I suppose we should get one thing straight. The Yellow Zone is a no commercial fishing zone, end of story. To have a Red Cross hatched Yellow zone smacks of Nepotism or similar circumstance. IMO.
You are right Kev, I doubt we will ever have consensus from Tourism, Commercial and Recreational Fishers and we will never stamp out the Black Market ( unless Magistrates get fair dinkum ).
I do not know the answer and apparently nor does the Government.
The tourism industry is massive and can grow, supporting not only communities but the whole State. Recreational fishing shits on commercial fishing as far as economic benefit goes and Commercial fishing is absolutely necessary for a number of reasons.
Having said all that, I still fear for the fishery and the fact we do ###k all to help it. Call them farmers, but do they sow to reap the benefits ? NO. Having bag limits, size limits, seasonal closures etc is a band-aid approach to sustainable fisheries.
Weeding out non discriminating netting is a start. But what are actually doing to help the fishery ? Nothing , well very little.
Why is this so. We legislate when a fishery reaches a non sustainable level with bag limits, size limits. We are doing NOTHING to enhance the fishery, NOTHING to grow it, NOTHING to protect it.
Why did the Politicians go MIA on the green zone issues by not including estuaries, creeks, foreshores, mangroves and so much more ?
Why has bugger all been done in relation to fertilizer run off and dredging and indeed removal of large areas in Moreton Bay covered in seagrass ?
One of the most successful and proven methods of fishery re-building and sustainability is Artificial Reefs. Cost benefit analysis is proven to be a winner on all fronts.
Increasing human populations, increasing fishing pressure from both the commercial and recreational sectors are stressing our fishery to the max. and NOTHING is being done.
Green Zones and their ability to create the " spill over effect " have not been proven and in fact there had been good research to prove other wise.
Western Australia are getting on the artificial reef bandwagon and establishing a great fishery with economic benefit for all stakeholders, we here are in the dark ages and not looking forward. Just biding our time, making meaningless legislation and hoping for the best. NO GOOD ENOUGH.
so much more to add, time is against me.
cheers LP