Bag Limits

[Lovey80]

Mod 5 thats only a recent move and active since march right? Up in the Sandy straits a couple of hours will see that bag acheived very quickly in the right times. 50 is pleanty any way IMHO.

There is one thing that would be interesting. When we go camping up that way for a few weeks (friends stay up there for 6 weeks strait) we use Blotchies for Jack bait. The camp works together all catching whiting and keeping them in a holding tank. Now if there's 10 people in camp at the time and fisheries inspect the big holding tank with 200 whiting in it thats fine but what happens if fisheries shows up and everyone is out fishing and the one that gets left at camp to look after the place has to explain 200 winteries?

That one could be interesting.

Cheers

Chris

[yellowbeard]

The 'winter whiting' are mostly called 'trumpeter whiting' here in NSW, where there is a combined bag limit of 20 for all whiting. That's say, 10 sand and 10 trumpeter and you're done.
You see these big game fishermen all the time down at the local ramp here filletting their little pissant whiting as big as your little finger, which is all they go after and rarely keep to the bag limit. What a great day's fishing! Gimme a break!

Keep Australia Beautiful -- Stay at Home!

[mangomick]

Current limit for winter whiting in Queensland is 50 fish.

Yeah Mate, but I figured he was talking about an old post from the days when we could take over 50. The 50 hasnt been in that long.

You know back in the" good old days"

I know at Woodgate it was only when the trawlers started targeting the "winteries" and busting up the schools that they stopped coming in close and the numbers dropped off.
There was even one mongrel that came in really close to the front of Woodgate trawling through,even though it had fishing boundary marks up. He had his rego number covered with hession bags so he knew what he was doing

[Deepwater]

Not so buddy, least not in the NT anyway.
You can have as much fish as you want at your primary residence.
It's only in your possesion if it's outside of your residence.

Might be different in other states i guess?

How many residences do most Territorians have?

[Deepwater]

Some states, such as QLD have applied a "possession" limit. This means not only what YOU have caught that day but also what you have at home...per person - inc your wife, children etc...NSW has a "Daily" take limit. Not sure with NT & other states.

Definition of possess = control with knowledge. Thats is - you know its there & you have it for your use.

Daily Take and In-possession limits are hotly debated in fisheries management and result in a vast differing in the "bag-limits" seen by the public on brochures.

Where some people that seem to be the target of this thread find a loophole is to take / possess their limit then pass it onto someone else - they may live in the same premises for example. But there is no way the intention, regardless of the state, is to allow people to return to fish and take their 'bag limit' again. Thats not the 'spirit of the legislation' as the legislators put it & will only result in a move away from possession to daily take down the track.

Certainly if someone did this under the 'daily take' regime, they'd be in breach cause they've already taken their limit and regardless of whether or not they still possess it, they have already taken/kept/landed it.

With the definition of "take" given in QLD fisheries legislation, while I'm not speaking on behalf of all the QLD DPI&F, its obvious that the scope of this is designed to be applied to offences like fishing Closed Waters & no fish have been caught/killed/eskied - not when you've bagged out on a species and are still fishing for catch / release or other species...This is how you can still go and fish for species like grassies, mackerel, cobia etc during the Reef spawning closure in QLD.

All these differing "dictionary" definitions may be some use to your defence attourney, when your trial date comes up. But the only definition that matters on the water or in front of your freezer is that of the fisheries officer - and these can differ markedly! There is no presumption of innocence on the water (in Queensland), and it is up to the individual to prove he is not guilty, if accused by a fisheries officer.
I was recently fishing in open water, when my boat was approached by a fisheries patrol, who tied up next to me & proceed to ask for everything they could think of to "catch me out"on. The guys themselves weren't sure of some points & I noticed them asking each other for clarification on "whether we are in a Yellow Zone?" ( my GPS told me I wasn't-by a long way), and had to ask me if the boat was registered, even though the rego sticker was clearly visible on the portside as per the instructions on the rego certificate(they had pulled up on Starboard side) . They then wanted to know if I had "fin-clipped" my Spanish Mackerel - which I hadn't. As far as I'm aware, in Queensland you must clip the pectoral fin on "Coral Reef Fin-Fish" only, and as far as I'm aware- Spanish Mackerel is a "Pelagic Species", and NOT a fin-fish. This is why we are still allowed to target Spaniards during the FIN FISH CLOSURES each year.
Of course, not wanting to get these guys offside, and land myself in court, I clipped the fins on all 3 Spaniards, while they watched on, but it just goes to show, the only opinion that matters on the water is that of the guy wearing the jackboots....erm...uniform.

[Lucky_Phill]

Spanish do have to be clipped.

From the current DPI&F rules..... Queensland.



Skin, fillet and pectoral fin removal

In relation to coral reef finfish, a recreational fisher:

• 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 blue spotted coral trout (Chinese footballer) 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 to a boat that have been taken ashore from a boat and filleted, unless the length of the fillet is at least 40 cm and skin of the fillet is attached to the fillet
• must not possess a dead coral reef fin fish unless a pectoral fin has been removed from the fish

or

• must not possess a live coral reef fin fish unless the person or fisher intends to immediately return the fish to the sea or to dsiplay the fish in an aquarium.

In relation to fin fish (other than coral reef fin fish) a recreational fisher must not:

• remove the skin from a fish on a boat until the fish is brought to shore
• bring a fish ashore and remove its skin and return the fish to the boat
• divide a fish into portions other than in a way that allows an inspector to easily count the number of fish possessed by the fisher
• possess a dead Spanish mackerel unless a pectoral fin has been removed from the fish.

Note: for information that may apply to recreational fishers on a commercial fishing tour, please consult the Fisheries Regulation 1995 and/or relevant management plan.

cheers phill

[Lucky_Phill]

Don't worry guys and gals. The queensland regs are confusing.

Seriously, you need to be a lawyer to understand and interpret some of the rules and also have to check the regs almost on a daily basis for changes.

Apart from fish regs, we have bait gathering, netting, zones, closed seasons, boundries, no-take species, GNS zones, yellow zones, yellow with red line zones, green zones, olive zones, blue zones............ah...... it just goes on.

Yes, Queensland has a " in posession " limit on all fish species that come under the regs..... act !


Phill
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[Dezzer]

With regards to the "in possession" rule, legal and moral issues aside, has anybody ever heard of fishery officers going through, thawing out and counting fillets in somebody's freezer?

[gr hilly]

after a 10 yr break with just a few trips a yr ive down sized my boat, ive made 4 or 5 trips now this last month and im shocked at the lack of responce to my blood worms by whiting could someone please tell me have they changed thier diet. tight lines hilly

[mangomick]

With regards to the "in possession" rule, legal and moral issues aside, has anybody ever heard of fishery officers going through, thawing out and counting fillets in somebody's freezer?

Yeah mate
If you do a search of this site you'll find a post referring to a story where the fisheries caught a couple of guys recently with too many winter whiting in their freezer in a van park at Hervey bay and they were both fined.
I think from memory one guy had 200 whiting and the other guy had 60.
There was plenty of discussion on the incident at the time

[lee8sec]

DEEPWATER's post shows how easy it is to get it wrong & possably end up in court or finded.
As for bag limits, i think some are still to soft. Leigh

[yellowbeard]

With regards to the "in possession" rule, legal and moral issues aside, has anybody ever heard of fishery officers going through, thawing out and counting fillets in somebody's freezer?

As a matter of fact, I found one of the covert little buggars in me freezer this morning!

[bondy99]

Yellowbeard,

You're a classic, that's very good.

Peter

[jason p]

100+ whiting wow, i find filleting 20 fish a job but hundreds must take someone hours.no thanks.

jp

[jason p]

nice 1 yellowbeard