Charter Boat Disgrace

[dazza]

Hi All,
Had a conversation with a guy, who was telling me he was speaking to a charter boat operator. (reliable source)
the operator was said he was havng a great season on the snapper, and on many occasions his punters bag out, once this is achieved he keeps fishing and sells the catch through on his pro liscence. He displays his commercial letttering on his boat, but mainly works as an offshore charter buisiness
Surley this can't be legal. Is this normal practice?
Would be interested to hear others opinions
Cheers
Dazza

[raefpud]

too many cowboy pirates and ocean rapists out there hey

[bugman]

Dazza,

Illegal - definitely.

Not too much to be done about it now as it has been done but I'm sure fisheries would like his rego in order to keep a watch on him in the future.

Brett

[peabow]

call fishwatch 18000-17166 see what thay have to say about it then you will know and thay can take care of him big time.

[kitty_cat]

just to put 2 bob worth in ,i dont think compapered to the alternate way that people are raping the sea that a boat of rod fishing amertures even after baging out ,if he is licenced to take and sell a few fish to make some money on the side is worth worring about,
these charter boat guys dont make much money, (fuel and bait aint cheap ) through the competivness of every man and his dog opening charters and offering to take guys out for nicks, think about it a spin off on your buinness that lets anglers fish for longer and keeps him operating and doing a service we all enjoy cannot be a bad thing.
just a thought not an argument
wayne

[bugman]

Wayne,

There plenty of good and well reasoned arguements to break or bend rules.

But in the end it's simple - Rules are rules. Either play by them or don't play.

Rec fishos have to play within the rules.

Brett

[Wear_the_fox_hat]

All,
How do you think the paying customers would go if the charter is inspected & the question was asked "who caught all the fish & how were they caught???"

[banshee]

This clown has a great lurk,people paying to work for him.

[dazza]

Hi Wayne,
i guess it is a pity that these tye of operators are in business, ie backyard charters, shametures and plain old shonky buissnesses. i recon there are plenty of charter operators who run very good businesses, hence why they have been in business for a long time.
unfortunatley we all pay the price through reduced fish stocks, tighter bag limits, exclusion zones etc.
cheers
dazza

[-spiro-]

Dazza where dose this fella fish and moore his boat. Even a first letter would be good _ _ _ _ _/ _ _ _ _ _ _?maybe _ _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ ?maybe _ _ _ /_ _ _or _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[basserman]

well i think it may depend on each case here as i know of other charters that do the same thing and while they me be illagal (does anyone know if they can have both the fishing licence as well as a charter licence?) the ones i know are on Loard Howe Island so they need to catch the fish and sell them to the loacal restrunts and homes as it would cost a arm and leg for them to get it from the fish co-ops

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

umm, people, there is actually a legal operation called a 'commercial fishing tour' where people actually pay the licensed operator to catch fish. this operator may displaying his commercial fishing numbers because he is well in his right if he is conducting a commercial fishing tour. the fisherman/anglers pay a small fee, they take home a feed/bag limit etc, and the commercial licensed operator sells the excess to licensed buyers. totally legal unless laws have changed since i last looked. no difference to a commercial operator running a full crew, instead he/she ( the skipper) runs recreational fisherman. they aren't common, but they do exist. if this operator is displaying commercial fishing numbers, i doubt he is doing the wrong thing. it is actually illegal for a commercial fishing vessel to cover up his license numbers on his boat or on his tender boats. if a boat is dual registered, such as commercial and recreational, the boat can be used for both types of operations eg, family fishing day with commercial numbers still on display , as long as the rules and regulations are followed for either fishery. commercial fishing tours revolve around both, so i understand.

please follow my words as being about 90 % correct, not a hard and fast 100%.
regards,
johnny M

[banshee]

"no difference to a commercial opperator running a full crew"

Have to disagree there,the very fact that people are paying him to go means he can afford to have the maximum number of people aboard killing fish,if he was to pay his deckies as is the norm,that is,a certain percentage of the catch or profit divided between crew,he would be hard pressed to find a group any where near as big willing to share in the percentage.

[GBC]

6 degrees of separation here, I'm sure most will understand that government run game parks in Africa couldn't survive if they didn't let people shoot their own animals. Make no mistake, these animals have artificially supported populations and are going to be shot anyway, so why not fleece someone for the privelege and keep the park open. This carnage, however sickening is actually a strong form of conservation. Similar story with the crocs up North, they are going to die under a culling order anyway so why not charge interested parties to kill them under controlled circumstances - there is always a backup professional aiming at the same animal when the trophy hunter takes his/her shot. We all buy fresh seafood -it's the aussie thing to do. This guy is keeping the prices down for us, and if the fish are going to be caught anyway......Only people I feel sorry for are pro deckies who don't have a union, cause this isn't helping their pay packets at all.

[banshee]

I fail to see the common ground between African game reserves and Austrailian wild fish stocks,Fish stocks in this country are not artificialy supported to the extent that alows open slather,it is my understanding after watching landline on the ABC last month, that when a commercial fisherman reaches his quota he is not stoped from weighing fish in,he simply gets a lower price for any thing over the quota tonnage,this being the case,this practice would have a much higher than normal impact on wild fish stocks who's demise may not be as iminant as you think.