Commercial Fishing in Estuaries

[snakecatcher]

What are your opnions on Commercial Fishers plundering our fragile estuary systems? I live near the Maroochy River which received (I think) and D rating last time around and is defintely a river system that deserves more attention and protection. The last time I was out I saw 3 commercial fisherman netting a short stretch of river upstream from the bli bli bridge - I appreciate that this is their livelihood but we can't continue to rape and plunder the fragile resources of these estuaries for what must be a limited legal catch and a lot of undersize bycatch (how much of which survives the netting process?). The State Gov't needs to wake up to the fact that these systems are a valuable resource and should be protected.

Mike

[onerabbit]

There were heaps of whiting in the Richmond River a couple of weeks ago, until the haul netters started that is. I was told from a good source that they were taking 5-600 kg a night. Fair enough, everyone needs to make a living, but at what real expense.

Crazy that fishermen like this target fish that have come in to spawn.

Eventually, they will work themselves out of a job.

Just my opinion.

Muzz

[beatle]

I agree with you snakecatcher it is a shame to see what is being done to our estuaries. The Tweed is virtually a dead river but it is constantly netted with the result that you seldom catch a decent fish. A very small area is proffessional free but this is just a joke as the netters are working in the rest of the river. Ammatuer fishermen are also to blame for keeping undersized fish.

[bidkev]

Mike, I stsrted a thread due to similar concerns to yours. I am attempting to get at the facts and we then decide where to go from there. Quite a few pages but if you find the time, take a look here:

http://www.ausfish.com.au/cgi-ausfis...1143797596/0#0

kev

A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.

[MulletMan]

If you really want to see what a bashing the Commercial netters are doing to Moreton Bay then drop down to Victoria Point during the week days of a morning and see the massive quantities they are bringing in!

If you wonder where the flatty and the whiting have gone, here is a good chance to see the crate upon crate of them being pulled from the local sandbanks!

Then have a look in the Pt. O'Halloran Harbour just off Eprapah Creek to see the staked nets there every day and night!

And of course, dare a run by night in the same areas and come across the illegally staked nets in the area - quite common to cut them up (God, they felt good being fed through the prop!) with some dork yelling and shouting from an unlit dinghy.

And thank old Tom Burns for setting up the legislation in the first place to let them get away with it!!

[rotten_bait_99]

when you look around in some of the rivers and creeks, you would swear blind that a lot of the rec. fisherman are very professional themselves. i think that all fisherman need to look a lot deeper into the problems we are facing. pro fisherman are catching fish they are legally allowed to catch, for local markets for people who either cant catch the fish themselves or are unable to. it seems people are a.o.k with imported fish or other fish caught professionally just as long as it doesn't come from their own back yard.

[waldo35]

pink panther considering that the recco sector accounts for 1 and a half times the harvest from the pro section on whiting u seem to have put ur foot in it on that one . [ henry and lyle 2003].
not trying to be argumentative just pointing out the facts.

[spinna]

Hi spinna here im from nowra n.s.w . We have the same problems down here with pros in the river . The GREAT N.S.W fisheries had a buy back scheme and what they done was to buy out a lot of the pros. But the problem with that was that when they did it some pros just went out and got another licence at about half of what they sold there old one for > . Now we have 19 pros in the river at any one time and about 26 that can do so. >

[jake_snapper_king]

pink pantha yes yes u have done it me to props goin through nets good work {#### off the guy in the tinny sad lol} thay need to stop taken these limited fish recoureses in the rivers and creeks

but not just in the rivers and creeks but out side i think thay should make fising not alound in some areas for like ten years that let htem fish there and do it to anyother spot so the fish have a chance to reproduce and skool up again like 12 mile shut off for 6 yr then 6 mile shut off and so on..? does any one think this is a good idea >? plz exspress your thoughts so some thing can be done.............................................. .................................................. ....

i shore dont wanna buy some old japeniess fish i wound rather a good quality fish from my own country so.. people out there if u want your kids to be able to enjoy the fish and fisihng in aus stand up to the problems

exspress your feelings get out there to save the fish poplulations>?

i am 14 and i can see the problems in aus fishing ... so i think you guys out there have a view of things that are happending to the fishing in aus

i remeber in currimundi about3 yrs ago there was massive bream in the river system and now u are lucky to get to big bream... doenst that tell u something



get out there and make a difference jake

[tincanpeter]

I moved to Caloundra from St George in 1995. The government had just banned trawler in the Bribie Passage. My thought were the same as yours,Great this will give the fish a chance to spawn, grow and will increase the chances to get a decent feed. How wrong I was in fact there were less fish. I asked the old chap that ran the Bills Bait shop at Golden Beach. His claim was that the trailer stirred up the bottom, releasing food also with no disturbance of the bottom allowed more sea grass and again less food. I don't know if this is correct, but to a layman like me it sounded okay to me. What I do know is , it didn't help the fish stocks at the Caloundra end of the passage.

[waldo35]

sad to see so many rejoicing in running their tinnies thru peoples legally allowed nets. these people are using their legislated and paid for rights to sustainably harvest seafood for the community and sum of u guys are laughinh at costing these guys hours of work repairing nets and lost income from damaged nets. again these guys have a legal right to be there doing what they do. they pay for this proprietal right of access to the seafood resource unlike u recco mob that pay nothing [ and dont come the i pay taxes etc arguement it just dont wash] to harvest enmasse and without any real knowledge as to what ur cumalative effort is . aint no such thing as a free lunch unless ur a recco fisher apparently.
next time u run ur tinny thru sumones livelyhood try stopping and explaining to them how funny it is.........im sure they share the joke.

[PinHead]

Why not try the easy way to stop the commercial fishermen...conduct protests outside the retail outlets such as Morgans or the ones at Colmslie...convince the public not to buy seafood...then the commercial guys would go broke...I doubt it would make one iota of difference...the public want to eat seafood therefore the commercial fishos supply it..simple rule of supply and demand.

[waldo35]

i am constantly amazed at the selfishness shown by recco fishers on this site. amazing . u guys really do believe that u r the only ones who shud have access to seafood . incredible. the fisheries act ensures equitable access to fisheries resources and yet u guys want it all for your self. thanx for sharing ur twisted world view tho im sure the australian seafood consuming public wouldnt agree with u, that the australian public supports their rite to access to enviromentally sustainable australian seafood.

[Derek_Bullock]

Why not try the easy way to stop the commercial fishermen...conduct protests outside the retail outlets such as Morgans or the ones at Colmslie...convince the public not to buy seafood...then the commercial guys would go broke...I doubt it would make one iota of difference...the public want to eat seafood therefore the commercial fishos supply it..simple rule of supply and demand.

Just about everytime I log on to Ausfish lately and start reading through these posts it saddens me considerably the things I read. The post above by PinHead actually says it all in my opinion. There will always be a need for the public to be able to buy quality fresh seafood that comes from the sea as opposed to farmed seafood.

Added to that there will always be a need for those who choose to do so, to go out and catch their own fresh seafood.

What we as recreational fishers should be doing is working together with the pro fishers, and they also working together with us, towards a sustainable fishery for all based on sound scientific evidence.

The debates on a number of the threads here recently are not doing either side any good whatsoever.


Derek

[waldo35]

thanks derek 4 putting it all into a sensible perspective