Trawlers up the creek - no prawns

[BrandonH]

How can they get an accurate count on what the Rec fisho's get on frasier? i havent' been up there for a few years but i can't remember anyone asking me how many kgs of fish our group caught.

I can remember fishing off indian head one arvo though. there was a pro netter that came around and netted most of the school of fish my friends and a number of others were fishing. we didn't catch a single fish for the rest of the afternoon.

I have also seen the nets come in a couple of times up there and have been shocked at the number of fish caught in one run!! would have to be a couple of ton. mostly Taylor but some BIG mullet and Luderic!!

Not trying to dis your comment Dinga1 I just can't see how these stats can be right. if you could post where you got them from that would be good.

Brandon.

[dinga1]

qdpi tailor fishery stock assessment report

rfish surveys interview recreational fishermen on the island and the dpi have had an annual survey of fraser island since 1999 doing exactly that interviewing anglers and sampling their frames (lengths and ages of fish) to determine the effort and the catch from august through till september

[BrandonH]

Thanks for the quick reply that is a great idea and makes sence, but last trip i made up there was in 2003, early august it was. we were camping just north of the mahino anyways we were there for 7 days and didn't get asked one question by fisheries. in fact i didn't even see any!! we fished the gutter in front of our camp and a couple of times at waddie. anyways Glad to see you onboard here Dinga i think you can contribute to a few threads going around atm!!

This one in particulay might interst you

http://www.ausfish.com.au/cgi-ausfis...num=1143358355

Cheers
Brandon...

[baldyhead]

rfish surveys interview recreational fishermen on the island and the dpi have had an annual survey of fraser island since 1999 doing exactly that interviewing anglers and sampling their frames (lengths and ages of fish) to determine the effort and the catch from august through till september

Now this is where we have to be careful. These surveys are ALWAYS FLAWED and reflect the WANTED OUTCOMES of the SURVEYORS. In most cases these surveys are taken with ppl who dont fish much if @ all in some cases. Usually the number of ppl surveyed is about 1% of the population of the area, then their responses are multiplied by 100 and THEY then get the result THEY WANTED in the first place.

[lock]

I have been fishing a on the island for a number of years and not ounce have i seen any person or fisherie rep asking question. But that is not to say they wernt there. Has anyone been asked about there catch while fishing there?

[dinga1]

qdpi reports that in 2004 1000 tailor were measured and aged from fraser island and 300 interviews were conducted between Ngala rocks and the mahino. late august to the week after the opening are the sampling period with 3 week long trips done during this time.

[propeller_girl]

i beleive the permits for trawling in our rivers and creeks are issued by the qld government so if you ask me the gripe is with them, not the fisherman.

[blaze]

Hi Propeller girl
firstly welcome to ausfish
maybe the wife of a pro?
Nothing wrong there but I think these discussion can only be helpful in working through the issues.
Dont think any members are really out to stick the knife into the pros but we do need tpo find out the facts.
In tassie,
there is NO commercial fishing in our rivers/ estuaries and the fishing has gone from strenth to strenth for the mun and dad fisho's in small boats and landbased
cheers
blaze

[waldo35]

what ive got to say is that these vessels are licensed to fish these areas or they wouldnt be there. and ur arguements are to stop beam trawlers working there so u reccos can work there mmmmmmmmmmmm sure pressure ur local pollie to buy these licenses out not attack people who are working to make an honest living. dpif studies on the effect beam trawling has on recco fish stocks states minimal effect, that if beam trawling was stopped that there would be an inperceptable effect on recco fish stocks. we are not the enemy weve just been demonized by the press and grennies. try havn a go at developers [ imagine the increase in seafood stocks for all if all canal developements were forced to reafforestate w/ mangroves.
oh and by the way all u cast netters using prawn pockets check ur legislation......theyre illegal. maybe us profishers should start ring up fisheries and lagging u guys in.

[Darryl]

Waldo mate you are a true champion i will give you that, and i agree that the developers have a lot to answer for. Or should i say our government for allowing developements to go ahead in fish breeding habitat.

But unfortunately mate i know you are trying to validate your way of living(and good onya for that)it's your right after all. But you will never change what the average Australian feels about trawlers dragging nets up a creek.

One wrong doesn't justify another.

I applaud you for your input, hangin in there while everyone is fling it at you, at least i have learnt from it. Do i agree with beam trawlers in a river system? Hell no. but the buck doesn't stop with laying the blame on the pro's. What about our governments allowing well known Islands being landscaped and mangroves being bulldozed for better views.

I think it's a conglomerate of things, not JUST the pro's


Just my opinion.


Cheers Darryl.


Ps, Lefty _Green, why dont you pull your head in and act like an adult and join a constructive debate rather than name call boy.

[bugman]

Gents,

How did the tailor conversation come into this anyway - but seeing as how it did.

Dingi is right and wrong. right in that he represents the total catch percentage of rec fishos verses pro fishos for tailor but wrong in that those figures don't just represent Fraser island - it's actually Qld wide.

It's always been the case the the rec fishing take of tailor has been higher than the pros. that's why the bag limits came into place over the last 3 or so years.

The surveys and interviews combined with actual physical research done by DPI (fishing on fraser) goes on to extrapolate the rec figures. There's simply no other way to do it. It's not 100% accurate but it would be pretty close and the best means possible.

I agree with Waldo - if the issue is having trawlers in the rivers and creeks then get the government to remove the licenses for those areas. It's been done with pumicestone passage - it cost them a fortune (money they don't have now) but there's a precedent.

I don't think there's a lot of acknowledgement out there from rec fishos just about how much the pro industry (I'm talking netting not trawling as trawlers don't target fish) actually goes on around the place. It's quit a big industry and one that is always going to be around.

Brett

[waldo35]

as always im constantly amazed by the selfishness of the recreational sector. i didnt know that all the fish int he sea belonged to u guys exclusively and that unless u were a recco fisherman u have no right to access to seafood. hey good on u blokes that can afford to by a boat and get out to catch ur own fish. it wud seem to me to be a fairly exclusive club. good on u blokes that claim a recreation fishing industry well it must be the only industry in aust thats allowed unrestricted harvest with out any real idea of actual effort [ not based on sum phone survey from 8 yr ago] had a lot of people saying walk down any wharf and ask any of the 60 people fishing there if they caught anything..... welll duhhhhhhhhhhh 60 hooks day in day out on the same local ecosystem no wonder theres nothing there.
but i know its easier to blame pro fishers than to actually accept responsibility for ur own actions. im afraid until the recreational industry has log books to quantify recco harves then any of ur argue ments are moot. reafforestate the canal developements, get onto to farmers about superphosphates in the waterways, fight for water quality u get a big thumbs up from me for that. attack an industry that pays for its legislative rights to harvest seafood for the community in a regulated fashion with due regard for the enviromentally sutainabilty of this harvest well it just goes to show how ignorant/blinkered/suck in by green propaganda u mob really are. maybe the issue of recreational effort needs to be bought to the publics attention.

[baldyhead]

attack an industry that pays for its legislative rights to harvest seafood for the community in a regulated fashion with due regard for the enviromentally sutainabilty of this harvest

By community do you mean China, Japan and Hong Kong, just to mention a few ?

[waldo35]

baldy noone exports prawns from the bay they are all consumed locally....probally ur only alternative to vanamie
bugman i didnt advocate buying out anything and as to wether the govs got any money well theyve got heaps all stolen from the pockets of aust, thru gaming taxation. u guys should do a little further research into dpi to find that beamies have minimal impact on the fish stocks u guys target that the main problem is lack of habitat and water quality. i dont see u all up in arms against the gov for allowing development that destroys habitat, i dont see u all up in arms against runoff from developements or farms. how many of u guys could honestly say that u dont use blu loo or similar to keep ur toilets fresh and clean........where do u think all this crap ends up in the sewerage system[where the only thing filtered out is the solids] and then in the bay. ban toilet chemicals or would that be too hard on the ave. housefrau whos toilet needs to be clean enuff for her kids to eat out of [ according to my take on the advertising]
come on guys think outa the box on this issue.
the last fishery assement paper from 2004 states that aside from such abiotic factors such as rainfall moreton bay is promarily a sustainable fishery.

[MulletMan]

Waldo35, I'm with CRESTCUTTER in applauding you for having the guts to put up your comments, criticisms and observations on this site! You cop a lot of flak yet you don't let it scare you off!

Having said that you really want to check your facts out before you let go - it kinda makes many of your arguements a bit shaky i.e. The Canal Developments

Mate, I fished the sandbanks of the old Raby Bay forshores while you were probably an itch in yer Dad's pants and have been living in the Raby Bay Canal estate for some twenty years now.

The canals are now a major breeding grounds for many types of local fish.
The rocky and coral shores of the canals are alive with bream, mullet, snappery squire (ya better believe this one!), limited mangrove jack numbers, deep sea mullet in the season, travelly who accompany the mullet, mud crabs though not in big numbers, squid, the occasional dolphin pod, Moses Perch, mongrel black trevally in their hundreds and squillions of "little fish, oysters, and squishy things etc.

Let me qualify that this is not always present in every single canal and I am not talking massive numbers either but the whole eco system is alive and going very well.

I have a friend at Moolloolaba who rarely if ever fishes outside of the canals and always brings a great feed of whiting, flatty and bream home.

And as you (should) know, canal developments have been banned in Queensland for many years now. Developers can still dig INTO the mainland but cannot reclaim or fill the foreshores - big difference!

I think Waldo most of the criticism from us reccies comes because of the minority of trawlers and netters who don't give a s*it and plunder any area they can get a net into!

Keep up the posts - if the vast majority of pros had a brain, they would also join in but sadly this won't happen will it?