Ban nets and ban pros .

[blackjew]

Well the N.T. tosser in government is saying that we the reco fishos of Darwin are not allowed to get a decent feed of fish anymore .. fishing bag limits are going to be slashed to try and preserve our fish stocks.It has been said by the clown running the fishing department that golden snapper bag limit will be cut to 50% that means we can catch 2.5 goldys,as at the mo we can catch 5 .we will also have our jewy bag limit cut by 20% we are currently allowed 2 jewfish , so i guess that means we can keep 1.5 jew fish not sure how this will be policed as our fish are whole fish.But the pros can catch as many tons of black jew as they can catch coz they have a different set of rules Bunch of tossers .Just ban netting and pro fisherman then there will be heaps of fish to build our stocks for the future.

[bobbyb]

i'm with you BJ, ban commercial fishing all together and if you want to eat fish....... go and catch some. there will be plenty to catch. and stop selling all our best fish overseas and importing crap for us to eat, like everything in this country. CASH IN $$$$$$$$$$ stuff tomorrow.

[solemandownunder]

Hey BJ...not good M8...dunno how many Pros are up ur way, but a government buy-out would certainly help & reduce the amount of pros for a start anyways.

and YES, all our BEST fish goes o/s and we import CRAP....go figure

I feel for ya buddy.

Cheers, Ray.

[manta man]

I"m sure this Buy Back Scheme is a Sham. All we ask for is for some Honesty, but like all Politicians it"s the same old crape. Just keep telling us what we want to here. Oh and avoid the actual question

[blackjew]

i thought the buy back scam was just to pay back part of our 18.8 billion dollar debt to indo

[tailorkid]

BJ
what I reckon needs to happen is that tossers like old mate need to put money/people into researching minimally harvested species (not sure what this would be),
not to cut our limit but,
limit the punters fishing!
I think the yanks in some states apply to a draw to hunt/fish
maybe this would work.
I recently went to the gulf, caught fa barra/jacks/ ....no black jew/ no fingermark
what I am saying is that there must be a compatible solution!!
do a survey to find popular fish species in certain areas, study these species and act accordingly.
most of these ####s in parliament have no idea about what we want and more importantly
what our fisheries need

[Horse]

Perhaps a combination of reducing both commercial and recreational effort would be in the fisheries best interest. From what I have seen the NT fishery has been managed very well over the years. Non fishos still need to be able to get a feed of fresh fish but it must be sustainable in the long term

[Mike Delisser]

Fancy that, a conservative government that professes to be rec-anglers friendly before the election, then is only interested in the pros after the election.

From the leader of the NT Country Liberal Party before the 2012 NT election.
First, let me assure you that the Country Liberals are fully committed to maintaining recreational fishing as an important element of our great Territory lifestyle. We recognise the contribution of the recreational fishing industry to our economy and its significant place in out tourism industry. If we win government on Saturday week you can be sure that, as with former Country Liberals governments in the Territory, we will work to make our recreational fishing even better.

[Rodman]

The betters just finished netting the Tin Can Bay inlet and low and behold you can only catch undersized fish at the moment. So much for the local member pro uses to stop this and no wonder a lot of fishos do not spend holidays there

[seatime]

The commercial fishing practices in use at present are appalling. Non-discriminatory fishing apparatus in particular should be banned forthwith. Look at how these Jethro Bodines have destroyed their own livelihoods.

The charter operators aren't much better - mercilessly flogging the resource! Plenty of them have previously fished commercially, and some still do.

They possess a sense of entitlement and ownership over what they believe is 'their' fishery.

Further development, and government support, of aquaculture businesses would supply fresh seafood to the general public.

[tunaticer]

I still think that stopping exports and imports of all seafoods will regulate the commercial sector a lot better than any buy back scheme. Force them to cater only for the local market. The industry will modify itself to suit that demand and excesses will be stopped because they can not sell their catches.

Why should Australia import any seafoods?

Why should we permit exports of seafoods?

Why should we endanger Australia's bio-security by allowing imports??

[bannana]

I dont feel the pro's get a fair go as all they are trying to do is provide for there families. I'm no expert or have mates that are pros but if the government would just reduce the amount of licenses with good incentives for the pro's to relinquish there license then it would definitely help the fishery and the tension between some recreational anglers and professional fisherman. Don't forget the charter boat operators who put a fair dint in the fisheries around the country as well, they could be better managed along with the recreational sector to ensure our fishery last for future generations.

[Rodman]

M8 in the Tin Can Bay /Rainbow beach inlet area the netters join two nets together and drag the flats at high tide where the bream whiting & flathead go to feed. You know when the netters have been is when you only catch undersized fish.
They have been using jet skis lately to scare the fish into the nets especially in the creeks..
If the government wants to increase tourism they need to buy or cancell the licences. The govt bought out the licences in the pumerstone passage many years ago and the area is now benefiting from this as recreational fishos are just starting to get reasonable catches in this area

Ken

[robfish 1]

I've known a few pro fisho's down here in Mexico, who worked PPB. Many of them were honest and stuck to their quotas and behaved responsibly, whilst others felt that as they'd spent thousands on a licence, it was their god-given right to rape the ocean of its fish.
In one instance, Scallop boats whose port was Melbourne, were observed on numerous occasions offloading their illegal excess catch at Mordialloc pier before returning to their home port with their allowed limit! The Vic Govt in their all-too brief flash of wisdom, bought them out, and PPB fisheries have gone thru the roof in productivity. Some NSW south coast estuaries are now pro-free, and recreational fishing has also improved exponentially.
Too much is made of compensation for their loss of livelihood - where was the Govt when I, and many, many like me, lost their small businesses that we'd invested staggering amounts of time, money and sweat in, when we were forced to close our doors and declare bankruptcy - often losing our houses and possessions, all because of the mismanagement of the Keating regime?
Don't get me wrong - I took a gamble, and lost. I did not expect, nor recieve, a helping hand from the government - why should they?
Policing of unscrupulous pro's needs to be increased, and those in breach need to be penalised by loss of licence - not a warning or a slap on the wrist, but licence revocation and forfeiture of their equipment. They won't be long on the dole - they'll soon find another way to rort the system.

[bannana]

I've known a few pro fisho's down here in Mexico, who worked PPB. Many of them were honest and stuck to their quotas and behaved responsibly, whilst others felt that as they'd spent thousands on a licence, it was their god-given right to rape the ocean of its fish.
In one instance, Scallop boats whose port was Melbourne, were observed on numerous occasions offloading their illegal excess catch at Mordialloc pier before returning to their home port with their allowed limit! The Vic Govt in their all-too brief flash of wisdom, bought them out, and PPB fisheries have gone thru the roof in productivity. Some NSW south coast estuaries are now pro-free, and recreational fishing has also improved exponentially.
Too much is made of compensation for their loss of livelihood - where was the Govt when I, and many, many like me, lost their small businesses that we'd invested staggering amounts of time, money and sweat in, when we were forced to close our doors and declare bankruptcy - often losing our houses and possessions, all because of the mismanagement of the Keating regime?
Don't get me wrong - I took a gamble, and lost. I did not expect, nor recieve, a helping hand from the government - why should they?
Policing of unscrupulous pro's needs to be increased, and those in breach need to be penalised by loss of licence - not a warning or a slap on the wrist, but licence revocation and forfeiture of their equipment. They won't be long on the dole - they'll soon find another way to rort the system.

So you agree that the buy back of licenses has been a positive for the fishery in NSW and Victoria but you would prefer the government just take licenses without compensation in the future? We are not in Syria mate it's Australia!!! Fair go to everyone including the pro's and recreational fisho's. I definitely agree that the penalties should be heavily increased and if found to be a serial offender then lose of license by forfeit or alike would be reasonable but that goes for recreational anglers as well.

Dont forget all the Mum's and Dad's that depend on professional fisherman so they can buy there weekly fish for dinner and a couple of kilo's of prawns for xmas and Anzac day. These guys do provide a service that is essential to this country!!

Just saying it's a big call to say take away there license without reasonable compensation if found to be doing nothing wrong. If there are working illegally then yes I agree take it of them and they only have themselves to blame.