Propaganda regarding Commercial Fisheries

[kingtin]

reread the 3000t of discard blurb you showed.20% of discards are eaten at to or bottom......72 % of discarded material reaches the bottom alive.... so what now that this figure has been shown to disagree with your contention you call those figure you so freely quoted into disrepute.. make up your mind mate.
as to bay trawlers making providing cat food just not true .
as to crabs bay trawlers have a possesion limit of 100 crabs and i resent the implication that any restrictions placed the professional fishing industry results in us targeting other bycatch as a viable sorce of income; most bycatch has strict possession limits placed on it[ with the exception of economically important species such as bugs and squid] to ensure [ along the lines of recco bag limit] the sustainability.
hard to maintain a stance where research is fine only if it agrees with your world view.

Mate, I think my response, my apology for not presenting my point better, and an explanation of what was intended is well clear. If you cannot accept that apology and subsequent clarification, or have no answer to the questions I posed, then I think (hope) that others will plainly see that all you are attempting to do, is place this thread on a personal level, whilst not addressing the points I raised such as the differing figures for by catch mortality in different areas and their differing handling practices.

If you haven't got the intelligence, or simply refuse to accept that I am actually questioning the research, then that only furthers my argument that there is very little chance of the pro and recco sector being reconciled...........Correction, me being reconciled with the pro sector.........Just too much suspicion, and in some individuals, personal venom pointed at those with whom they disagree.

The art of gentlemanly conversation it seems, is dead, and unfortunately, I find myself being dragged down to a lower level of conversation than I am accustomed to, and am fast becoming quite ungentlemanly myself

With regard to by-catch limitations and quotas..............yes, I agree that those quotas exist. The point I'm making is that I am not solely concerned with what goes on in Moreton Bay and I have one eye on what happens in other fisheries, in order to better understand how their governing bodies (if they exist) tackle their problems and if we can learn from that. Hence my illustration of what has happened in Europe, a fishery that has had more time to learn than Australia yet has still succumbed to unsustainable fishing practices and their consequences.

I put it to you that perhaps the Australian Fishery may become sustainable, purely because the DPI&F do exactly the same as I, and research and learn from what happens elsewhere, not just in their own back yard. Indeed, in my conversations with the DPI&F research establishment, it was admitted that not enough research had been carried out in Australian Fisheries and that they had to draw on research from foreign fisheries.

With regard to the Australian Fishery, once upon a time a quota wouldn't be required because the by-catch would have been discarded as "economically unviable" ie damaged crabs would not have been marketable either because of consumer choice, or because the "damaged goods" could potentially undermine the price of more profitable fish and undamaged crabs. Yes, I agree there are quotas, all I'm saying is that fish such as pinkies and broken crabs, which once would have been discarded, are now identifiable targets.

A further question could also be raised here.............if damaged crabs are being marketed, then one could assume that the quota of undamaged crabs has not been reached. If that is so, should the DPI&F be questioning the validity of that quota....viz a viz If the quota is not being reached, is it too high and the stocks are depleted or did some pro just have a bad day and only caught damaged crabs or damaged them in handling?

The above is a rhetorical question and is used purely to illustrate how I question problems in the fishery and my approach to attempting to better understand the problems we face. I (hopefully), question everything, but why I should bother when I am superman, is beyond me

Yet again, research relating to the increased utilisation of by-catch is freely available and clearly states that there is a move in some countries, and not all those are 3rd world, to target (or market) what was once considered by-catch. The net result being a 100% mortality rate in species' that once had at least some survival rate.

Now me old matey I really have had enough of this enlightening debate with you, and others, so forgive me if I seem rude and self-opinionated but I really must bow out of any further discussion, not because I don't like a good old chin wag, but because I fear that some of those who I am talking to are not really hearing what I am trying to say. This, I will put down to my inability to make myself clear, as opposed to their "deafness".

Nice meeting you

kev

[bay trawler]

an interesting snippet re crabs the entire eastcoast otter trawl [including moreton bay] produced 57 tonne of crab in 2005 representing 7 % of the toal crab harvest for that year. the blue swimmer crab fishery meets the wildlife trade organization [WTO] criterea for recognition as a sustasinable fishery. Most queensland blue swimmers are eaten in queensland with some going interstate and virtually none being exported......annual staus reports 2005 ectf and blue swimmer fishery.