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Thread: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

  1. #1

    commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    What the hell is wrong with this government
    Mulloway massacre!

    19 Mar 2012
    By Fisho staff writers

    THE NSW Government will be considering allowing commercial netters to continue to take juvenile mulloway while imposing harsh restrictions on anglers as concerns grow about stock levels of this iconic inshore sportfish.
    According to info Fisho received last week, a steering committee dominated by commercial interests will put forward a proposal to allow netters to take mulloway from 45 to 75cm in length.
    There is some confusion as to exactly how many mulloway each commercial operator will be allowed each day. Some sources indicate as many as 50 fish, others say 30. Fisho last week contacted the office of NSW Fisheries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson seeking urgent clarification of the proposal. To date we have not received a response.
    According to the information Fisho received, recreational anglers would be allowed one mulloway over 75cm long per day.
    The current bag limit for anglers is five fish in total with two over 70cm. Fisho understands that commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm.
    There has been significant concern for some years that mulloway stocks in NSW need urgent management action. Scientific data indicates that mulloway reach breeding size at about 70-75cm. The current 45cm size limit means that fish are taken well before they reach maturity, which has obvious implications for the long-term viability and sustainability of the stock.
    Juvenile mulloway are known as "soapies" because of their unpleasant taste. Larger fish lose this "soapy" flavour and are highly rated as a food fish.
    Fisho understands Minister Hodgkinson will consider the proposal once it is officially submitted to her. There is no indication as yet when this will be.
    The Minister has courted controversy in recent times with her decisions to close the Cronulla fisheries offices and to re-allow commercial netting of Australian salmon, previously a rec-only species, for trap bait.
    Fisho has been told that the commercial sector will use a "financial hardship" argument to back their push to continue to exploit mulloway stocks.
    Angling groups made aware of the mulloway proposal have expressed outrage over the commercial sector's plans to continue targeting juvenile jewfish.
    Allan Hansard, the CEO of the Australian Fishing Trade Association, said the proposal was "a significant concern" and "seemed to defy all scientific logic".
    "We'll be seeking an urgent meeting with Minister Hodgkinson to put forward as strongly as possible our very grave concerns about this issue. There are serious questions about the long-term sustainability of NSW's mulloway stocks if continued commercial exploitation of juvenile fish is allowed. We need to make the Minister aware that the Australian tackle industry will not condone any decisions that put valuable fish stocks at risk."
    Concerned anglers wishing to contact the Minister about this issue can send emails to office@hodgkinson.minister.nsw.gov.au, phone (02) 9228 5210 or fax (02) 9228 5969.
    Shut up and fish

  2. #2

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Thats disgusting.

    It shows how little the politicians care for our fish.


    Estuary and beach pros have got to go.

  3. #3

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Makes me sick the way resources are allocated in this country..and the stupidity that follows the usual popularity grabs by hypocritical useless politicians.

    Mulloway are about as good as you get for farming, fast growing, taste great, nothing extraordinary about them. Yet we got to spend a cpl of billion on pink batt rip offs, unwanted set top boxes, waste hundreds of millions overseas trying to rope tin pot shitholes into beleiving the climate industry bullshit...they'll throw away squillions at the drop of a hat, but wont do a bloody thing about feeding our own population properly and sustainably.

    Industry and jobs just waiting to happen...done overseas but every bloody excuse under the sun offered to not do it here. SOME farming of SOME species done in a half baked manner is supposedly just fine. No persistence, just short term trials abandoned the very second they seem a bit difficult. No attempt to rid an industry of scavenging fingers in the pie along the chain of sales...the sedond someone says they cant make a buck its forgotten. The research was done eons ago, all just waiting for refinement...but nahhhh...our politicians have got to be the biggest bunch of useless hypocrites in the world. they'll preach one thing and practice the opposite. So much easier to not risk a lobby group backlash...let em net and kill 20 soapies to get one about 70cm...let them take the breeders out of the system too, in any quantities they like.

    When are they going to realise you do not need to have 100+ different types of fish at a market ? When are they going to stop the indiscriminate bleeding of wild fish stocks by netters and pro's coz they'd rather send the money to fight climate change realists in f'king Rwanda ?

    No more pink batts....if we cannot farm a fast growing perfect tablefish like the jewie by now, then we better not listen to any more whinging from greenies about anything to do with the ocean. How about some money spent wisely on an essential but STILL fledgling industry that could benefit from help. Whynot just do something real and long term instead of pissing money away on anything that might garner a vote or give a tree hugger on the dole a warm fuzzy feeling.

  4. #4

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Just in time for the Beach Haulers "targetting" mullet. Surprise Surprise!!
    Jim

  5. #5

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Makes you wonder. We pay our fees to fish and then they stock the systems with fingerlings and now the Pro's get to net them.
    Absolut Bull...t.
    At least Queensland has done the right thing with sizes.Watch and see how many big Jew are caught in SE Qld in the next 10 years.
    Historian/Collector of Old Sidecast Fishing Reels

  6. #6

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    This issue has been sizzling along the NSW coast for some years now.
    Some of the beach-haulers are Qld license-holders who come south and work ostensibly as 'crew' for their NSW counterparts.
    Yeah mullet, do you really beach-haul more mullet operating at night? FFS, long past time for this practice to be stopped IMHO.
    Why should NSW rec fisho's licence fees subsidise the commercial effort?

  7. #7

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    The nsw pros Compulsory fees for fish research and stocking is around $600 a year a dam lot more than the recs $25 so to say they don't contribute is a crock in saying that if fisheries would lift the size that would save a lot of problems, not that I like netting but for some species it's a necessary evil.

  8. #8

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    can i ask a question /
    who and what are FISHO in the opening post?

  9. #9

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Quote Originally Posted by GABBA110360 View Post
    can i ask a question /
    who and what are FISHO in the opening post?

    Fisho = Fishing World Magazine

    http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/mulloway-massacre
    Jim

  10. #10

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Quote Originally Posted by Boat Hog View Post
    just reading the link article at the bottom of the massacre link.
    catch and release species.
    i can just imagine a bloke climbing down the breakwall at night to release the 10/15/20 kilo jew they just caught.
    i suppose he could gaff it up the wall then throw it the 6 or so metres back into the soup.

  11. #11

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    I reckon you make an excellent point there gabba, not the most resilient species by any means IMHO, even under ideal conditions.
    I think JH is way off the mark here, but then personally I strongly believe don't kill/compromise the life of a fish you have no intention of eating or using for bait, within the legal size and bag limits.
    I will be very interested to see what the Shooters and Fishers do, time to take some action for those that voted them in!

  12. #12

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    I ran into some pros a little while back in the Richmond and was talking to them and they firmly believed that us amatuers are taking their livelyhood away because we catch "their" fish.
    They said they were trying to get government action to ensure their future with viable, sustainable fishing activities.
    Well guys heres the news, Every time you put that net into the river you are f**king it up even more.
    You are "harvesting" a limited resource and as long as you are netting fish in the current proportions it will never get any better.
    And you are killing juvenile fish in the back of the net at the same time.

    Every river system that has banned netting has come back to life big time and there are fish for all.

    "Give a man a fish and it will feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and it will feed him for a lifetime"

    And you ask the locals at Pimlico and see how many juvenile jew are netted there at times. One local I know who is reasonably reliable claimed to have seen what he estimated to be around 400kg of soapies taken in front of his house in one day.

    Harvesting days are almost at an end and its about time some "expert" had a fresh look at what is happening in our fishery, or whats left of it.

    P.S And could someone please buy this current goverment a calculator!!

  13. #13

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    I have yet to see any proof (and I mean PROOF not hysterical ranting) that Mullet beach netters are getting huge numbers of Mulloway, it has been written a thousand times about the spot lighting glowing eyes in the waves and so on, but still no one has ever eye witnessed these "mass kills", or taken a single photo. Oh, and I am not a beach netter!!

  14. #14

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Quote Originally Posted by Noelm View Post
    I have yet to see any proof (and I mean PROOF not hysterical ranting) that Mullet beach netters are getting huge numbers of Mulloway, it has been written a thousand times about the spot lighting glowing eyes in the waves and so on, but still no one has ever eye witnessed these "mass kills", or taken a single photo. Oh, and I am not a beach netter!!
    Sorry noelm, plenty of people have witnessed it; I'd suggest you spend some time on the beach at night near your local rivermouth come the mullet-run, then maybe you'll be doing some "hysterical ranting" of your own.

  15. #15

    Re: commercial operators can take as many fish as they like over 45cm

    Spot on, think are few people around our way have spotted/sighted and been threatned with physical harm. Also reported to police who took very limited action. They seem to be around at certain times and then just do what they want and where they want.

    It is very natural for locals to get upset when they see the slaughter of fish that are supposedly protected in the river from netting, and then as soon as they head out the system for breeding are set upon by the beach haulers with their nets at the mouth. Bellinger/Kalang is just once example.
    Fish for the future, enjoy the present but think of your children.

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