Whew............ after the first few responses I thought this thread may die. This is the kind of discusson I was after.
I don't know the nuts and bolts, it's just an idea that I had and after reading a lot of what has been written now I see that there are thoughts on this subject. I don't want to see seafood imported but I also don't want to see a pro who is doing it hard to feed his family, have to really fish a place to the brink to keep afloat.
Also, I think my new motto will be "save your oceans, kill a cat!"
Josh
yep some real tight arse cynics around over $30....less than a carton of beer.
Through license fee's in NSW my oldies are already seeing the results even in small country areas through funding grants for restocking the dams(some good fishing to be had in Copeton ,Glenlyon and Pindari these days) and other facilities cleaning tables,shelters etc. etc.
Now if they can just do something about some of the ramps that end far short of the water due to low dam levels.
Scott
I don't disagree about the subject of a licence fee but if its anything like the way they distribrute funds in northern NSW like the tweed we get nothing for our buck except a bigger boat for fisheries and a new car and all this acheives is that we pay a fee for a licence so fisheries can fine you more often for not having a licence which ithink is just a big scam.
G"day!
I would pay more than $30 if i trusted the government to spend it. Premier Beatty wanted to call us the Smart State. Weare actually the Stuffed State. Look at every area of state responsibility. Roads, rail, nothing towards capital city buses like other states, schools, hospitals, ambulance, police, DPI not able to handle horse virus issues, water, electricity.
And you think you can convince them recreational fishing matters? Easier to ban it. !!
Ray De R
For what it's worth Josh i reakon it's not a bad idea. 1 less trawler means a reduction in habitat damage and by catch kill, the other trawlers cannot increase the amount of damage they do so straight away you have a benifit. If you remove enought trawlers to have a significant impact then the fishery should improve with time, the remaining trawlers will have increased catches and the market will eventually stabilise. . . . in theory.
What happened to those fishing party blokes? If people were serious about this then it should be set up at the next bay closure protest rally.
As for paying for licenses both my nsw permit and sip are up to date.
Correct me if I am wrong........ but I understand ther is an obligation to use a commercial licence if you have one.....so I think the concept of a private buy out is sunk on that ground.
As far as clean & vaible.........is netting tiny creeks like, Tingapla & Eprapah sustainable and are these creeks clean......would you eat prawns if you knew they came out of the brisbane river in the city reaches.
I'm not drawing any conclusions on how clean the river is or that prawns are currently netted in the city reaches, but where do people think variuos stuff comes from.
Now I believe we need commercial fishermen & I have no problem with that, but there are cretain case by case areas that need to be closed to commercial netting, how can it be sustainable to net a small inshore area on a regular basis.
There are a number of very easy to find examples of improved fish stocks after cesation of netting.
Unfortunatly you cant just look at the water and know how much fish is there.
From end to end this is a hard question...... but it needs to be asked and it needs a wise answer.......we need to push for the question to be asked and make it known we (all of us) expect a wise answer......... not the half baked stuff we are getting from the EPA and the DPI.
cheers
Excellent post Josh, great to debate this issue with input from all sides, NSW and QLD rec fishers as well as some pros giving their angle.
The Licence system works in NSW, end of story.
There have been numerous pro buy-outs, I'm sure given the sentiment of NSW rec fishos in regards to this issue, this trend will continue.
As licence holders, NSW rec anglers have a legitimate right to be regarded as stakeholders by the DPI, and as such to have their interests represented.
The system is NOT perfect, and is IS slow moving, as one would expect from a beaurocracy.
However it is a damned site better than what was happening in NSW previously.
All I can say to those QLDers who oppose paying a $30 per annum fee for a licence set-up similar to NSW (just for example) is are you serious?
Wouldn't be too many wouldn't spend way more than that for a night on the turps...........
No-one is going to be waving a magic wand folks, you will have to make it happen yourselves.
Jeremy 87 makes a good point re the Fishing Party, IMO.
Best of luck with it!
" a $30 fishing license " I'd be happy to pay far more if I could trust our government to actually use it for improvements. But that is a big problem isn't it ?? Can we TRUST our government ?? They don't have a good track record. I wonder how much of the fees fron NSW gets used elswhere.
Bill.
Bill
The reason it works in NSW is that the Funds are Held in trust( Recreational Fishing Trusts) & then managed by a committee of fishoes.
From what I gather all expenditure is fisheries related & that includes enforcement.
Fishing groups are able to apply for funds to use on worthwhile projects too
Some great projects have come out of it ....... though it took time.
I think to date there are now 30 estuaries in NSW that are listed as recreational fishing havens ( all the pros have been bought out ..... a couple of systems still allow some limited pro fishing) ......... This was only possible because of the funds raised from a licence...... It certainly wasn't going to happen any other way
Nagg