Qld Spottie Mack ring netting reversal

[Lucky_Phill]

Jeez that happened on the quiet.

Ring netting for Spottie mackerel has been reintroduced and a while ago it seems.

The TAC has remained but getting high quality fresh mackerel to market by line caught methods has been overshadowed now by ring net caught fish, poorly cared for and ending up as Cat Food.

FQ have this mindset, that if there is a fishery available and economically viable............. smash it !

More details when i have them, but Not Happy Jan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


LP

[chris69]

So how do they work this all out fly over in a plane and look for the schools or do they ask the pros chasing them on slugs some one must have a reasonable answer or explanation because I went out the other day and no spotty mackerel went into my Esky and I look and trolled for them.

[Volvo]

WA use spotter Planes for Schools of Fish or did so once upon a time.
Cannot it be done with Mckeral i wander ??.

[shaungonemad]

WA use spotter Planes for Schools of Fish or did so once upon a time.
Cannot it be done with Mckeral i wander ??.

They used to do it in Hervey Bay


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tunaticer]

I suspect drones would be used these days....
My worry with this is if they are mother ship ring netters or smaller operators??

It is bad enough to take a whole school out of an area, let alone dozens of schools in a few days.

[disorderly]

The legislation around Spotties was amended in September 2021 after consultation with the east coast working group...

Around that time there was also a push ro reduce the size limit for barra....thankfully that didnt happen and despite the industry funded pressure and media presence from the commercial sector and there allies, most of the set inshore gillnetting will be gone soon...

The mackie ringnetting has been very very hush-hush and trying to get Fisheries Queensland to even acknowledge it is impossible...the pro's also wont say a word about it..

After the almost total decimation of spotted mackeral stocks 10 years or so back it seems we have learnt nothing and shows the abuse of power of the commercial sector and with Spanish now so restricted for line fishing nobady could tell me with a straight face that Spanish doent get netted amongst the spottie schools....and as mentioned by Phil none of it is decent quality fillets that line-caught produces...

FQ and the pro-netters are just positively evil and a scourge on our fisheries..

[Lucky_Phill]

The ring netters of Hervey Bay are individual boats, I believe. No Mothers ships.

The decimation caused by ring netting all those years ago, all but fooked the Spottie fishery in HB.

The reintroduction of this draconian method of capture cannot go unchallenged.

Stay Tuned.

LP

[Lucky_Phill]

Hi Phill,
Thank you for your enquiry passed through Jeff and apologies about the delay in getting back to you – a little bit going on at the moment. Please find answers in direct response to your questions:

Did FQ do a media release or some other form of notification to the public ?

• There was no specific media release on this change. Changes to netting and its interaction with Spotted mackerel have occurred numerous times since its inception in May 2003, then updated in the Fisheries Regulation 2008 legislation, and then again in the Fisheries Declaration 2019. Possession limits for net caught fish have changed from 15 fish per licence per trip, to 50 fish per licence per trip if catch was under 100 t, and down to 15 fish if total catch was over 100 t. In 2021, this was amended and removed as part of the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017-2027 which preferences TACCs (Total Allowable Commercial Catch)s to directly control catch and allow commercial fishers the flexibility to choose how to fish within these limits.

Has the TAC changed and or Quota ?

1. A nominal annual commercial competitive quota of 140 t was implemented in 2003, and although this was listed as quota, was never able to close the fishery legislatively. In 2019, the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for all fishing harvest (commercial and recreational) was informed by a recent stock assessment for this stock (2017), which provided biomass estimates between 40% and 60% of unfished levels. The recommended TAC across Queensland to rebuild the stock to 60% was 88 tonnes. Based on the catch share identified in the harvest strategy and informed by the stock assessment, the TACC for commercial fishers was reduced from 140 tonnes to 48 tonnes that was spilt among each of the 5 management regions. Legislatively, when the TACC for that region is reached, the species becomes no-take to commercial fishers.
2. The split of the TACCs for each management region are as follows, and were proportioned based on the average historical proportion for the years 2013-2017:

MR1 (Cape York to Cape Bedford)	19 kg
MR2 (Cape Bedford to Rollingstone)	24,521 kg
MR3 (Rollingstone to Clairview)	2,151 kg
MR4 (Clairview to Baffle Creek)	659 kg
MR5 (Baffle Creek to NSW Border)	20,650 kg
Total	48,000 kg

If a TACC for a region is overfished, there are decision rules in place in the harvest strategy that can trigger a reduction in the available harvest for the next fishing season.
Will Motherships be allowed to conduct their business within this framework of the re-opened fishery ?

• No fish may be transferred from one licence to another licence in this fishery (S.155 of the Fisheries (General) Regulation 2019). A fisher can use their own larger vessel and transfer fish from their own tender, but all vessels must be landed together and have appropriate vessel tracking and crew in line with AMSA standards.

Does this re-opening have an end date or is this up to catch rates and species monitoring by FQ. Or is this data gained through compulsory reporting by commercial fishers ?

• In September 2021 commercial fishers were required to report spotted mackerel through a more modern reporting system called the Automated Interactive Voice Recorder system and state the number and weight of fish caught on a trip prior to returning to land with those fish. Additionally, fishers can report through an electronic catch reporting app. This mandatory reporting, coupled with vessel monitoring systems allows for a faster compliance response and real-time tracking of the fish being caught against the TACCs to inform fisheries management when to make the species no-take, as well as informing fishers to not target fish where regional limits have been reached. These measures will continue to remain in place and will be managed appropriately where new information comes to light through additional research or a stock assessment.

Is this fishery re-opening subject to seasonal timelines ?

• The fishery is managed on a calendar year (1 Jan to 31 Dec) basis. The change over in quota season does bisect the seasonal run of Spotted mackerel for south east Queensland where often fish are caught prior to and after the new year. Depending on how early, late or productive the seasonal run is, the TACC may be more available to harvest at the start of the season run or if the previous run was successful, more constrained for that year until January.

Will recreational anglers limits be changed to align with commercial operator adjustments ?

• The current limits will remain in place until informed by a more up-to-date research or a stock assessment on this species that suggests changed management and fishing rules are required.

Will the monitoring of this fishery be done stringently and reporting made accessible ?

• This fishery is monitored by detailed reporting by the commercial sector which assesses the progress of catch limits for 12 different target species, which include fish like Tailor, Sea Mullet and King Threadfin to name a few. Public Reporting for all fisheries can be found here: Queensland Fishing (FishNet) (fisheries.qld.gov.au). Additionally, this species is routinely biologically monitored and has been since 2004, which monitors changes in the commercial and recreational fishing sectors and allows us to further understand how fishing and environmental changes contribute to and influence the outcome of the stock biomass. Information on the biological monitoring can be found here: Spotted mackerel monitoring program update | Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (daf.qld.gov.au)

There may be documents that you can link me to on the FQ website ?
Please find additional links to better inform you on the commercial fishing sector and its management, and the supporting legislation.

• East coast inshore fishery | Business Queensland
• Legislation | Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (daf.qld.gov.au)

I hope this better informs you of the recent changes that have occurred to this species and the fisheries management system involved with managing it.

Kind regards,
Daniel

[chris69]

So what about the Swains plenty of Spanish out there how do there figure out the biomass with that vaste area or is it the forgoten zone.