Keep Jenny mucrabs

[adhawko]

Just wondering what the update is on the governments decision considering us to keep Jenny mudcrabs?

Also where is the best spots in pine river and cabbage tree creek to catch them?

[bermo82]

Hey mate, It has been decided the existing rules will remain, therefore Jennies are a no go (thankfully)!

Regarding the Pine River... you'll catch mud crabs in all parts of the river!
Cheers
Bermo

[adhawko]

Ok cheers Bermo! Dissapointed not one crab last week, I had 8 pots in!

[netmaker]

Ok cheers Bermo! Dissapointed not one crab last week, I had 8 pots in!

much better to say "we" had 8 pots in or "i had 4 pots in and so did my mate".

[sharkymark2]

Thank goodness they repealed that suggestion. With fewer crabs around now what would it have been like if we had allowed people to take the breeders as well? There would have bee an increase in "donuts".

[timddo]

I though it was scientifically proven that older females don't breed anymore

[bermo82]

There is mixed reports regarding that theory Tim, Some work done at the Bribie island DPI several years ago found that a big female will breed but require a larger male to breed with (as is with all breeding pairs.)

Sharky, I couldn't agree more! WHy take out the carriers of millions of eggs just so people can say they got a feed.

Adhawko, persistence is the key.... you'll find it mentioned many times on this site. A dozen donut trips doesn't mean there aren't crabs there it just means you need to do more crabbing and try different areas/tides/times etc.

Cheers
Bermo

[Horse]

I though it was scientifically proven that older females don't breed anymore
Its pretty well proven in a couple of studies that they continue to breed as long as they live. The male has to be big enough to do his part of the process that is a lot more than just insemination

[trymyluck]

Its pretty well proven in a couple of studies that they continue to breed as long as they live. The male has to be big enough to do his part of the process that is a lot more than just insemination

So there would be a pretty good argument to introduce a maximum size for bucks.

Mark

[timddo]

So there would be a pretty good argument to introduce a maximum size for bucks.

Mark
Would be a good idea if the old crabs can drop by the chemist and get Viagra.

[pipifin]

I do often wonder, as I'm puling up my ransacked pots, that if there was a "one jenny per boat or fisherman" rule, then people would stop stealing my pots/crabs.
Mongrels.

[manta man]

Hey guys these thoughts of taking big jennies NO SIR. This is the problem in the whole industry
Netting in peak condition and prime breeding season, just leave the females alone and let them breed
so i can go back and catch more muddies next season and maybe my grandchildren in the years to come.
Oh but i better make sure, Progress does"nt destroy the enviroment all these creatures need to breed in.

Cheers Manta Man

[trymyluck]

Would be a good idea if the old crabs can drop by the chemist and get Viagra.

Mate, dosn't worry me as I don't eat the crap but sick of listening to people whinging about not being able to catch any or getting accused of raiding pots when fishing next to them. Seems logical to me if you need bigger bucks to fertilise bigger females then put a limit on them, if its proven that bigger bucks can not breed then there is an argument for keeping females over a certain size.

[thelump]

It takes 2 to tango so to speak so why remove all of the one sex from the system. Seems a bit silly to take away all the males just to say we need the females to breed. What are they gunna breed with. As far as I can tell we are just starting up a population of lesbians. But then again I am from NSW where they allow jennies to be taken as long as they are not in berry which makes more sense to me. Now about daylight savings...........

[J-MAN]

[QUOTE]But then again I am from NSW
Well that just says it all my BLUE friend! Keep your hands off our Jennies!

Cheers,
J-Man.

[Richo1]

Best crabbing I've ever done is in the Northern Territory, 4 pots 2 hours 12 bucks. You can keep Jenny's in the NT so I'm open to the idea.

[thelump]

[QUOTE]But then again I am from NSW
Well that just says it all my BLUE friend! Keep your hands off our Jennies!

Cheers,
J-Man.

No worries. What about ya cheryls or shazzas? Plenty of them in QLD!

[Symetre]

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. i.e When in the pine river, check every pot in the river and you should find a few bucks. I call it community crabbing. That's why I don't crab unless I am fishing near my pots all night:)

[Si]

if a female crab over 16cm finds it hard to find a male and mate with it then we need to consider whether the current legislation is really protecting their numbers. If It is having such an impact to reproduction behaviour then that cant be good imo...

[Gon Fishun]

Heard a rumor today that the jenny's eat the young and smaller crabs. Anybody throw some light on that?

[Gazza]

if a female crab over 16cm finds it hard to find a male and mate with it then we need to consider whether the current legislation is really protecting their numbers. If It is having such an impact to reproduction behaviour then that cant be good imo...one(1) 16 maybe 17cm+ won't impact on the viability of the biomass ;D
but just remove a few cranky old bitches chewing their partners/siblings heads off :o

we all have wives like that , so "save the bucks" :D [delete post when read]

[bermo82]

Just because we don't catch 16cm bucks regularly doesn't mean the estuary/bay are baron of them! Rosco's recent posts prove that there are some big crabs around!

RICHO: The benefit of the NT is that a good proportion of the waterways are not accessible by people so the population of crabs/barra/ and all sorts of pleasurable creatures to catch and eat are plentiful.

The Lump: besides the obvious blues jokes, why take a jenny out of a breeding cycle when:

A jenny spawns roughly 2 million crabs in one cycle, less then 5% survive, the more jennies that breed the more crabs that will mature to reproduce... for every jenny that is removed, 2 million less crabs ( if it only breeds for a single cycle) will no longer be produced.

That's my thoughts and THE LUMP "yes" you can have all the shazza's you like cause we still have the SOO shield!

Bermo

[thelump]

Just because we don't catch 16cm bucks regularly doesn't mean the estuary/bay are baron of them! Rosco's recent posts prove that there are some big crabs around!

RICHO: The benefit of the NT is that a good proportion of the waterways are not accessible by people so the population of crabs/barra/ and all sorts of pleasurable creatures to catch and eat are plentiful.

The Lump: besides the obvious blues jokes, why take a jenny out of a breeding cycle when:

A jenny spawns roughly 2 million crabs in one cycle, less then 5% survive, the more jennies that breed the more crabs that will mature to reproduce... for every jenny that is removed, 2 million less crabs ( if it only breeds for a single cycle) will no longer be produced.

That's my thoughts and THE LUMP "yes" you can have all the shazza's you like cause we still have the SOO shield!

Bermo


Some good info there Bermo re the spawning cycle of a female crab but they will have no eggs to drop if there are no males in the system to service them?
So all other states have got it terribly wrong and QLD " The Smart State" is the only one who is right?
As far as Richos comments in the NT go I have to agree and where I crabbed (Buffalo Creek) was a very popular spot that was easily accessible by foot and we still got crabs everyday. You just had to get to the pots early before the share farmers.
Also found the same in WA in Dampier Creek Broome. Hardly a remote local and caught several crabs, including plenty of big bucks, right in the middle of town so to speak.
Both of these areas would be hammered more in the dry season than around here gets all year.

[Bobpen]

I think the CSIRO surveys on effects of Marine Parks found most of the very large male muddies were in areas closed to fishing.

[Ben D]

Jennies can store sperm from previous matings so they do not necessarily need equal sized males to be around in order for them to spawn fertilized eggs. These crabs only live for 3 or 4 years tops so it all happens pretty fast and the key to their longevity as a species over the long term is a healthy environment so they can get healthy recruitment of juvenile crabs, not necessarily how many males survive until the terminal moult. In QLD we have highly conservative regulations controlling mud crab take which maximises the number of eggs spawned while still allowing a fishery. This is probably why there are still a few around at the right time of year/location etc. in SE QLD. To try to compare SE QLD to the NT is a joke. Huge difference in human populations and habitat quality between the two areas and if you had millions of people living in darwin, I'd bet there would be far fewer crabs in the Darwin harbour for sure due to higher fishing pressure and a more degraded environment. And if you think that green zones will solve the problem by allowing a few bucks to grow to a larger size than 15 cm carapace width, well thats a real shot in the dark and has no proof to support it at all. They are crabs, not trees, and having larger bucks above the minimum size in green zones only proves that no fishing ocurs in there and that fishos largly abide by the regulations. What you'd be looking at for the green zones to be "working" is more smaller crabs in them below the legal size, and thats not happening.

[Richo1]

I wasn't comparing SE QLD with NT, I was comparing the whole of QLD with NT!
There are plenty of remote areas that I have fished in QLD where I have not caught my bag limit in one day including Several rivers on Cape York ; all areas the Jenny's per male were 5:1 or more.
Now I'm no gun crabber, my version of crabbing is throw the pots out and go fishing & pick the pots up on the way home. Due to the lack of results in QLD I rarely bother to crab now.

[MackerelMan]

Perhaps the no take of jenny crabs is not working and does not necessarily result in more crabs. A heavily biased sex ratio may not be good for the fishery. In heavily fished areas you should still be catching 50/50 but most (all) males will be under size as undersize bucks are effectively no take as well. The idea with fish size limits is to allow fish to breed before they are caught, should work for crabs as well!

[scw1970]

just take all the males of the planet and we will reprduce

[krusey]

A lot of people on this forum seem to be upset with the idea of allowing a law to come through that allows the taking of Gennie's when in actual fact Qld is the only place in Australia you can't and i believe if the law was somehow passed all the people that are carrying on about not taking them well that is your choice, how many fish do you catch that are all rowed up, isn't that taking a breeder out of our waterways much the same even though it is a different species but the same principle still applies, as for myself i am for the idea not for the rape and pilege but for balancing out gender species and taking home a feed, even reduce the bag limit down, anyhow if this law had of been in 20 years ago nobody would care to much about it, it's just because we have had it like this in Queensland that people will formulate and opinion on it and the old saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks, or another way of putting it nobody really likes a change, anyway that's is my opinion but hey we all know what opinions are like rhey are like #######s because everyone's got one, well thanks for reading my post i'll look forward to your comments lol

Krusey

[banksmister]

Everyone had a chance to vote around nov 2011


Another poorly advertised campaign by the authorities with under 500 people submitting votes.

News report below

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/merry-christmas-to-qlds-jennies/1218859/

[crab man]

Keeping Jenny crabs talk is as funny to read as etec v 4stroke talks :) haha

Both sides have pro's and con's and people from both sides feel strongley about there veiws

Craig

[Lovey80]

After reading Ben D's post, I wonder how many fisho's would be happy to trade the taking of the very largest females (ones so big they are in the late part of their third year) for an increase in the MLS of male mud crabs by another 10mm?

Ben, if you are still following this thread, could you kindly give your opinion on where you think a measure such as the one I suggested above would put mud crab numbers in QLD?

[Gazza]

:red0: well thats not very scientific , the key is not to allow Comm quota of Jennys on any "future trials" :red0:

:green0: I'm sure Mark MP is all over this....... like a buck on a Jenny :green0:

[manta man]

Just to give you an idea of seasonal catches. 1,015 Tonnes of Mud Crab were harvested by commercial fisherman down the East Coast
in 2010 through till 2011 being the second largest catch in a decade. We must be doing something right. Long live the female gender.

[Si]

Just to give you an idea of seasonal catches. 1,015 Tonnes of Mud Crab were harvested by commercial fisherman down the East Coast
in 2010 through till 2011 being the second largest catch in a decade. We must be doing something right. Long live the female gender.

'we' as in QLD or NSW? down the east coast includes both management strategys. Whats the break up between the states do you know?

[Gazza]

Con: Can we "legally" feed Jennys some Steroids... to make their claws BIGGER ?? :laola:
Pro: a MUDDIE claw is imo...... FOOD-OF-THE-GODS :thumbup::thumbup:

85632

[Gazza]

:red0: well thats not very scientific , the KEY is not to allow Comm quota of Jennys on any "future trials" :red0:

:green0: I'm sure Mark MP is all over this....... like a buck on a Jenny :green0:
ex-commercial *SAD*

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gladstone-fisherman-fined-35k-for-illegal-take-of-female-mud-crabs-worth-16k/story-e6freoof-1226510583305


A GLADSTONE fisherman has been fined $35,000 for taking 232 female mud crabs and trying to sell them at the Sydney fish markets.
The man was convicted last month in the Gladstone Magistrate's Court for taking the crabs from the Turkey Beach area, south of the central Queensland port city.
It was the third time the man, a former commercial fisher, had been convicted of such an offence.

[Bobpen]

I think the CSIRO surveys on effects of Marine Parks found most of the very large male muddies were in areas closed to fishing.

So the illegal crabbing in the closures for the last big males is probably dragging down the catch rates for everyone else.