Secret leaked documents have revealed that trawler operators are pushing to legalizing trawling and taking whiting in Moreton Bay.
Trawling for whiting in Moreton Bay
Secret leaked documents have revealed that trawler operators are pushing to legalizing trawling and taking whiting in Moreton Bay.
nothing secret about that they've been pushing for that for years.
another reason to root the sea bed for $4 a kilo which is all they are getting for prawns atm i hear, imagine how great a fisherie the bay would be without chains running over the bottom all the time
cheers swano
i doubt they are even getting that much for them, morgans have bay prawns for 7 bucks a kilo at the moment. I went out with Col from origin boats the other day out off scarbrough to do a water test on a new axis 500 and we seen 4 trawlers working the one bit of ground. One even got pretty close as we were taking a few photos from another boat and we give him a wave but the cranky prick shook his head, threw his smoke butt over the side and walked to the front of the boat. 1 trawler in one day would do more damage to that bay than 1000 rec fisherman would do in a year............Originally Posted by SWANO1
Sampson is partly right. There is nothing secret that they have wanted to do it for years. In fact they were doing it in breach of the regulations for decades before it came to a head and was dealt with.
What is alarming is this current concerted push with secret behind the scenes offers or deals being talked about.
It would be interesting to hear some feedback from the likes of Ecofishers or Sunfish on this issue.
Also, the the whole issue of trawling for whiting [and other important fish] has been dealt with, both in the Trawl Plan AND in the Inshore Finfish Plan. Why can't they accept the umpires opinion that they cannot take everything in the ocean?!?!
The sooner we get the trawlers out of the bay the better for all, especially the fish that die as a result their nets, boards chains bashing the hell out of everything 5 days a week x how many hundred operators there are
the government wont ban them because they make huge amounts of money out of the trawlers through licensing and fees. They would rather blame the rec fishos for wrecking the bay and start lumping us with fees to fish. They are bloody crooks
what about the kilometres of staked out net that get set in the bay during the week but not on weekends
im sure it will fall on deaf ears but the chains over the bottom actually help move rubber and other contaminents away from the bottom,as long as they are not being dragged over seagrass or reef,which renders the fishing equiptment useless anyway.the chains also have a maximum link size limit.sunfish would agree with you for sure if its anything against commercial fishing so go for it,im sure it'll make you'se feel better!and yes the nets all through the working week is a disgrace!they should do it on the weekends as well,lots of other people work 7 days a week.
support your local commercial fisher,its never too late!!
It doesn't fall on deaf ears. Dragging chains over the bottom helps move rubber and other contaminants away from the bottom? What a load of twaddle!!! Who made that up? Oh, someone paid by the trawl sector probably. Just one of their many red herrings. Even if there was some benefit [which has never been proven] the bycatch and damage done is immense.
And if they are not being dragged over seagrass, how can they be catching so many whiting?
Maximum link size? What, 10mm or something like that? RELEVANCE YOUR HONOUR!!?!?!?!!! Another red herring. Who cares if they are draging chains that have links consisting of steel that is 10mm thick or 12 mm thick? It all does damage. The difference is insignificant.
My question to Sunfish [and Ecofishers] was what do they know about this currrent push to legalize trawling for whiting. A very valid question I thought.
the boats do not have enough power to drag the weed banks of moreton bay around,its that simple,and im sure the crew would be too slow at picking through huge codends full of whiting ,seagrass and other bycatch to make it viable.when i catch diver whiting on a handline around the mouth of the river and the flats,no seagrass comes up on it either.if we do not work a particular shot for 3-4 months we dont seem to harvest any prawns from there,if we go back and have a go once every two or three days,it slowly gets more productive.for a little while we get a dirty mossy coating in the bottom of our net,after a while that goes away.i normally use a worn out 6mm stainless tickler.as far as i know the bay guys use from 4-10mm.
My guess is that by sweeping the same grounds regularly you are depleting and spooking the prawns natural predators, like Fish etc.
So with less fish around prawns are more free to grow and breed up and build numbers.
It may be so that Prawners would be happy if there were no fish to compete with so bycatch kill is possibly a good thing for the prawns catch rate...
i guess we all have our own ways of thinking,but i can assure you that when i go to work,im not thinking"gee, i hope i kill a lot of fish today."i often wonder how often people go fishing and dont catch enough,and think to themselves that something is wrong.when in fact nothing may actually be wrong,but the fish all have full tum tums and are not interested in biting.
There is a guy at scarborough that is working on some new trawl gear that is more friendly to the envirnoment. So perhaps rather than beating up on the pro's (tell me you all dont like a feed of prawns) maybe focus your efforts on promoting the more eco freindly forms of fishing.
This debate was not started to beat up the pros.
It was about a renewed push for trawlers to take and sell whiting.
We still have not heard from anyone that this is not so, how far it has gone, and if any negotiations have taken place with the department/government or any other sector.
I for one totally object to this happening.
This has nothing to do with beating up on the pros.
However I DO have an issue with using apparatus that damages the environment and kills a lot no non-tagets. This has nothing to do with personal opinions of whether I or someone else likes pros, or amateurs, or charter operators, and should be debated as such.
If there is new gear that is more environmentally friendly then that is great. Please advise what it is, how it works and what the independent trial results are.
We have heard these stories of great leaps in environmentally friendy gear endlessly over decades, the TEDs and BRDs being the most notable. Some of this has been very good. Some stories are simply PR exercises.
The TEDs have been a great step forward and there are very few turtles killed now where TEDs are compulsory.
BRDs have had some success but there is still a significant amount of bycatch taken and killed. This is a fact that is not disputed. And it is still something that I do not believe is apporpriate in the 21st century. To now want to change the rules to take and sell whiting as well is not acceptable, in my humble opinion.
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