Reply With QuoteCan't really see reduced bag limits being nearly as effective (really effective at all) compared to increasing the size.
A good comparison on this snapper size issue is the difference between Victoria and SA legal sizes.
Cheers, Kerry.
Finally the Government has listened to the people.
#A bag limit of 20 tailor per person per day.......coral trout and snapper restrictions to be introduced by the end of the month.......The only way to preserve our fish stocks for the future.......I just hope they don't increase the legal size of snapper to 35cms......its hard enough now to get them at 30cms !!Reduce the bag limit and let the small boat angler catch a feed.
Cheers #Brent
Can't really see reduced bag limits being nearly as effective (really effective at all) compared to increasing the size.
A good comparison on this snapper size issue is the difference between Victoria and SA legal sizes.
Cheers, Kerry.
Aquarius, your comment about finding snapper / squire over 30 cm difficult to catch in your area is probably a very strong reason FOR the size limit to be increased, therefore giving the breeders more of a go - whaddya reckon?
Bingo there fisho.
I can see your point Guys but maybe if the bag limit in the past was 5 snapper per person per day we would'nt be in all this trouble.......30 snapper is a ridiculous amount!!!!!
What are your thoughts on a closed season for snapper?
Cheers Brent
Why don't we declare a closed season on a range of saltwater species in Queensland, commercial and recreational, for 12 months. All recreational fishing to be catch and release and very large fines for anyone caught with fish.
Maybe start with Snapper and Mackerel.
It is obviuos that we need to fix the problem now, we can't afford to wait for pen pushers to do more studies #they already know the answers too.
Don't you find it strange that they can introduce a bag limit on Tailor now but we have to wait untill the end of the month before they may introduce it on Spotted Mackerel ???
Seems to me they want to give the Pros one last chace at cleaning out the Mackerel, or am I just being suspicious of polititians ?
I agree that there should be closed seasons on a different variety of fish especially during their spawning runs. Lower bag limits and increased sizes all round the board.
Hey guys, this topic has been mulled over a million times over the past 5 years in particular.
Brent, you said 20 tailor per day, Me thinks the wording was " in Possession ". That means in the esky, car boot, freezer at home at any one time. 20 per day is better, I'll check the wording though.
There is enough HARD EVIDENCE available now from other states and countries, to STOP, netting right now. In particular Tailor, Barra and Mackerel. There is no doubt, the ring netters of Hervey Bay have decimated stocks of mackerel.
( just checked the wording, it is ' IN POSSESSION ". )
I know the Big Picture is not about money, but hey, the money generated by rec fishoes far outweighs the economic value of the pro. Sure, you have to sustain the domestic market for those who choose not to fish, but given the advances in " Aquaculture, Fish Farming & Imported Fish & Prawns " , the days of the netter are numbered, as so the trawlermen . I bloke / sheila that allowed Trawlers to trawl in Moreton Bay for Sand Crabs was either, " on the take ' " or a 6 pack short of a carton ".
I think Steve, the overwhelming response from the " Average " fisho to the RIS has made a couple of people sit up and take note. With regard to that, I believe that on Radio ( Brisbane ) on Monday at 7.30am, a represntative of NGE and us will be discussing this subject with Rod Henshaw.
I'm afraid Brent, that increased size limits IS the go. When was the last time you saw anyone with a bag limit of Squire / Snapper ? And as for Flathead, 30cms was always a joke.
The Rec fishing industry is booming, but that is a good thing, creating employment. Let's sustain this development and manage it properly so our kids will not only be able to catch fish, but , maybe seek employment in this area. You only have to take a quick look at the NT Barra industry to know that smart people have to make the hard decisions. Everyone wants to go to the Nt to catch Barra. I hope in the future, that everyone wants to go to Moreton Bay to catch Snapper.
Now, if we just stop the importing of those disease ridden pillies and prawns, we'll go a long way to helping ourselves.
OK Steve, here's a poll for you set up. Hands up in favour of a 12 month moratorium on Snapper & Markerel in Moreton Bay and surrounding offshore areas.
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Spotted Mackerel are one migratory stock on the east coast. The same fish caught off Innisfail in September are caught off Brisbane in December/January. My preference is to make it a line caught only species and increase the minimum size to 60 so they can breed at least once.
Snapper are more of a problem as there are enough to go round north of Moreton Island but stocks are badly depleted off the Gold Coast. Perhaps the best option is a special management area combined with the increased size limit to give the fish a chance to breed. They are also badly impacted by inshore habitat loss on the Gold Coast.
We should not be giving up our bag limits unless there is a comensurate or greater reduction in the commercial sector on any fish. Most of us can't catch the bag anyway but we need it as a tool in negotiations. The current political climate will not see commercial restrictions without recreational restrictions.
All your ideas have merit and will be taken on-board when we try to have input in SUNFISH.
I think the tailor decision fails to address the issue of resource allocation. NSW got it right but the Queensland legislation falls short.
Lucky Phill is right - all bag limits in Queensland are in possession so if you are driving down the highway after a 2 week holiday and the fishos pull you up, you'd bettr be under the limit.
I also prefer daily limits as per the NT and NSW with a total in possession of perhaps 3 to 5 days of the daily total.
We need to encourage recreational fishing and its flow on social and economic benefits.
It is encouraging to see this discussion as I copped a bit of criticism over the last few days for supporting reduced bag limits on the condition that commercial fishers were likewise reduced. Seems a vocal minority of meat fishers are still out there.
Vern
what really has got me going is in this months bush n beach readers forum where a guy who answered to the RIS survey states that 8 people he included caught 500 fish in 94/5 WOW they must have big families how do they get time to fish...with 350 being tailor..but he is complaining now he can only catch 40 a week between 8 people that is still 320 so whats his gripe..I went tailor fishing once last year and caught 15 fish (2.5kg fillets) in a session i was happy for the rest of the season..I mean you can only eat so much of one fish..smoked, kippered, steamed, poached, grilled, deep fried, raw....
Have they?Originally Posted by Aquarius
Did they not propose these limits about 6 months ago and then put it out for discussion (RIS). An now after thousands of people have sent in their RIS we still end up with what was proposed 6 months ago.
I assume that a vast majority of rec fishos that sent in their RIS asked for commercial netting of Tailor to be banned, as in NSW. Or did they?
Did the Government listen, or was their mind already made up?
Following is a copy of an E-mail and a copuple of pics I received from jaybee. Interesting and also a bit of history.
The images are linked and will open in a new page as they are fairly large.
Thanks jaybee
http://www.ausfish.com.au/chat/uploads/fishsem.jpgHi Steve
I am sending you a scan of my father, from 1965 also the story. It is a photo of a fisheries seminar. In the bottom photo is my father Mr W. Burnett. My Dad was a commercial fisherman as they were called back those days before he become President of the Queensland Professional Fisherman's League, a title he held for 20 years until the day he passed away. Dad taught and brought us children up never to take from the sea what you do not need. He instilled this philosophy into other commercial fisherpersons while he held this post, as well as sitting in on the auctions to make sure everyone received a fair price for their catch. When dad passed away a commercial crabber by the name of Fred Ruster took over his position with reluctance, however, Fred passed away 12 months later. The fisherman's League was disbanded, and was replaced with what I believe to be The Queensland Fish Management Authority, who used persons I believe from a non fishing background, that has faltered and fallen flat since. My brothers wife who is now approaching her seventies was my fathers for all those years, and the Qld Fish Management Authorities secretary so I will endeavour to contact her and my brother for more information, as to why it did not succeed. As you can see I am dearly passionate due to my upbringing over exploitation by both sport (amateur) and commercial (professional) fisherpersons. As you said in your post "Did the Government listen, or was their mind already made up?" I can tell you now the government does listen, but they do already have their mind made up. On numerous occasions my father went to battle with the Government as part of his job was to sit in on parliament, only to be denied just like we are today. If you would like to use this in the chat room you have my permission, I only wanted to let you know that this has been going on since 1965 and it proves what you said is true about the government. Also you will notice in the story my fathers name is not mentioned. He was there due to pressure from both commercial and sport fishermen.
Regards
jaybee
http://www.ausfish.com.au/chat/uploads/fissem2.jpg
Clearly the Government did not listen, might I say again. I will not be surprised if there is an exodus to NSW to chase tailor. Why would you drive for best part of a day to Fraser to fight with the netters when you can go to Balina or Coffs and avoid the hassles, probably for less travel time and accomodation costs.
Time will tell if this is going to cost Queensland tourism operators. The same thing is happening with Barra in the NT with the MacArthur River on the NT/Qld border now closed. Why would anyone stop short at Burketown when you can go to Borooloola in roughly the same time and avoid the netting hassles.
One day - perhaps in 20 years - Queensland might wake up to the value of recreational fishing.
Dont know about the rest of you but my intentions this year is to tag as many Snapper as I can. I will be in contact with my mate that works for department of fisheries to get something like this underway if theres not something like this in progress allready. It has to start with as the fisherman to make a diffrence just like Rexy did with catch and release. I have spots off the Sunshine Coast where you can bag out every time on Snapper but its my goal from now on to start throwing them back as many as I catch. I have convinced others to do the same so this is my hole point,if we all start spreding the message to throw them all back but keep 1 or 2 for eating then its a start in the right direction. If we wait for the pollies to do something them were all screwed so why not start on or own. Im certainly going to be pushing this message in my Bush n Beach articals and showing photos of fish going back with a tag in its side. We all need to site back and think what fishing is all about, to me it has changed dramaticly over the years and now its just about getting out on the water and having fun with a few mates. Over the years I have worked on many pro boats out off Mooloolaba and come to understand one thing, that we are all as bad as one another at some time. Going out and catching esky loads dosent do it for me any more but catching them and letting them go does.
Stuart Mackenzie
I have written to bush n beach much the same as I have written here, and here is Ron Collins Reply:
Thanks for your detailed response. If you have a look at fishing history in Australia, you'll see it's littered with tales of huge catches of a range of fish, including tailor and snapper. But we are learning and I'm certain more and more recreational anglers are becoming a lot more accepting of bag limits, size qualifications and closed seasons and or areas.
I know I am - yet it's only a bit over 10 years ago that I thought a 30 snapper bag limit was draconian - as did most of the offshore angler I fished with and knew at the time. How wrong I was, because 30 say 6kg snapper is a commercial-size catch, and in reality we should have had a bag limit of around 10 from then.
But it is no good having just one user of the fishery, whatever the specie, contributing to its long-term future. So there also has to be some sort of corresponding conservative action taken by commercial fishermen too. That's a view you also support.
I can recall some of the era where you described tailor coming into the markets, and in those days there was an "excess catch" option for recreational anglers as a means by which they could dispose of their "excess catch". Obviously they were doing just that simply for the money, which is the wrong motivation totally.
Personally, I never used the "excess catch" option. But I do know of some club anglers who did, but in those days the way to win comps was to catch the most fish. That has also changed substantially, thank goodness.
As for the overall fishing licence like they have in New South Wales, I quite like the concept provided an identified amount of the money raised comes back to the resource in an identifiable way (even though I'll probably draw plenty of flack for saying so).
However, if people like you, Graham, me and others don't raise issues for wider discussion the chance of a decision that we totally reject might be taken is greater.
No doubt others will have a view on this topic, and BNB would be happy to publish all views. Again, thanks for your support and for taking the trouble to reply. - Ron Collins, Ed.
Summed up very nicely if I do say so myself. Thanks Ron.
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