HAD A GUT FULL

[boomer]

so none of you have never had a feed of fish & chips or a prawn platter at your local ?

as a matter of fact i have had a feed of fish&chips at my local
(one peice of cod & couple of bucks worth of chips & a couple of seafood sticks thanks mate}
ok what i should have said
i'll have a peice of hoki,hake or nile pearch a couple of bucks worth of chips and some of those imported seafood sticks please mate
not to metion it tasted fine .

[Local_Guy]

in Yeppoon here fishing at Double Heads i remember 13 years back where you could go fishing and you knew u were going to catch a fish. even if it was a small 17cm trevelly. #now and the last 5 years your lucky to even get a decent bite, let alone a fish.

The pro's go and net the area adjacent to the rocks, getting the barra, macks and what ever else comes that way (salmon). #On a few occasions now it's completely ruined my fishing day. #It's generally where i go to get out of the wind and just want to relax and hope to catch something.

There isn't anyone watching the nets, but oh what a good rule "the owner of the nets has to be within 800m of them" so what do they do. go to the marina and have a beer or coffee... they are still within the 800m. #netting this close inshore should just not be allowed. #i don't have any care for Pro's. they shouldn't be allowed. #i only eat fish when i catch it. i never buy the stuff.

[straddie]

Jaybee, I don't think the word finesse exists in any governments statutes. After carefully considering the pro's and cons of a matter they will opt for the one that will best achieve their objective. Staying in power for another term.

I believe many laws are drafted by politicians with a purposeful bias in it to create instability. If possible, keep people fighting amoung themselves so they don't pay to much attention to what we are doing and realise who the real enemy is, it's just another twist on the old divide and conquer theme.

The legislation itself usually produces the doubt in peoples minds and causes the spark, then the self interest parties see an opening and stir it up into a raging conflict to use one side to attack another.

I think all fisherman should be working together, forget the pro and rec lines, to better manage the resource. That would make the pollies nervous.

Local_Guy, there has been a lot of development in the Yepoon are over the last 25years. Do you contribute the lack of fish only to the net fisherman?.

SNAFU, if thats what they did I hope the consignment got a condemnation order and they got a bill for disposal instead of the cheque they were expecting.

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

just got back from the weekend what a great debate guys - nobody getting too personal that's what this forums all about.

I THINK, the conflict arises from misconceptions on both sides of the fence as to what a pro fishing licence is.

It is a permit to harvest (luv that term) a common resource on behalf of the people for personal profit. The people in return have a resource available for their consumption & / or conversion into other industry. The government (on behalf of the people) impose a licence fee on the permit holder to support the infastructure involved in its operation ( policing, education of permit holders etc).

The permit holder does not "own" a piece of the resource. They simply own the right of harvest. As they act on behalf of the common good, their right of access to the resources overshadow those of the individual (us guys & gals).

When fishing licences are bought & sold, the increase in value is based purely on speculation by the holder & /or the buyer as to the EARNING VALUE of the licence. Not the chunk of a resource (LIKE A PIECE OF GOLD). Thus when the government "bought-back" licences that were sat on & holderswere only compensated for lost earnings. The people should not have to buy what is already theirs.
The pros for the most part are doing their job within the law - if they are not their number is clearly visible & we have avenues of complaint. Move aside - the beach is not the place to protest.

Personally - I hate the practice of trawling & netting (notice I didn't say I hate netters) as it is so indiscriminate. Nothing breaks my heart more than to see a tonne of tailor on the back of a ute in the sun, all bruised & broken.

seeyainthesurf,
chris

[SNAFU]

i camp at cylinder beach at xmass with family and friends who live to fish like me and at least once a week the talk of the camp is how the pro's have stuffed up the only fish school on the island by running a net around it. they dont realise that a senior fishing inspector is one of the campers and sees all this going on.thank god it is closed now for pro's at times it is,pity it wasn't for good.one pro will take more fish with one shot of net than all rec fisherpersons on island all year.who puts more into economey?what is % of people getting more benafit and fun?buy pro's out so there will be something left for everyone in future.also what about bay traulers and damage they do?i saw them working inside st helena this morning flatout opposite jetty. is this legal. i am not sure of rules.back at manly ramp i was told the first winter whiting showed up between st and mud in about 5-6 m this weekend (early i thaught)by the pensioner pack who use this food supply to suppliment their pension as they keep well in deep freeze. i dont think they would sell them in pubs ect.i also dont buy fish from shops as it tastes like bait and it is usualy imported from somewhere else other then localy

ps did anyone see those genetic defectives on jetskies go through us at wello on sunday. they also went through everyone at harries (my mate was there) makes you wonder about some people doesent it.

[dazza]

hi all,
weren't the new laws on fraser made, taking into consideration tension between pro's and rec fisho's.?
remember hearing henry talking about it in an interview once.
if this is the case the govt are taking notice, albeit far too late. plenty of tourist dollars versus the cat food industry. ( waste of resource).
cheers
dazza

[PinHead]

"i don't have any care for Pro's. they shouldn't be allowed. i only eat fish when i catch it. i never buy the stuff"

That is not a very good attitude..just because you do not do something then everyone else is expected to do the same. That is similar to a vegetarian saying that raising of all cattle, sheep and pigs etc should be banned. What about the people that live a long distance from the coast, aren't they entitled to a feed of tailor or bream etc also. A bit far to drive to the coast to catch a few. Pros have a right to make a living as much as anyone else..however some of their methods could do with a bit of a rethink.

[straddie]

Chris - I agree with everything you said bar for one part, netting in the surf which was the rough subject, I believe is very targeted with minimal bycatch, and very little habitat damage, basically because of the manner and area in which it is conducted, even though I guess it is more by good luck than manangement.

Dazza I don't think any fish (noxious species excluded), let alone recreational species should ever be used for cat food, and the practice outlawed.

Pinhead to take it a little bit further there are also a lot of fishermen that wouldn't get a decent feed of fish if it wasn't for the local fish'n'chip shop.
The 80/20 rule that applies to most things is probably closer to 90/10 when it comes to recreational fishing, eg 90% of fish are caught by 10% of fishermen.

[PinHead]

Straddie..they will never outlaw the use of fish in catfood. Pet food and products is the biggest selling item on supermarket shelves. Paul Keating when he was treasurer latched onto that fact very quickly. Pet food was sales tax exempt at the time..so during one of his budgets he removed the exemption on pet food and added 17.5% sales tax. Everyone thought it then had 17.5& tax on it..the fact was as soon as he lifted the exemption there was automatically 10% on it then add the 17.5%..made it 27.5% sales tax...they made a killing on that one. The pet food industry is huge and I doubt anyone will change it.

[straddie]

Pinhead I think the petfood industry could be beaten on using the wild fish population in their products, maybe not without a fight but they could be beaten.

It's not that mogeys would starve to death they would simply be getting a change of diet, such as meat offal as they already get, or from farmed species. The tax revenue would be unchanged and still be there for the government so there may be little resistance from them.

Seafood does not appear to to be a natural part of their diet. Where as they seem more than happy to catch and eat lizards, beetles, small mammals, birds etc. I think the only reason they get fish at all is it still continues to be a very cheap ingredient for the cat food industry.

The biggest fight might actually come from pro fishermen as it does represent a proportion of their income.

[Gazza]

Hi Straddie , good debate guys

Just dreaming ,but 'if' e.g. there had to be say 1/2/5% CARP ,as part of the content ,that'd be a forward step......

Conversely , bream/snapper/tailor/etc. i.e. humanfood, should be 'limited' to say ,no more than X%......

Chuck in a 'kangaroo/wildpig' cull ,here and there, as appropriate ,and the petfood industry could be turned around to be 'goodguys'......

just dreamin 8)

Regards
Gazza

[basserman]

the biggest fight wouldn't be from pet food but from the pro fisherman
say the mullet men each year they chase the mullet up the coast for the row and the rest of the fish goes to pet food/bait/small amount to seafood so if you limit their catch because x% is all thats alowed in pet food their for droping the amount they are alowed to catch it would be world wars 3,4 and 5 from them

[Gazza]

Hi Basserman , mate if it was a requirement/regulation/legislation of a certain % ,don't see how WW3,4,5 could start ???

e.g. Macks 620T TAC ....... Pro's say "stuff you" , Mr. Guv't we're gonna rape/catch 900T ???

e.g. no ring-netting ,"stuff you" , we're gonna ring-net anyways >

Mate , WW3,4,5....... not an issue in the slightest

Regards
Gazza

[argonautical]

What is the going rate for a pro fishing licence, not the nets, gear, trawler etc just the actual licence. What about the cost of a crab licence.

I would love to be in the position to buy the crab licence from the pro that operates around Wello, and then put it on a shelf. I know that this is being selfish, because all the non-crabbers will be denied the crabs the pro would otherwise catch, but from the point of view of the greater good..........i wonder how many ausfish members would contribute to this kind of thing?

I can't help thinking that it is only a matter of time until the Qld govt introduces a recreational fishing licence. Lets hope when this happens the funds are used in a manner that best supports those who paid the money in the first place.

Argo.

[Gazza]

Argo , checkout the NSW 'pie-chart' , and look for 'future' Pro buyouts.... #???

http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/rec/!rec-home.html
about $1M plus is interest from the 200 Voluntary Pro's who wanted to getout anyways.

respect your opinion ,but that crabber you refer to ,ain't probably gunna sell ,if profitable anyway #???

p.s. as an Ausfish member ,I ain't paying for an RFL ,besides the PPV on boat-rego.
Regards
Gazza