PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant VBA_SCRIPT - assumed 'VBA_SCRIPT' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in ..../includes/functions_navigation.php(802) : eval()'d code on line 1 Issues that will come to bite us.
There has been some discussion about various "fishing related reforms" for very good reason.
To this point we have been behind the game and responding to a set agenda.
In an effort to get ahead of the game I am raising this thread to promote thaught and discussion on issues that we need to be aware of, issues that the government and other groups are bound to address.
We need to have thaught about these issues and get on the front foot with them.
I think it best to simply rais the issues in this thread and may be peel them off into another thread of their own.
The obvious issues are the protectionist zoning concepts.
I do not think we have a hope of having the concept scrapped or to have green zones removed completly.....it is national and international polocy....but we must consider... how we can address the issues surrounding the whole concept.
there are a range of issues surrounding this issue alone
There are a range of issues surrounding fisheries regulation and the science behind them..... predominantly size and bag limits and closures.
fin clipping has been raised
Recreational netting has been banned in the south for ages..... it is bound to become an issue in QLD
Getting some sort of national rec fishing body has to be an issue.
So far crabbing and crab pots has not copped too much attention........ it has to cop something next time arround...... suicide dillys have been mentioned as a possible ban.
Turtle by catch in crab pots is an issue, but it isnt a difficut problem to solve..... we nedd to propose a workable solution before someone chucks the bay out with the bath water.
You can bet your boots some form of fishing licencing in QLD will raise its head.
the main motivation will be be statistical not regulatory.
Live baiting is an area we are wide open on..... those from the pussy / puppy culture will be horified by the practice....... we need to get right on this one.
Be carefull what you post on this issue it has the potential to be red hot.
The animal lib guys have just about eliminated vivasection and free range chooks is just about main stream...... these have been the two big issues for the animal libbers for decades........ this year it was muelsing...... is live baiting next?
For quite some time catch and release fish handling, low damage tackle and humane killing of food fish have been issues for all thinking anglers... we need to be getting right on the front foot with these.
Many of these issues we can rightly stand up and get on the front foot with, there are some issues that we may have to ammend our attitudes on.
another thing, I guess in a vague sort of way (even for me) is if "they" offer some sort of a trade off deal like (say) "we will get rid of..... but you need to give up (say) cast nets" that sort of thing can happen, it may be a different closure area to a trade off ban on something we take as a common practice, remember most of these discussion will go on behind closed doors, and indeed some of the decisions may well have been already made and they need a way to introduce them, so no amount protests or anything else will influence the outcome.
I think I could pretty much guarantee that live baiting won't be next as it only effects small numbers of fish. If they want to go after something like that they will go a bigger scale target, catch and release fishing. It has already been banned in several countries and its practice lends itself well to green propaganda and is very difficult to argue for.
The soft target however is marine parks as they already have their foot in the door and expansion would be a simple thing to chase. The thing is they will not be coming on one thing or one at a time even They will be already taking small steps on many levels to their next objectives.
It's probably good to be looking at future issues because in my opinion MBMP is lost by any means except legal and no one seems interested in even looking at that avenue. We also have to start taking a long hard look at how we present ourselves a well, it's not difficult to portray someone as a knuckle dragging neanderthal if that is how they act in public.
I think we need to lobby the TV and video producers to be more carefull about what they show and what they say about handling of fish.
There are bigger and more open issues than live baiting but that hasn't stopped em in the past.....it would certainly be raised as an issue in conjunction with others.
very true, even though Live Baiting is very small by comparison to other "cruel" pursuits, there is an old saying "divide and conquer" and how this will work is fairly simple, take out the small groups, as they are easy to "mop up" and that makes less resistance later on when (say) a small Marine Park is created (and later expanded) or when tighter bag limits and stuff is introduced, one by one, on their own, none of those things will kill us, but as a "package" over a period of years, we will be just strangled, slowly but surely!
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