Bream Bag Limits

[Brett_Hoskin]

5 per person fishing is enough. Bream under 33 cm aren't worth cleaning.

Lift the legal size to 35 and bag limits won't really come into it.

[devocean]

Personally dont take bream unless they are at least 30cm long as I purley fish for jacks. However because a lot of people up here fish the same way you can easily catch 30 legal bream in an hour if you fished for them. But I do believe that a limit should be set. More importantly I think all creeks should be net free and then you wouldnt have the problem of bag limits

[Nugget]

It is a certainty that bag limits and increased min sizes will be introduced on many popular estuary species in the next 12 months or so.
You will have the opportunity to have your say on the issue via an RIS.
Judging by past RIS, you have to wonder if the decision isn't already made and public input via an RIS is just to make it look like we are part of the decision making process.
I'd be willing to bet that DPI already has a "draft" bag and size limit plan drawn up, just needing to go through the public perception formalities to get the rubber stamp approval.

There are pro's and con's for both bag and size limits.
Bag limits only affect the better anglers that catch their limit.
Increases in min sizes affect all anglers but doesn't stop the unscrupulous from filling the esky if they get onto a better class of fish.

I speak to a lot of anglers on a daily basis and the majority do not want to fill their esky or take home small fish.
It is not the majority that are the problem - it is a minority.
Stricter regulations will deter some from breaking the law but I still don't believe that is the whole solution.
Better enforcement is the key - more DPI feet on the Southport Pumping Jetty issuing fines, more officers on the water measuring fish, more inspections at boat ramps to weed out the ferals that don't do the right thing.

Dave ><>

[bugman]

Dave,

I'm not being funny - but do you want to see the draft.

Make no mistake - every finfish in Queensland will have a bag limit on it by the end of 2005.

Regards

Bugman

[Nugget]

Thanks Brett - I was being diplomatic - I've seen the draft.
And I strongly believe it will come into force "as is" regardless of the RIS results.
Brett you are part of the decision making process, a representative of rec anglers - do you think an RIS will have any effect on what is to come?
Not having a go at you - just wondered what your opinion was - and I will understand if you can't post a direct reply here.

Dave ><>

[Fitzy]

Make no mistake - every finfish in Queensland will have a bag limit on it by the end of 2005.

Regards

Bugman

Thats a big call. There are still fish out there that havent been described as yet & others that are not worth the effort of regulation at this stage.

fitz

[Gazza]

I sometimes "wonder" .....
IF there was no further "restrictions" being contemplated all-the-time ,what would "they" do all year..... ???

or the year after......

Size "should be" linked to sustainable spawning
Bag "should be" linked to sustainable fishstocks

"this years 23~25cms keepers ,will be next years "feral fishos"

Don't see how personal bag and size "choices" has anything whatsoever to do with setting new "restrictions"
JMHO

Regards
Gazza

[bugman]

Fitzy,

Sorry mate - should have clarrified - "finfish" as pertaining to the species list dealt with by the Finfish MAC. There's always debate about the species list between different management groups. We even looked at the bait fish species we cover in order to set limits. But to some, bait is an edible fish and it became all too hard. Hardiheads was a classic - should it have the default limit of 20 - pretty hard to release alive 200 hardiheads trapped in a bait net.

Dave,
Without getting splinters by sitting on the fence - it really is too hard to say. What I can say is that there are an enormous number of factors that go into drafting the plan that not everyone may know about. One of those is the political factor. Not saying that it has involvement in the drafting of the plan but it sure can have a huge impact on the plan when it comes back from Parliament. Look at the last plan on spottie macs and Tailor.

I would say that the draft plan is one of those things that has been pretty well considered and is part of an agenda or target that fisheries management is trying to achieve. The RIS basically can knock the edges of things but is more than likely not going to change the overall direction. It can point out glaring mistakes or massive public opinion which of course is going to be noticed which inturn means the that area of the plan is looked at again but that rarely happens.

When a decision is made in a plan it's based upon evidence from scientists, environmentalists, statistics gathered from the field plus a range of opinions from those involved in the fishery. It takes a while to nut these things out but eventually a consensus is reached. Someone commenting on that decision in a RIS may not know all of the information on why the decision was made and therefore is amazed when there comments are ignored when the plan is put into practise.

I'm not saying that the process is without it's flaws but I can ensure you that all the decisions I've been involved with have been done with the best interest of the fishery in mind. What can seem commonsense to some may actually not be possible to draft into legislation resulting in some slightly unwieldy rules and regs. I can also ensure you that malice to any sector rec, pro, enviro, developers etc doesn't come in to any decision making.

Regards

Brett

[mini696]

Size Limit = 25cm
Bag Limit = 10

But there has to be more policing, no point in introducing harsher penalties without more policing.

[PinHead]

I am curious Bugman...how many people make up the panel that decides on these issues, what is the selection criteria to be on the panel and what are the qualifications of those on the panel.

[bugman]

Greg,

To tell you the truth I can't remember the exact number on the MAC - I think it varies - ours has 16 from memory.

Fisheries determine the breakdown of the group. Ours goes something like this.
2 commercial, 2 rec, 1 charter, 1 tackle shop, 1 GBRMPA, 2 enviro, 1 seafood marketing, 1 wholesaler, 1 indig, 1 local govt, 1 science and 1 chairperson.

I think I'm missing a couple there.

As for how those positions are filled. Usually fisheries go to the representative group of each sector and ask for a reference. Sunfish used to supply the rec members to all the MACs up to a couple of years ago.

Personally I was asked by fisheries along with another Ausfish member after I arranged a meeting with the Minister and fisheries staff a couple of years back.

As for qualifications - The GBRMPA guy is a marine biologist - so is the chair and I think one of the scientists and one of the eniros are the same. The pro fishermen are pro fishermen - I'm a journalist masquarading as a rec fisher while the other rec fisher is Dave Bateman. The charter guy is a charter guy and the seafood marketing guy has been in the industry about 40 years.

We get guidance by fisheries staff members and can request information from fisheries research as well as make recommendations to aquire new research in certain areas if there isn't enough information on which to make a decision.

However the overall issue in all of this is money - everyone really wants to do as much as possible but sadly resources don't always stretch as far as everyone likes.

Hope that helps.

Believe me - more thoughts and opinions from this board have made their way into MAC discussions than I'd like to remember. I'm sure the same goes for the other MAC member here.

Brett

[PinHead]

Thanks Brett..i was just curious on that one.

[PinHead]

" I'm a journalist masquarading as a rec fisher"..or is that a rec fisher being a journalist just to make a few more bucks to go fishing. Damn..I wish I could have gone fishing this Xmas break.

[adrian]

well lets get the ball rolling . why not have a max. size limit of 26 cm and a min of 23cm that way if they get to a certain size they can do what ever fish do in water ..

just my idea anyway i only take what i need for a feed any more is a waste

anzac

[Nugget]

Thanks Brett - very well put.

It is easy for us to sit on the sideline and critisize - I think after reading your comments most people can see that it's not as simple as they think.


Dave ><>