Claws out to stop illegal crabbing

[manta man]

Here Here to you Sharkymate. Funny thing is, you mention the buy back scheme on this site and the response is "Yep you Guessed It Blank". Oh and Whilst i"m here went down to Wello Point for a BBQ yesterday, decided to take my Granddaughter for a walk on the Jetty. Well old mate gets a bite tells the friend I've got one ..mmm thinkin lets see. Well he pulls up this Bream no bigger than 3 Inches removes the hook then procedes to place it in his Prawn Pkt. I asked him what are you doing mate, oh i"m keeping that. My response was "No Your Not" told him to release immediately otherwise i"ll be throwing it back myself. It was quickly released he was not happy either. Fisheries you don"t have the Staff to Police any of this, so why bother telling us about it "We Know The Rules". Oh and 1 more thing if i decide to leave my Crab Pots Overnight they will get sunk with "No Attachments". I too will Flaunt the Laws, because one way or another no A holes will be touching my Pots.

[snapperbasher]

I was pulled over last year by the water police in the brissie river while checking my own pots and was asked to show ID to prove the pots belonged to me. this should happen more often I believe.

In saying that I crab the river a fair bit and have only ever lost one pot. However crabbing off manly earlier this year I lost 5 in a couple of days.

maybe the police presence in the river keeps the thieves down?

[Dignity]

Guys, I understand all of the arguments but have found that we ourselves are often the weakest link. There is a register I started earlier this year as per below link which when reviewed indicates that theft of pots/crabs is far less than what is being discussed. Now why is that? I have spoken to a couple of Ausfisher's who have lost their pots and were aware of the register but didn't bother to update it, is it apathy, lack of time, too short a rope on the float or had the pots been misplaced or floated away as I have seen in the Pumistone Passage many a time.

Yes,the fisheries is a corporate conglomerate yet I know there are staff who try everything possible to alleviate the situation and also they know a visible presence will only be a short term deterrent, to this end they do employ covert surveillance (they don't necessarily need to be on the water for this) in an area that is being targeted by thieves IF they get sufficient evidence. I know that my neighbour has been checked a couple of times and during discussions he was told that he had been observed even though there was not a another boat evident when the pots were dropped, I was with him on one of those occasions so they are not always visible. I know that fisheries were applying for some fairly technological equipment to help them combat this problem but haven't checked to see if they got approval yet.

So fellow anglers, if your pots go missing, are raided/damaged etc please try the register and then at least you have tried as anecdotal evidence is of little use.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/sho...eving-register

[tunaticer]

I've got to agree Dignity, unless the numbers accumulate to a height where it is apparent that this is a serious blight, then the police and fisheries will relegate this to the "get around to one day" pile.

To overcome this problem I have switched to using dilly lift nets for three reasons.
1 the thieves do not get access to my dillies because i work them.
2 if some low life does pick my dilly up they are not likely to damage it to steal the crabs.
3 dillies are not stolen, I can set my dillies in one place for a week and come back and work that string again by simply rebaiting and doing laps. I have done this several times and it sure makes the crabbing affair a whole lot more enjoyable when you are not packing up and transporting them every trip.

[Thumbsuckers]

Raiding pots has been a problem forever and will continue to be. I can recall an uncle who crabbed Donnybrook in the 50's and 60's complaining about "honkeys" who stole from his pots.

These days, the problem has been exacerbated by:

1. A huge population increase in SE Qld and therefore greater crabbing effort;
2. Introduction of green zones in popular areas like the Pummicestone Passage which has concentrated greater crabbing effort into a smaller area compounding the issue;
3. The prevalence of ridiculously cheap deals on new crab pots ($50 for 4) at places like BCF which encourages anyone and everyone to give it a go.

That said, I agree with the comments earlier about lost pots. Many are not stolen; just badly set with short ropes or in the middle of channels where they get run over and lost.

If you want to catch crabs these days, you need to hover over your pots while they are soaking or put them in places where no-one can get to them or find them between tides, especially at night when I suspect that the share farmers like to operate. Or if you don't want to do that, plan a holiday up north somewhere remote and give a go up there.