Fisheries Gone Mad

[mangomick]

In general they are mostly good blokes doing a job. Generally pretty helpful with tips on where you might find a feed but with anybody who has to police rules you'll get the blokes who are fairly reasonable and you'll get the Pr#cks.
I came into the ramp the other day after pulling my pots in and I had one medium sized poddy mullet that I was going to drop over the side then remembered my big line was in the other boat.
Anyhow this young bloke, looked like he was straight out of school nabs me at the ramp and checks absolutely everything.
No problems , everything was in order, Then he spots the poddy mullet. Well he went over that poddy mullet for about 3 minutes(well it seemed that long )
So I said to him. Whats the problem mate, Dont tell me theres a size limit on old poddies these days. And he said I thought it may have been a sea mullet which does have a size limit
And I said to him ,Do you mean to tell me you'd book a bloke who happened to have one wrong sized mullet by mistake . Thats a bit rough isnt it ,seeing its just taken you a fair while to see if its a sea mullet or not and he said. Well it would still be undersize.
The little bugger doenst even realised that in 5 minutes he could have undone the respect his mates have earned in many years

[Bowser]

Your mate has had bad luck but the rules have been there for an age. He tels you he hasn't broken the laws but must have removed the skin and cut them up small to have gotten the fine though and if you are gpoing to go fishing you have to be aware of the rules and obey them. Everyone here has come across boats loaded with people who are taking undersized fish and need to be belted around the ears. These rules are there to protect the fish and our ability to catch some. Your mate just needs to take the slab of the fish as one piece, leave the skin and scales on and he won't have a problem.

The other option is that there is always the possibilty your mate is not telling the whole truth. He could be guilty of catching more then his bag limit or undersized fish and the fisheries guys have charged him with what they can prove as he has disguised his catch numbers by filleting. It is a bit like getting booked for speeding, everyone claims to have been under the speed limit or caught coasting down hill but most of us are actually speeding but will never admit it.

[Mrs Ronnie H]

Hi all
Is it true or has anyone else heard about the bloke who was fined for having is boat rego numbers 2 mil under size.??????

Ronnie

[supa29]

Your mate has had bad luck but the rules have been there for an age. He tels you he hasn't broken the laws but must have removed the skin and cut them up small to have gotten the fine though and if you are gpoing to go fishing you have to be aware of the rules and obey them. Everyone here has come across boats loaded with people who are taking undersized fish and need to be belted around the ears. These rules are there to protect the fish and our ability to catch some. Your mate just needs to take the slab of the fish as one piece, leave the skin and scales on and he won't have a problem.

The other option is that there is always the possibilty your mate is not telling the whole truth. He could be guilty of catching more then his bag limit or undersized fish and the fisheries guys have charged him with what they can prove as he has disguised his catch numbers by filleting. It is a bit like getting booked for speeding, everyone claims to have been under the speed limit or caught coasting down hill but most of us are actually speeding but will never admit it.

i totally agree with most of what you said but he is a pretty old dude and doesnt ussually catch little sh*t. The only thing i am dirty about with this whole situation is that they only fined him because he put the fillets back in his boat to travel 150m across the river to his trailer, he didnt leave the skin on because he was going home but to do this he had to travel across the river that was his mistake. Yes i agree but for a simple error in crossing the river he was slugged for every fillet in his boat and that is just stupid. it would have of been different if he had of done it at see but he used the filleting boards on one side of the river then cross that tough.
They told him he can't even fillet his fish while his boat is tied to the jetty waiting to load and then put his fillets back on ice then load his boat.
It is also a bit tough that these old guys dont have the access to the internet like we do and the fisheries very rarely ever do info days at the ramps giving info out, they are only there when they need to fill thier fine qouta.

[thargor]

Look at it from the Officers point of view.

He thinks........

The old guy just filleted the fish. Wonder if he was hiding any undersized. Hell this rule has been out for a while and he should know it so why did he go across to the other side where I cant get to and fillet them all before I could see if they were legal.

Yeh nice excuse that the filleting boards are on the other side to use. So you saw me and then thought "well I better go on the other side and fillet them there and use that story because Ive got some undersize here and dont want to be seen flicking them over the side or screaming off up the creek"

Yeh right he tells me they were legal but I cant prove that now. Some fillets might look alright but its hard to tell what the original size of the fish were by the fillets alone. I mean some even looked a little hacked up.

The only guys I have come across in the past couple of years with filleted CRFF have been hell bent on hiding the size of the fish so Im going to throw this guy in that suspicious lot.

Yeh hes an old fella but Ive seen plenty of the older generation trying to get away with illegal fishing. Some still think they can take what they like how they like. I dont want to be stereo typing but.......

Now if I let this guy go I wonder if he will tell all his mates and then it will be the well worn story of everytime I see someone with fillets it will be "Hey I just filleted them over there on that ramps boards. I heard it was OK because I was talking to a mate of mine and he said the Officers around here accept that its OK".

[Dean1]

Look at it from the Officers point of view.

He thinks........

The old guy just filleted the fish. Wonder if he was hiding any undersized. Hell this rule has been out for a while and he should know it so why did he go across to the other side where I cant get to and fillet them all before I could see if they were legal.

Yeh nice excuse that the filleting boards are on the other side to use. So you saw me and then thought "well I better go on the other side and fillet them there and use that story because Ive got some undersize here and dont want to be seen flicking them over the side or screaming off up the creek"

Yeh right he tells me they were legal but I cant prove that now. Some fillets might look alright but its hard to tell what the original size of the fish were by the fillets alone. I mean some even looked a little hacked up.

The only guys I have come across in the past couple of years with filleted CRFF have been hell bent on hiding the size of the fish so Im going to throw this guy in that suspicious lot.

Yeh hes an old fella but Ive seen plenty of the older generation trying to get away with illegal fishing. Some still think they can take what they like how they like. I dont want to be stereo typing but.......

Now if I let this guy go I wonder if he will tell all his mates and then it will be the well worn story of everytime I see someone with fillets it will be "Hey I just filleted them over there on that ramps boards. I heard it was OK because I was talking to a mate of mine and he said the Officers around here accept that its OK".

A warning goes a long way... Not let him off just give him a good solid warning. Im sure he would tell his mates not to do it by all means, a warning can do alot more good than a straight up fine coz then we get angry And they wonder why they get a bad name

[supa29]

Look at it from the Officers point of view.

He thinks........

The old guy just filleted the fish. Wonder if he was hiding any undersized. Hell this rule has been out for a while and he should know it so why did he go across to the other side where I cant get to and fillet them all before I could see if they were legal.

Yeh nice excuse that the filleting boards are on the other side to use. So you saw me and then thought "well I better go on the other side and fillet them there and use that story because Ive got some undersize here and dont want to be seen flicking them over the side or screaming off up the creek"

Yeh right he tells me they were legal but I cant prove that now. Some fillets might look alright but its hard to tell what the original size of the fish were by the fillets alone. I mean some even looked a little hacked up.

The only guys I have come across in the past couple of years with filleted CRFF have been hell bent on hiding the size of the fish so Im going to throw this guy in that suspicious lot.

Yeh hes an old fella but Ive seen plenty of the older generation trying to get away with illegal fishing. Some still think they can take what they like how they like. I dont want to be stereo typing but.......

Now if I let this guy go I wonder if he will tell all his mates and then it will be the well worn story of everytime I see someone with fillets it will be "Hey I just filleted them over there on that ramps boards. I heard it was OK because I was talking to a mate of mine and he said the Officers around here accept that its OK".

I sort of understand what your saying but hes as straight as an arrow and your point of veiw is somewhat a lame dick way of putting you think every old guy is out to rape and pillage the fish stocks. i personally dont think there are many real fishos out there that take under size fish, but i just dont understand why the officers are so unrealistic, if you get down to it their main job is to inform people out there on fishing regs and enviromental protection. If i thought this old boy had taken undersize fish i would not support him there is no excuse but it didnt matter he got charged for possession of fish fillets in his boat which was still in the water. I dont know if you know mooloolah river but you got to pass the 2 big stainless cleaning boards on the sth side of the river to get to the nth side boat ramp so logic says if there is no boards on your side clean them on sth side and motor 150 metres to nth side and put boat on trailer. that simple no conspirecy here just plain common sense on his behalf and power hungry and quota /money making on the other.

[nufin_flash]

sunshine coast daily fishing section ran a piece on that law last yr sometime saying you can only clean your fish at the boat ramp that you launched from and used that exact situation as an example of what not to do, thats another reason why the kawana boat ramp is always packed and the mooloolaba boat ramp not as busy , it did state though that they were looking to upgrade the facilities at mooloolaba to include a place to clean fish (yet to happen and proly wont though) , personaly we just clean them back at home cause theres always a cold beer waiting and we dont live far from the ramp then go back and give the pelicans a feed

[nufin_flash]

i should point out that i have only been on the coast for 2 yrs and i know that what he did isnt allowed, i'm guessign every keen fisho does what i do and flick to the back page of the daily to see whats doing and read the big write up on fridays

[Sea-Dog]

The simple answer would be to fillet your fish on land wherever you find convenient. Then if you need to travel via boat anywhere, just lash your esky to the side of the boat (don't have it "onboard") and motor to where you want. The esky and fillets that it contains is therefore not on your boat.

must not possess, on board a boat, a fish other than in any of the following forms-whole, gilled, gutted or filleted
may possess, on board a boat, a fillet of a fish other than a Chinese footballer (blue spot) trout as long as the length of the fillet is at least 40 cm, and the skin and scales of the fillet are attached to the fillet
must not return fish that have been taken ashore from a boat and filleted, and then returned to a boat, unless the length of the fillet is at least 40 cm and skin of the fillet is attached to the fillet

Rules are rules aren't they?

[TCSunCoast]

A bit harsh and unavoidable for the sake a some cleaning boards at Mooloolaba. At least if there were some cleaning tables at Mooloolaba some people might piss off from Kawana an leave from Mooloolaba! (ha ha)

[Nobites]

Rules is rules macca, you cant even tie up along side of the pontoon fillet your fish then drive your boat onto your trailer from the pontoon with the fillets on board.

You have to take the fillets off the boat first.

No_bites

[RFARREN]

Look at it from the Officers point of view.

He thinks........

The old guy just filleted the fish. Wonder if he was hiding any undersized. Hell this rule has been out for a while and he should know it so why did he go across to the other side where I cant get to and fillet them all before I could see if they were legal.

Yeh nice excuse that the filleting boards are on the other side to use. So you saw me and then thought "well I better go on the other side and fillet them there and use that story because Ive got some undersize here and dont want to be seen flicking them over the side or screaming off up the creek"

Yeh right he tells me they were legal but I cant prove that now. Some fillets might look alright but its hard to tell what the original size of the fish were by the fillets alone. I mean some even looked a little hacked up.

The only guys I have come across in the past couple of years with filleted CRFF have been hell bent on hiding the size of the fish so Im going to throw this guy in that suspicious lot.

Yeh hes an old fella but Ive seen plenty of the older generation trying to get away with illegal fishing. Some still think they can take what they like how they like. I dont want to be stereo typing but.......

Now if I let this guy go I wonder if he will tell all his mates and then it will be the well worn story of everytime I see someone with fillets it will be "Hey I just filleted them over there on that ramps boards. I heard it was OK because I was talking to a mate of mine and he said the Officers around here accept that its OK".

in this country does the phrase "innocent until proven guilty " mean anything ?
just revenue raising
more like the officer thinks........................
man its been a slow day on the water,no one breaking any rules.
i better find some poor innocent person to leech some money out of or when i get back the boss will be pissed of and i will never get my promotion

[Angla]

I helped a couple of guys out yesterday when they pulled in and cleaned there 2 x fish at the Kawana ramp. They then put them back in the boat and started to shove off when I pulled them up. I regaled this story to them and then drove their fillets around to the other side of the river where I gave them back after they pulled the boat out next to the VMR.

Chris

[TimiBoy]

I helped a couple of guys out yesterday when they pulled in and cleaned there 2 x fish at the Kawana ramp. They then put them back in the boat and started to shove off when I pulled them up. I regaled this story to them and then drove their fillets around to the other side of the river where I gave them back after they pulled the boat out next to the VMR.

Chris

Mate,

That was a hell of a nice gesture. You're a damn fine example of a good fisho, and I hope everyone that reads this takes your example on board.

The human Race shines through again!

Cheers,

Tim