Global Warming

[rabbi]

Just reading in todays local rag about how the mullet run has changed and is not producing for the mullet netters.
A local netter commented in the paper about the lack of mullet and global warming could be the reason why their catch is down for this year and last year.
His quote was" A shot can net 20 tonnes and landing a 100 tonnes is a good season".
I used to have deep sea fishing holidays at Harrington/Crowdy Head back in the 1980"s and the netters would catch up to 20-50 tonnes of mullet in one morning at Crowdy Head in April.
I guess the point I am making is that if you worked out that each year in NSW alone you had 100 netters taking 100 tonne of spawning mullet each that would equate to
10,000,000kg of mullet being taken in a 12 month period.
Now I am not sure of the exact number of netters working the NSW coast for mullet but 100 does not sound too far fetched.
I didnt realise that mullet could grow and spawn that fast to replace up to 10,000,000 kg each season, especially when their numbers are decreasing annually.
I am not having a shot at the mullet netters( I feel sympathy for them trying to make a living out of an overfished fishery), moreso at the management of the fisheries(or lack of) by the powers that be.
The majority of amateurs don't target mullet and their catch rate is very low compared to professional setups.
Maybe it's more Global Warning than Global Warming.

[B_E_N]

i wonder what they would say if you told them mullet need time to grow. if you catch all the mullet one year they wont be back the next....

[kingtin]

Mate, I have a few older figures on file from the 1999/2000 financial year, and although they are dated, the mullet harvest has averaged around this figure since 88 till present, going up some years and down on others.

They are caught by the general estuary fishery and the ocean haul fishery, mullet being the greatest individual species.

The total haul for that year was 2,413 but there has been licence buy backs since then, although effort by remaining licence holders may (or may not) have increased.

The general consensus is that the mullet fishery is fully fished but stable, and that any variations are due to environmental factors that trigger the spawning run such as rainfall and temperature decline. Mullet seem to run as the temp drops and this year is warmer than average, thus far. That doesn't mean to say that the run will be any less than previous years, just later and it doesn't indicate that global warming is to blame...........cyclic weather patterns could simply be the culprit.

kev

kev

[B_E_N]

i stand corrected, thanks for the info but personally have you noticed any change in amounts. im under a partial idea that i saw a lot more larger mullet around 5-6 years ago in cabbage tree creek. but in saying that a few weeks back i was out late one night and witnessed the turn of the tide/run out from a large tide and the amount of mullet was amazing if i had the berries i would have attempted to walk on water because they wer that thick. id shine the torch on them and the water would errupt but they wernt large, just thousands of smaller to mid size ones.

[kingtin]

I agree Ben.............the mullet aren't as plentiful in the Pine as they once were, and the same goes for around shorncliffe jetty and woody point. Those you do catch also seem a lot smaller than they once were, in fact, I've not caught one pan size one for about 18 months.............plenty of picklers but none to match what I used to once catch. 5 yrs ago, there was a couple of occasions on shorncliffe pier where I could hardly lift my cast net.

kev

[shaman]

6-9 months ago my canal at Paradise Point would be boiling with mullet. It happened over a couple of months and only at night on the dark of the moon. I would throw my cast net and get up to 10 in one throw and good size too. First night stacked my freezer with crab bait and the next just chucked to feel that net bouncing all over the joint and let 'em go................. awesome feeling.
I figured they were feeding on the small prawns that were moving on the dark.
Awesome to see the water erupt when a bully would cruise into the schools.
I think Kev is probably right about the warmer weather though. I reckon the world is blaming a tad too much on global warming. I mean I know it's there and it's happening but I think some mediums are over-sensationalising it to pick up some bucks and ratings. Remember the ozone layer and how every news program told us over and over ??? I know they probably helped the cause but you never hear anything about it anymore, we don't even know how big the hole is or if it has stabilised or getting bigger. Apparently the ozone layer is not trendy anymore. I only hope that the pollies are listening with their ears and not their wallets and maybe the accords set in motion will make a difference. If the media gets us peasants all fired up maybe they will listen a bit harder.....

[PinHead]

summer was late starting and a rather mild summer it was..no really hot days at all so I guess it stands to reason that winter may be a bit late arriving also.

The ozone layer..probably all quiet on it cos it will be exposed for what is was..a rip off by a multi national.

[rabbi]

Just did a bit of homework on the mullet catch and growth rate to satisfy my own curiosity.
The records I found were dated 10 years up to 2003 and the average catch rate for Queensland and NSW combined per year was 5,900,000 kg and up to this time the fishery was deemed sustainable.
Mullet take around 3 years to reach their mature size of 31cm-35cm.
It may well be an environmental factor that gives the fluctuation of good and bad seasons for the netters.
I have seen large schools of mullet over the last 10 years in my local fishing expeditions and to me the schools seem to be getting smaller with smaller fish and more scattered.
Winter and summer seasons over the last few years have been mild to say the least.
I am waiting on the jew run this year as an indicator of fish numbers. Hopefully it will be as good as last year but I think the numbers will be down.
Good fishing to you all. cheers.

[kingtin]

Rabbi, the average I quoted of 2413 tons, was a (dated) NSW figure.

kev

[minno]

With global warming, we are going to see lots of changes, and some life-forms will not adapt as well as others. Mullet are a hardy fish and where their decline will take place, is up the back waters were they breed. I have seen them in the most polutated water you have ever seen and they still come back for more. Personaly I would not eat them, but the green zones that have been put in place and with our help, by keeping as much of our waste out of the water system[ storm drains] as posable, I think they will be alright. The DPI and the CSRIO- government bodies are acting in some cases, in our best interests for all conserned.



minno

[straddie]

Heya Rabbi

2007-2008 should, if DPI estimates are correct see a strong upswing in mullet numbers after 3 previous low years. I haven't seen any recent numbers or chatted with anyone yet but saw whole mullet selling for under $3/kg last week so there must be a few around at least.

If that upswing in numbers doesn't occur then there may be problems with the stock, be it from overfishing, lost habitat, pollution, climate or any combination of those things.

[gawby]

What a crock of shite. Henny Penny started all of this when she ran around yelling The Skies Falling, remember that.
Then the Boy cried Wolf.
Oh yes, the Ozone Layer is buggered so we are all going to die from skin cancer.
Darn, now we have Global Warming, ha ha ha. What is it that the experts have said, the earth has warmed by how many degrees, (1) only.
I think it is time to have a look outside the circle, perhaps the constant netting carn't be sustained as numbers are dropping or have a look, not many exciting catches anywhere lately.
Perhaps it might just a part of Mother Nature running its course.
I don't know but this Global Warming thing is a bit over the top in my opinion.
Graeme.

[shaman]

What a crock of shite.
I don't know but this Global Warming thing is a bit over the top in my opinion.
Graeme.

Hear Friggen Hear Gawby................
What's next?????
Media is cleaning up with it, Pollies are cleaning up with it...
Bit like David Hicks, funny how he came home just prior to an election
I watched a docco on abc a month or so ago and this fella who had been researching and wrote a book on the apparent tortures etc. said that all any country had to do was ask for the return of any detainees and a few countries apparently have done just that and any country that was having any dramas were full of it. It took our feds a while to work out that they just had to ask...

[rabbi]

I wasn't so much worried about the ozone layer, I just wish it would rain more!! but more about the huge amounts of mullet being netted and sustainability.
However, judging by the local news report tonight, the pro's that were saying how bad a season it is for mullet just a week ago are now rolling in mullet fillets and seeing the nets so full of mullet on tv is a bit of a shame. But it all comes down to $$$$$$$$$$$$.
I think there have been reports of extreme beach netting on sth Ballina beach by the northern (QLD)mexican netters as well.
We need a good hard southerly to spread the mullet out a bit and give the other fish more of a chance.

[Jeremy]

the green zones that have been put in place and with our help, by keeping as much of our waste out of the water system[ storm drains] as posable, I think they will be alright. The DPI and the CSRIO- government bodies are acting in some cases, in our best interests for all conserned.
minno

your gullible aren't you? What a crock.

Jeremy