting fish they have bred and raised from a pond instead of wild stock out of the ocean.

[Gazza]

Banshee , Aussie BASA? .....
Yum,yum , chooks bum?

[Go Gecko]

Here is my two cents worth on this debate. Have you seen the price of fish at any of the fish shops or markets? The price of Australian fresh fish is becoming that prohibitive that it is getting beyond the budget of a lot of people. I love my fish but can not afford to buy it fresh on a regular basis, I am forced to by frozen fish from the supermarkets. If more pro's are forced out of the industry then this will only push the prices up further making the price of fresh fish even more expensive. Just my two cents worth.

GG

[Greg P]

Agree on the price of fish, went down to Morgans weekend before last for some prawns and nearly fell over when I saw local Snapper fillets @ $51 per kg. Made sure the Mrs saw that though as it makes my trips costs "somewhat" better.

[Schulzy]

Biggest things are research and breading time closures but that costs money. It could be quite sustainable qld is the only state that is behind the times on fisheries management

[robfish 1]

Here is my two cents worth on this debate. Have you seen the price of fish at any of the fish shops or markets? The price of Australian fresh fish is becoming that prohibitive that it is getting beyond the budget of a lot of people. I love my fish but can not afford to buy it fresh on a regular basis, I am forced to by frozen fish from the supermarkets. If more pro's are forced out of the industry then this will only push the prices up further making the price of fresh fish even more expensive. Just my two cents worth.

GG

Maybe it's time you bought a rod and reel! LOL.

[youngy]

Yes Greg, whiting fillets $47 a kilo down here, someone is making good money and you can bet your life it isn't the guy that caught it, cheers wayne

[Beatsworkin2]

So when the trawlers in the bay r trawling do they catch snapper etc mixed with there prawns

[Horse]

So when the trawlers in the bay r trawling do they catch snapper etc mixed with there prawns

They catch baby snapper along with a lot of other by catch. One article (DPI) put the by catch of inshore beam trawling at about 3.5 times the weight of Prawns caught. This puts it about 1400t of by catch for the 400t of prawns landed in Queensland using this method along with significant substrate degredation

[rabbi]

I for one would like to see nets banned from our river and within 3 km of the river mouth.

I cannot see how people can compare rod and reel fishos who if lucky can actually catch a feed by the hit and miss method of angling with rod and reel to the pros who dont rely on anything but just wait for the fish to school up to breed or just schooling fish, then run a dirty great net around them and take the lot creating barren fish deserts in the river.
A bit like the 900kg of school jew netted at Wardell a week ago.
Still a long way away from being sustainable in my opinion.
Maybe aquaculture is the way of the future to sustain people who like eating fish.
Bassa may be the go with better growing conditions in oz.

If the Pros ganged together and started fish farming on a big scale so there was a steady, reliable source of good fish they would make a good living still...aaaahh but that would be too hard, wouldnt it!!

[robfish 1]

I for one would like to see nets banned from our river and within 3 km of the river mouth.

I cannot see how people can compare rod and reel fishos who if lucky can actually catch a feed by the hit and miss method of angling with rod and reel to the pros who dont rely on anything but just wait for the fish to school up to breed or just schooling fish, then run a dirty great net around them and take the lot creating barren fish deserts in the river.
A bit like the 900kg of school jew netted at Wardell a week ago.
Still a long way away from being sustainable in my opinion.
Maybe aquaculture is the way of the future to sustain people who like eating fish.
Bassa may be the go with better growing conditions in oz.

If the Pros ganged together and started fish farming on a big scale so there was a steady, reliable source of good fish they would make a good living still...aaaahh but that would be too hard, wouldnt it!!

Rabbi - you've brought up a number of points in your post, and it got me to thinking. Many posts in these forums are from fishos who are struggling to catch even a modest feed, so the number of rec' fishos who regularly bag out, (or exceed their bag), must be pretty limited.
So if what you say is true about the pros running a net around 900kg of school jew, (which in itself is morally and ethically reprehensible - not to mention disgusting!!), one wonders how long it would take even the gun fishos to bag the same amount of jew - and how many would have avoided capture and lived to breed further generations of jew?
As far as aquaculture goes, the pros who are currently abusing their privilege to commercially fish would never agree, as sharing the wealth is just not on their agendas! It would have to be a widespread, all-encompassing change of direction for ALL in the industry, promoted and partially funded by government in the interim to get it started - although I'm sure there's enough venture capital floating around - (oh...a pun!), to assist in start up costs. Aquaculture is proven - many areas of Oz are under cultivation, from mussels in PPB, to Tuna in SA, and Barra up north - to say nothing of the vast Asian aquaculture sites. Once again though, one wonders how we can convince the pollies to sit up and take note - unless there's a clear and present benefit to them individually, they're going to sit on their hands until it's too late, before implementing a knee jerk reaction.

[banshee]

Banshee , Aussie BASA? .....
Yum,yum , chooks bum?

I guess if your into Basa you could just keep getting it from the super market,but if your tastes were a little more discerning you could opt for something a little more palatable such as Jew or Bream or........Oh hang on a minute........It doesn't seem that your enlightened to the fact that Aussie marine species can/are being farmed in ponds presently.