toxic/dangerous fish??

[lordy]

You hale from England? Sunscreen long sleved shirt hat and sun protection for legs and FEET!!!

The long sleeved shirt and pants are not to protect you but to protect other beach goers from the glare.

On a serious note, get sunglasses for the whole family. 20 years ago people would have thought it pretentious to give 5 year olds sunglasses. Not anymore, common sense. Buy good quality sunglasses, not nescessarilly expense sunglasses. Its not uncommon for the more expensive brands to fail safety standards. Maybe Italian sunglass designers think the $300 tag is sufficent protection or maybe they don't need good quality protection in Italy (or wherever they are made).

[ratherbfishing]

cheers lordy,

we will get kitted out with all the sun protection bits
I have worked out side all my life (I own a gardening biz)
and yet every year when the sun finally comes out here i still burn a bit!!! so i will heed these warnings as it is very serious these days our friends who lived in bris have suffed skin cancer issues so for us and especially the kids we must be sensible and aware of the dangers a spray sunblock of some description in the bathroom by the sink and every day on it goes along with the hats.

thanks mate

kind regards

paul

[Burley_Boy]

One day you will realise that the devil you know does not worry you. You will be fine if u use common sense.

[ba229]

i live on the coast north of sydney and fish 3-4 times a week.

never seen a blue ringed octopusalive in the wild, never seen sharks at the beach, never seen a stone fish and see stingrays but they are always swimming away from me.

out of all the people who have responded to this thread i bet the biggest inflicter of pain is the humble flathead.

who actually knows someone who has stepped on a stonefish? (not just heard about it froma a mate of a mate down the pub)

And who knows of anyone (personally) who had been stung by a box jelly fish?

Same goes for snake and spider bites. In my 28 years i only know one person who had been biten by a spider (white tail) and that happened while he was a sleep in a backyard full of grog.

I would say the biggest killer in Australia is the sun. Thats the thing that will rear up and bite you when you least expect it :-)

[agnes_jack]

Ba 229
Mate sounds very much like you have have never been underwater or ventured much further north than Sydney. Box jelly stings are considerably more common the further north you go, Go for a snorkel in any estuary system from mid nsw north and you would be stunned at the amount of stonefish. As a kid playing in rockpools in victoria my brother and I found several blue ringed octopus. I personally know a few people who have been stung by box jellys, some mildly by reeling in a line with a peice of tentacle hanging off it, one incident was the daughter of a friend who died about 12 years ago from a severe sting and can remember acouple of stone fish stings on the news in recent years. Sharks are common in nearly all waters and many attacks have occured in and around sydney harbour. Walking in estuarys you would see dozens of stingrays in any part of australia you could name.I also know of 2 people personally who have been hit by stingray barbs, one in the ankle in about 8'' inches of water and another who laid on one and copped a severe sting in the forearm.
As far as snake bite goes I have lost count of the number of instances I have heard of.
Despite all that the threat is minimal, but may be increased according to the activities you undertake, or reduced by realising the dangers and acting accordingly.

Forewarned is forarmed.

Regards, Tony

[ba229]

G'day tony,

i think we might be getting away from the really question of how dangerous fishing is in Australia

i was just wondering,is there a need to be carefull with lots of species that i might catch from the beaches when i come over to Aus??
paul

I have no doubt that if i snorkel or scubber dive that i will encounter some of these species. we have plenty of blue ringers down here but i don't go looking for them and therefore our paths never cross :-) (just the way i like it)

Box jellies? nah we don't have em down here and yes i have read the threads on here regards to being stung ie from cast nets etc.

Sharks? come on... anyone been taken from the beach while fishing? or even while standing in the water up to you waist? The shark attacks i think of more recently have been on surfers exceprt for that guy down here that had a wobbygong latch onto his leg (or was it arm?) and he was diving i think (can't remember the exact details)

Snake bites? not common while beach fishing.

I think we are all pointing out the worst that could happen to this guy but not really pointing out the rarety of these incidents.

Has anyone pointed out what a pike eel or hairtail could do if you stuck your hand in its mouth?

I think someone stated that the drive to your fishing spot was more dangerous than the fishing.

Me myself, when fishing have never been in fear of any creature hurting me. I rock fish and i reckon that is regarded as far more dangerous that bumping into a creature of the deep (or not so deep :-) )

Paul i reckon you will soon figure out what is dangerous just by looking at it

And don't beleive all the percieved dangers of our country because of what you see steve irwin ( the crocodile hunter) or any of those other tv shows show. remember steve irwin is actually looking for these creature. he activily looks for croc's and snakes. he doesn't just wake up and find one under his pillow.

regards

[ba229]

so guys on a serious note,regarding the kids can they play safely in the surf inbetween the flags as you say?

do many children get hurt by stone fish or stung by anything else nasty when playing at the beach?? just they are so looking forward to hitting the wet stuff,that it will brek there hearts if i say the cant go in! ???

paul

lol just looked back through some of the posts.

Do you reckon Paul has some fears already (not you fault mate)

Swimming between the falgs is the way to go cause the lifesavers will try and save you if you are drowning.

And yes if the locals are fishing it may well be safe lol but i don't think we have done you any favours as to arresting any fears of how safe and wonderful our waters truely are.

[agnes_jack]

Youre dead right ba, it is very safe overhere for fishing, but as I said a sound knowledge of the possibilities will make it a damn lot safer. No need to be scared of our native critters , but it is very easy to be hurt if you are unaware of the possible dangers. Box jellys are only found from about gladstone north. As you say rock fishing is very dangerous, but like all other things we have discussed, not that bad if you know what the dangers are. Knowledge is a good thing, ignorance causes accidents.

Regards, Tony

[ratherbfishing]

G,day guys

LOL thanks for all the info chaps! I think the real problems come from all our relitives over hear!! and as you guys say steve irwin!! first thing anyone says to us when told we are going to Australia to live is"oh no think about your kids all those spiders and snakes or "my god dont let them in the sea looked what happend in jaws!!!" LOLLOL

and then i went surfing the net and found all these nasty little buggers!!

and as you guys say us whinging poms have no conception of life in Aus so we develop a missguided impression based on the fear of others,but as you say we need to be aware but not in fear!!!lol

since thinking of comming to aus we have watched every tv show you can imagine on your great country and they do like to follow a theme of scary critters!!!lol lol but that is just good tv i guess every one is interested in an animal that with one bite or sting can wipe out a whole nation!!!lol lol so it all gets sensationalised and blown out of context and becomes the only thing us poms remember when we think of Aus!!

and guys when we talk about dangers in our enviroment i need to look no further than the u.k the level of crime and violence is alarming and getting worse all the time even in the once "nice areas" so the kids and us have far more to fear on our own streets than a trip to one of your beautifull beaches!

thanks for all the posts guys and advice and i know we are going to love it in Australia.

kind regards

paul

[agnes_jack]

Love it you will Paul!!

Regards, Tony

[Dug]

My bet is (A) you and your family will have a ball.
(B) the most annoying thing will be your relatives coming out to visit you and holiday on the beautiful sunny coast .

16 years we lived in Rockhampton, no visitors, moved to Maroochydore, Visitors ever weekend!!! maybe we just became nicer people down her but I bet the first to visit will be those saying "Don't go!, Don't go!" cheers let us know whe you get here and settle in OK.

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

The attached pic is of Byron Bay main beach, northern NSW.
As you can see, great place (except for the numerous layabout, dirty, smelly, ... etc etc that have moved in ). Very popular tourist spot.

The lagoon in the foreground and the rocks beside are real popular with the kids. Spent a few days down there in May this year with my wife and kid and my 4 nieces and nephews. Everyone having a ball until one of the kids comes back and tells us excitedly they found a little octopus.
Oh SHIT !!!! Sure enough, bloody blue ring.
Was amazed to see that it was bunched up in a little hole in an isolated rock that was about 2 to 3m away from the lowtide water level, hard sand inbetween. Just a small pool of water on bare sand (approx 20cm x 10cm x 1cm deep) trapped beside the rock. It was out in the little pool when the kids saw it.
Our kids and heaps of others had been jumping on and over that rock and others for an hour or so. Spent the rest of our time there that day telling about 30 other kids and their parents that came along.
Anyway, no real drama with a bit of common sense. Shoes for your kids if they are playing on the rocks, and tell them not to stick their fingers in any nooks or holes, and not to pick up shells from out of rock pools (you heard about the killer cone shell I presume). They won't leap out and bite you (like the rabbit in the Holy Grail or anything, but of course they will defend themselves if you step on them, poke them with a finger or toe, or pick them up.

Just though I'd mention it, cos those little blue ringed pricks will kill you, whereas most other bity / stingy things will just cause you incredible amounts of pain.

First blue ring I have actually seen in the flesh, despite have been born and raised there. Was quite surprised that it was in a place that was so isolated from the water (and accessable to kids). We had already bared them from playing around the semi submerged rocks and pools (those dry one away from the water are ok ... we think )
Not sure I could have lived with myself if the kids had come running over and said, "We just found a little octopus and it bit ......"

Not trying cause any undue alarm, but just keep a close eye on your kids. For sure, if there is something taboo around, the curious little tykes will find it.

Cheers
Jeff

[ba229]

ok lets look at some figures i found on the internet.

and they are somewhat what i would have expected.

all figures and quotes come form http://ozmate.tripod.com/basicinfo/dangers.htm

i don't know who wrote it or whether the info is correct but it sounds about right to me.

boxjelly: last 100 years 60 deaths by boxjelly fish between oct and may

Sharks: 400 in 100 years and you are 50 times more likely to drown

Snakes: 2-3 deaths per year 300 victims

Spiders: redback 100 per year non fatal
funnel web 13 deaths from settlement to the 1970's

Blue ringed octopus: ONLY 2 confirmed deaths last century (20th century)

I have briefly para-phrased here, so go and have a look at the site. As i say i don't know how accurate though.

[ba229]

but on the other hand there was this....

http://www.abc.net.au/asiapacific/ne...NA_1136938.htm


Octopus poisoning claims two lives in Vietnam

In southern Vietnam, two people have died and 85 others, including 42 children, needed hospital treatment after eating poisonous octopus.

A man and a woman in Binh Thuan province's Tam Ngan village died on Saturday after eating the blue-ringed octopus while other villagers were rushed to hospital.

Health officials said they had all bought the blue-ringed octopus from the village market.


21/06/2004 18:19:44 | ABC Radio Australia News

[Dug]

Noosa beach report today, Sun smart