Nomads at it again

[Camhawk88]

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au...5391_news.html

Another NQ winter, another bunch of inconsiderate wankers raping our northern waters so they can fill their freezer for the next year.
The link to the article is yet another example of the on going problem we have in north Queensland of Grey Nomads spending 1-3 months in a caravan park and spending every waking moment flogging our whiting resources. This isn't a nomad bashing post as most do the right thing but there are always the pricks that think the law doesn't apply to them.
Hope they throw the book at them, take their caravan and gear used to catch the fish and ban them from entering Queensland for the next 10 years- now that would be an example!

[wags on the water]

I'm sure there are better fish to target in the Burdekin.....

[Scott nthQld]

wags, yes there are, but none so easy. Go to any major gathering place for these nomads and just about everyday you will see them out in their 10ft'ers on the sandbars targetting whiting. Stay for the day and watch them clean the 30fsh each they have caught....nothing wrong with that, but stick around overnight and see the same people do it again the next day....and the day after that and so on.

DPI are running low on revenue, then maybe they should be making daily visit to these caravan cities, gaurantee within the week they'll have issued anough fines to pay another officer's salary.

happens all the time but rarely gets reported to the papers. For some inane reason the nomads think that our limits are daily and not possesion limits and don't care to look it up.....FFS every servo, baitshop etc has some form of free tide chart and size and possession limit guide. Whether its laziness or just the fact that they don't care, some (through the very little minority) seem to think because they have retired after working 40-50 years and paying taxes all their life they are somehow entitled to do what they like.

[nigelr]

Darn right Scott.
Rest assured it isn't just confined to NQ in winter, those with this attitude practice this behaviour wherever they are.
Cheers.

[nonibbles]

Yes you're right.
Example:
There are rumours circulating about retired pro fishermen (shamateurs) who will flog the Barra fishery with freeze and fly operations (use private aircraft to send catch wherever) they travel around the north with their freezers. My guess is if this rumour is true then they would almost constantly be over the posession limit and often beyond the resources of fisheries to find, gather evidence and prosecute because of remoteness and mobility of these people. Also, due to the remoteness, it wouldn't be that hard to detect whether the fisheries etc were in the area - and they wouldn't be there unless they suspect that there is something happening (it would be too costly to simply monitor these areas)

Unfortunately it all too often comes down to weighing up the costs against enforcement of these rules and this is why we have a mindset across a large portion of society that seems to believe that they can do anything they want so long as they don't get caught. Because the chances of these guys getting caught are slim.
Would it even hit the news if these people were being caught all the time? We "know" its happening all the time and probably will (even Judge Dread couldn't control anarchy)

[Matthias]

Being remote doesn't mean no-one is watching. Most remote rivers in the NT have a local guide or three, plus TO's and there are always the local fisho's. That sort of behaviour would get picked up on if it was large scale. And it doesnt take many barra to fill a freezer.

Development- Run-off, unsustainable water extraction, de-snaging, clearing etc etc. These are the real killers of the estuary fish stocks.