Snapper Ban and Associated issues. merged threads

[Lovey80]

Chris..why would some of us be asking for the LNP policy. I think the answer is quite simple. We want to see the policy for the Party..not from Mark.
Look at a couple of scenarios...what if the LNP wins the election and Mark loses his seat...will not matter what Mark has said if someone else is running the Fisheries portfolio.
What if the LNP win and Mark is promoted to another portfolio...the new incumbent may say that anything Mark said is null and void.
Some people will always vote LNP and some people will always vote ALP regardless of their local candidate.
Some of us like to look at who the local candidates are and try to vote based on both Party policies and what sort of job we think each candidate can do for the electorate.
If it is good enough for the LNP candidate to be sending me election literature now then it is good enough for me to be asking for their policies.
They are obviously in election mode so I want to know what policies they have on several issues and fishing is one of them.

That is a completely fair argument. I too would love to see the LNP policies. But credit where credit is due, Mark is on here consulting directly with grass roots anglers, he stood in parliament and backed a motion in support of Rec Anglers/stopping the bans and I think has earn't the right to say he got a victory on our behalf as the bans have been stopped and "management without bans" has been achieved. Other than the died in the wool Labor voter who would never consider it I think the rest of us can cut him some slack.

He may just be building support for an election, but on the face of it, he is the first state member that I can remember(other than the other bloke from out west that put the motion through) that has shown us any real support in recent times. This is a far cry from what we have been getting from State Labor over the last decade.

Mark, as shadow member for Fisheries, could you kindly find out for us what the government has implemented with respect to the Commercial Sector or has the only restriction been on the Rec Sector? Also it may help in the interest in this thread if you copy and paste your transcript from the parliament motion before the lock out?

Cheers

Chris

[PADDLES]

Don't take this the wrong way horse, but again you are focussing on the "bag limit" and the "sunfish submission". you need to be thinking bigger picture like "what is the plan for the future?"

some of the questions we all should really have in our head are:

- what research does the government (LNP or ALP) plan to undertake to determine the health of our fisheries?
- who will be responsible for the research and the analysis?
- what is the management structure going to be for all anglers (commercial, recreational and charter with rec's on board)?
- is this management team going to be an independent body or a government organisation/department?
- is the management structure going to be a government department with input from other independent commitees? ie. commitees from the commercial, rcreational and charter sectors.
- who is going to be steering this organisation and how are they elected to their positions?
- how will the controlling body for the state's fishery be funded?
- how will independent commitees be funded?
- how will the research be funded?

We should be careful to not get caught up in the political game of cat and mouse and make sure we ask the big ticket questions and keep our eye on the prize. We should not allow ourselves to be distracted by the "right here right now" line of thinking. ie. trying to figure out how many fish you can catch this weekend instead of thinking of the future management of what we all enjoy so much.

All political parties thrive on smoke and mirrors as the less they have to promise, the less they actually have to deliver. The more they show their hand the more opportunity their opposition has to attack them. But I put it to you all as recreational anglers, no matter who wins the next election, if they have a sound plan for fisheries management then it will be a win for us all so it is actually no skin off our nose whatsoever for the ALP to copy a LNP policy if it's a good plan. I'd just like to see some evidence of a good plan from either of them first. Again, big kudos to you Mr Robinson for coming on here and listening to what people have to say, you've shown way more interest than any of your ALP counterparts ever have and it may turn out to be a good move politically because many recreational anglers such as myself are fed up with regulation going nowhere and achieving very little whilst the quality of our waterways spirals downwards. I hope you can do something about it for us all (not just anglers)

[NAGG]

Nagg, you are not dumb, no one that reads these pages over time thinks that you are dumb, ideologically minded yes, but not dumb. Don't play dumb and try to make anyone think that at any time you thought that Mark EVER advocated reducing bag limits or introducing size limits. YOU and everyone else bagging Mark right now know that all he promised was that LNP Policy would be that Snapper could be managed WITH OUT BANS! Don't try and play dumb in support of your beloved Labor party and nock the LNP because they are the LNP.


Some of you blokes should be pollies, you can make a play on words as good as anyone for your owen benefit.

I'm not attacking the LNP because they are the LNP - I'm attacking the the author of this thread because he has made a claim that the Government has adopted an LNP policy. So now I want to know what policy that was adopted ?. Mark has stated he is for sustainable fishing , so I am assuming that his (LNP) policy will be reduced bag limits & a slot limit - For my way of thinking this is a practice that could support sustainability .

Now ..... I'm on record through these forums over many years that I'm all for bag reductions and slot limits - Therefore I am more likely to support a political party that advocates true sustainability than one that may be pandering to minority groups.
I would however feel much more comfortable if Dr Mark participated on this forum offering constructive solutions rather than using it as a free platform to take shots at his political opponents.
As for playing dumb ...... At times , threads like these make many of us feel dumb

Chris

[indy]

To the guy's that think this is alright or good for that matter

This is the facts we have gone from 30 to 10 to 5 and now to 4 this has all happend over a period of about twenty years that i have fished offshore.

Ok 30 fish was rediculous, 10 even was a fair bit over the top, 5 to me just right as every trip is different as some days beautiful big fish and other days just legals, fish dont always want to eat just like us.

Bringing the bag down to 4 with only 1 over 70cm is going to do more damage to the snapper population then good, i hate to say this but there is going to be alot of people now with the mind set that if they can only keep 4 they are going to make them count making them be all fish in the high 60's or as close as they can get to it resulting in a lot of upgrades. I personally upgrade fish but i have a large kill tank with a bilge pump flushing constant fresh salt water into it keeping the fish alive and well but a hell of alot of other guy's boats dont.

A six week ban to me was nothing i got out once in that time, like most people these days with all the other day to day stuff i would probably get out once a month if i am lucky twelve trips a year aint alot, i eat fish alot as i have hemacromatosus which is high iron in my blood resulting in not being able to eat alot of red meat. Four snapper a month some months have 5 weeks that is less than a fish a week, fair enough i do catch other fish as well but some times when we target snapper there isn't alot of other species in that particular area.

I do feel sorry for the guy's like barry and lucky phil that must feel like they have waisted alot of time going to all these meeting ect and to not even been told of the changes but instead had it printed up in the paper before they even got notified, great communication there, and just shows they dont care what we think.

All they have done by doing this is going to make it a worse off snapper fishery, mark these words in 2014 they say there will be a review, going from what i stated at the top of my post do you honestly think they are going to go and increase the bag back up to 5 or more, now come on get real here.

They will decrease it again because this has been the trend over the last twenty years and they have no scientific proof of what the fishery has done over this period so what makes you feel they will over the next three years. Next will be let me have a guess 3 fish with 1 over 70cm
because there new bullsh*t studies will show more of a decline.

[dayoo]

The recreational reps on the RRFF working group Bill Corten, Ray Ozich and myself along with two tackle shop reps and charter reps attended many meetings over 3 years and closely consulted with fisheries marine biologists as well as recreation anglers. We had a balance of offshore and inshore experience amongst the three of us as well Ray was an active member of Sunfish.

Ray moved to northern NSW over 12 months ago so maybe he sensed that the rough end of the pineapple was coming.

Yes Bill Corten and myself feel that we have been treated very shabbily over the past couple of months and no doubt some of the Fisheries staff who will not comment for obvious reasons.

The Minister and Sunfish want recreation anglers to participate in a voluntary snapper data collection program so that a review in 2014 would have some solid catch data.
How the hell can they expect rec anglers to participate after delivering the rough end of the pineapple before any solid data is collected. They could have left the bag limit at 5 with 2 over 70cm until solid data was collected which would have been the sensible way to go.

Indy is most probably right in stating that data collected from recreational anglers will only be used to restrict further bag limits after 2014.

Cheers
Barry

[Camhawk88]

The whole idea of having catch cards is rediculous when you consider only 1 over 70cm can be kept. This will put a serious skew in the data so it will mean jack shite. The fact that people will now fish inshore reefs as has been pointed out due to the new regulation will also only show what is happening at inshore grounds and ignore the greater breeding population. This is not a win it is simply a diversion- people will see through it and Bligh will still go down like a flaming turd falling from a great hight come election time.

[PinHead]

I wonder where our mate, Mr Groves, is now ???

[Steeler]

Regardless of the Science ( That the LNP will commission if elected)

So is it .... "no bans policy" ? - pre election - to gain the fishing vote

& then reconsider based on peer reviewed research once elected .

or ...... "No bans" regardless of peer reviewed research .

From what you are saying (now) ..... there will not be any snapper bans!!! - so why all the past talk of scientific research ?

Chris

This for me IS the $64.00 question and needs to be asked time and time again til a straight answer is forthcoming.

[dayoo]

The new in possession limits for recreational anglers commence as from 1 September 2011 (4 per person with only 1 over 70cm). Thank you Mr Minister and Sunfish

Cheers
Barry

[fishfeeder]

Just fillet the other 3 over 70cm, the fillet only needs to be more then 40cm !!

Cheers

[TimiBoy]

Interesting chat with the Chiro today. He's a Swede, and a keen Diver. He used to come to Australia to dive, and is really pissed at all the dead coral he sees...

Back in Sweden, while they have a lot lot lot of fishing in the Baltic, they also have a lot of fish, and no bag limits. The fish had all gone, but Sweden put a lot of time and effort into fixing THE POLLUTION. Poland was the worst, so that's where they spent most of the money, cleaning up the waterways. No bag limits. Plenty of fish. No pollution. Where are the frickin' Greenies????

I would hope that an outcome of the research the LNP will conduct will be improved water quality. Indeed I suspect that if the research does not indicate water quality and habitat loss are the keys, we'll have another war on our hands.

Tim

[jason p]

haha nice 1 fishfeeder loop hole found. 1 less in the bag but on the up side atleast theres no ban. a good result i would have thought and a congrats to all that voiced there opinion.

jp

[PinHead]

thanks for your efforts Barry..you must feel like you have been kicked in the guts over this one.
As for Sunfish..a waste of time and just Govt flunkies..it should be disbanded immediately.

[dayoo]

40cm fillets only applies to Coral Reef Fin Species as the regulations are silent on filleting Rocky Reef Fin Species. If filleting snapper before you get home I suggest that the fillet be at least 35cm long

Cheers
Barry

[lethal098]

yeah true the fillet option could work, but dont have a fillet that is 65+cm long, dont think they are that stupid to see that couldnt work.

I would much rather see this than the other options that were put forward, Increasing size limits was not the way to go as barotrauma on small snapper will kill a large majority, i am still concerned though that barotrauma on the larger fish will be detrimental as well. Unfortunately not a lot of recreational fisher understand how to relieve the pressure from the fish, maybe someone can give a step by step process with photos to the Ausfish community.

Cheers Lee