RECREATION NOT COMMERCIAL

[Reidy]

Hi all
I have been thinking about the abuse that the commercial blokes put on the coast of Australia I was once a pro fisho and I have to addmit it stinks what they do out there. I would be happy to see some much stricker guide lines for the pro's just like they are hammering us rec's now up on the reef. I was wondering what you blokes out there think of the pro's, and do you all think they need stricker hook quoater, or even a closed seasons, Those who have fished on tuna boats and have any real knowlage of them must agree?

[fishman7]

hi
as a ex pro i would like to see then stop hual net on the beachs.as for longlineing if they stop japan and NZ boats that have 100 kms of line out in ours water this would help to and the factroy ship.

danny

[fishman7]

hi
if you have austar channel 636 at 3.00 and 5.30 and 9 tonight its all about what u are saying
cheers
danny

[gif]

Pros need to earn a living

And Aussies deserve to be able to buy fresh Aussie Fish

And some exports are good - they make good $ for Australia.

Personaly I like the Pros who have an area that they "own
" look after and don't overfish. They are like a farmer who looks after his land. I have met soem of these and they have a handle on an area and are first to point out a problem like a factory leaking junk.

Personally I dislike the mega Pros who move into the area with big boats - take it all and dissapear because there is nothing left. I exagerate but you get the idea


But all in all I am left with the hard facts that rec fishers do more for the economy than Commercial fishing. The Last national numbers I had were that Rec Fishers put $65 per Kg into the economy. That is for evry kg of fish we catch we "pay" $65 - in tackle fuel food etc.

Conclusion: I cant make just one - but if there are any economist listening it would be a Pareto optimal or a Cost benefit Analysis with a Positive NPV for Governments to buy out Commercial fishing licences.

Then again stuff the logic - I want my aunt to be able to buy fresh fish

GAry

[banshee]

I can assure you that commercial fishers are nothing like farmers,tell me one cattle breeder that has access to as much free stock as he can lay his hands on,or give me an example of a grazier or sod buster that can just leave his or her land and animals to nature when things are tough then go pick up again when the "tide turns"? I have nothing against the bloke that goes out and line fishes for a living but fact is this form of commercial fishing is virtualy non existent.The bigest scurge in NSW has to be Snapper traps,I find it strange that every other state in the commenwealth excepting WA has banned these things,but here they are in plague proportions,atlest in WA's case they have to be bought in every night.My local 48 fathom reef has dozens of these sitting on them that never come in and countless more littering the bottom that have been cut off by passing container ships that continue to lure fish in that die and then act as bait lureing more fish in,all in all a vicious circle,and should the owner of these traps spot anyone attempting to fish near them all hell breaks loose,we even have one enterprising chap in these parts threatening to shoot peoples motors.I think the sooner aquaculture is bought up to an acceptable ecological standard and commercial fishers are steered this way the better off we will all be.

[fishman7]

hi banshee
I can assure you that commercial fishers are nothing like farmers,tell me one cattle breeder that has access to as much free stock as he can lay his hands on.i read thinks like this a lot they do not get fee stock! they had to pay for each kg they catch then for there licence and on top of that the co op and sydeny fish market take a %.and the govement gives them no help if its a bad years like the farmers.if the govement would stop boat from outside of ours waters like japan n/z these are fartory ship there come here and there dont leave to there are full this is what is hurting our fishing.
cheers
danny

[fishsmith]

Aquaculture is the way of the future..Wildfish stocks sould not be commercially harvested at all...

[Owen]

I think we have to allow commercial fishing, but it needs to be on an ecologically sustainable basis.
The pro's need to be educated and the rules enforced, just as our farmers had to be. The farming practices of a few decades ago are not tolerated now. The farmers weren't employing methods that would destroy the land because they wanted to, but because they knew no different and in many cases were told to operate their business in that way.
Of course you are going to get some that don't give a sh*t about future generations and those must face severe penalties.

Aquaculture may well be the way of the future IF it is done in such a way as not to damage the ecology of an area. We don't really know yet what the effect on delicate marine ecology is from large concentrations of fish being fed high protein diets and doing their little fish poos in a smal area.
We do know what high concentrations of fertiliser run off from farming has done.
Might I suggest, we don't make the same mistake again?

cheers
Owen

[banshee]

Fishman we'll have to agree to dissagree.

[Louis]

There seems to be areas in Australia where their is little to no population and the waters are teaming with fish and there is very little Commercial fishing being done.

Then their are areas like those outside major urban locations such as Brisbane which are almost, "Fished Out", and there seems to be considerable Commercial Fishing still being done.

I often wonder whether our state Government should be offering to buy out licences in the areas of high population and to recoup the costs by selling licences for the non populated areas.

The Commercial fishermen could still make a good living this way and the recreational angler would be able to catch a decent feed again.

Likewise many people who do not fish at the moment because, 'They can't catch anything decent in the bay anymore' would come back to angling and the government would get a wind fall from all the indirect taxes the recreational angler pays.

It seems like a win/win situation for both the Recreational Angler and the Commercial Fisherman.

Louis

[bigmack]

I once fished out of Ulladulla and we once caught good fish - we caught blue morwong 2 at a time on fresh green prawns that we caught the night before - no problems until fish traps. then no morwong! We used to catch nannygai two at a time on bare hooks until some genius decided to market it as "red snapper" - guess what no nannygai. A feature of the summer use to be the Jess Sams Light Game Comp and Kingfish use to feature strongly, until some genius came up with the shade cloth kingfish trap and decimated the local kingies; until the traps were outlawed. Ive seen each trawler in Ulladulla go from one fishery to the next until each one was virtually wiped and it became not commercially viable for the pro's anymore. Same with scallops and tuna and gemfish and then snapper. My grandfather has seen the "pro's" drive a bulldozer onto the beach at Yamba/ Illuka to crush all the pippis to hold all the bream on the beach so they could net it all before they went into the Clarence. I have seen the Pros in Port Stephens with massive traps set against the beach at Windawoppa and special redirection nets to send everything into the trap, jewfish, blackfish, flathead, mullet etc and the bycatch left to rot on the beach. You all get the picture! I have seen very recently pros leave so much fish on Mudjimba beach that the council had to come and clean it up with dozers and trucks and take it to the tip. And another - recently heard Tuna Pro's shooting Killer Whales beacsue they were pinching Tuna off the longline. I dont think Ive ever seen a pro who didnt think it was their god given right to become multi millionaires out of a free resource!!!

I'm sorry but I don't have a good opinion of pro fishing

Strict Quotas, strict control and a sustainable attitude is required. The sooner the better.

[Reidy]

Well done to all for your feed back but there,s still no reel good answer on what could be done although we probably couldn't do anything anyway?

I really do think if something is not done there will be nothing left, there are boats puting on average 800 to 2000 hooks a night and with that comes all sorts of things marlin blues, blacks, sun fish, ribbon fish, massive nothern blue fin tuna, countless sharks, tonns of juvinile tuna of ten kg,and even turtles,getting killed just because they were in the wrong spot at the wrong time. (remember these are all off limits to the pro boats, but they are all being caught and killed like it or not), Its there ocean what give us the right to rape it of its stocks just so you can go to a shop and buy a peice of fresh second rate fish yep thats right second rate all the good stuff goes straight to Japan, The best way to get fresh fish is to go and catch it yourself, if they had small boats that went out and caught enough for australians only that would have to limmit the catch to 70 % meanning heathy stocks and plenty of breeding time its time to wake up! Ocean pens for aquaculture thats has to be the way before its to late. cheers Nathan

[fisher28]

always get a little revved up when the pros cop it again and again.never line fished commercially so i cant really stick up for em but maybe fish stocks go down in populated areas because EVERYONE loves to fish.there are a lot more people with tinnies now the ther was say 10 years ago,not that thats bad but it is a point.and i certainly dont think that the loss of mangroves helps anyone.not to mention sewage and factories on the shorelines and riverbanks.i honestly believe theres more to these chats then flinging the blame directly at the pros.

[browndog]

I fish with a pro fisherman out of mooloolaba,this is his living.Some days
he may catch 200 kg of snapper some days he may catch 40 kg.As we all
know there are a lot of factors involved in catching fish successfully.
For him the weather is the biggest factor. Fishing in a 17L haines
he way not get out for a week or more weather permitting.
All he is trying to do is make a living like all of us.
There is a big difference between 6 hooks and hundreds of hooks on longliners,they should not be put in the same basket.
Cheers browndog

[Reidy]

Fisher28... I agree with you about habbitat detruction but mate the ocean may look big but with 150 to 250 boats working out there, catching anything there just isn't enough fish year shore there are tinnies on the water but they don't catch 1% of what the netters and trawlers do, I am not condemming them I am just saying why can't there be smaller hook quoater or closed season for the big guys, so that the small 5 to 20 kg fish can grow and spawn and redeam them selves without being in the hull of a boat,

Browndog, hes a pro on a small scale I don't think anyone that has commented on the little guy. (Or condemming anyone for making a buck) but mate I fished pro for years and watched 8 ton of tuna turn into a ton, I watched the orange roughy industry die in a few years all because of a buck. Big boats where taking 500 tons of roughy in one trip thats what we are talking about. We have to scale down or there will be nothing, the yanks did it and they have a good industry we need to aswell.
I am with Bigmack all the way.