Southport Sand Pumping Jetty - The Details

[Dylan_Rylatt]

i think they should start a serious reveue rasing expidition with hired trained fisheries officers. the fines will pay for the laws to get inforced. This whole situation also reminds of the yellow coats ehile prawning.
Why cant we stop this?
I tell yah maria i dont care who they are if they go through your gear or steal your bait they will learn some repect for fellow fishermann which ever way you can teach people respect > > > >. because if someone does not stand up and tell them off they will just be evan more ignorant than ever and keep doing this.
I now vow to stand up for anyone else if i see them in this situation.
I like everyones replys and am interested to hear everone's opinions
the to big words here that need to be leant by thease guys are RESPECT. and the word we wanna kill is IGNORANCE

Dylan Rylatt

[michael_Brewer]

SMOOOTH BROTHER!

[jaybee]

Well it all remains to see if this is picked up now, with tones of Racism and this country being Threatened to be left in pools of blood, makes you wonder if any current affairs program will pick it up. However, having said that, we are looking for uniform laws here, and all pay the price, but then so are terrorists.
cheers
Joe.

[GES]

Ben

Unlike the fire brigade, it is not always possible for Fisheries Officers to be available 24hours/7days a week, to attend to your phone call. They just don't have enough staff and they almost always operate, daily, by scheduled work projects whenever they are on duty.
Whenever you see someone doing something really wrong, like the instance mentioned in this post, the thing to do is to collect as much information as possible (time, date, place, what occured, car rego numbers, description of those involved and the extent of what they are doing)
I was going to suggest a photo of the perpetrators, in the act... well, that would be really helpful but unless you are in a position (like 110 kilos of fighting machine) to defend yourself against attack, maybe you better give the photo idea a miss. It's not worth getting knifed over.
Send or hand deliver a letter to the local Fisheries Inspectors office with all the information you have collected, pointing out the extent of the problem and asking for them to do some inspections at appropriate times (the info on time place etc that you provide in your letter will tell them when to go and what to look for).
DO THIS EVERY TIME YOU SEE SOMETHING ILLEGAL AND NOTEWORTHY HAPPEN ON THE JETTY. KEEP A COPY OF THE LETTER YOU SEND THE INSPECTORS EACH TIME. Ask them, in each letter, to inform you of the outcome of their investigation from your reported information.
If nothing is done about it by the inspectors or you don't get a reply, after you have sent them two or three letters containing good information, you just send all the copies of your letters (that you have been keeping) on to the Minister with a complaint about HIS department's inaction.
You might also explain to the Minister, as an aside, that if nothing is seen to be done soon, there could be physical confrontation on the sand pumping jetty (this is well within the realms of probablity too I would think). Without being threatening or obnoxious, suggest also that media coverage of all the problems caused by the inaction of the DPI authorities would be probable.
I'm sure someone in the Fisheries Officers' management system will get a please explain from the Ministers' office and you can expect a whole lot of extra time will suddenly be devoted to chasing poachers on the G C Sand Pumping Jetty. Just don't be there doing something wrong yourself when it hits the fan 'cause there will be an almighty blitz on everything and everyone.

GES

[Maria]

Ges,

Thanks very much for your reply mate, and some very good suggestions in there to which I will keep in mind for future reference. I understand that fisheries officers are not always available to attend to everyone's calls or enquiries. I just thought that something would have been done before now of such a gross infringement of fisheries legislation.

Thanks again mate.

Ben

[bidkev]

A brave subject to broach Ben (so a pat on the back is deserved) :-) in today's seemingly obsessive pre-occupation with political correctness and us practically having to live in a climate of fear of being accused of being racist.

In this thread, the benefit of the doubt as to lack of education in fisheries matters, culture, language etc has been afforded to these types of character, but that holds no sway in my book. IMO Most of the guys (and gals and kids), that I have seen blatantly showing disregard for the rules, and disregard for those who abide by them, are *well* conversant with the law, otherwise why would they be so defensive and "close ranks" when I point out that they are breaking the law?

Anyone who's attempted to cast net Woody Point jetty when the mullet are running may be familiar with this. I stopped fishing there a couple of years back, (more for the kid's safety than my own) after being subjected to verbal abuse and an elbow in the eye from a couple of "150 kiloers". They rock up in half a dozen mini vans that are well overloaded and commence to elbow and intimidate anyone else who gets in their way. Everything edible goes into the buckets, size no matter, and all that isn't edible gets stomped underfoot. Their kids are there to witness this and what are the ramifications of this for future generations of "assimilated" Aussies? The physical abuse isn't overt but it's well practiced whereby you cop for the leads on their nets when they're casting or get "accidently" bumped by an elbow, followed up by a "sorry mate" which has almost (sounds to me like) a perfect Aussie accent.

I understand and appreciate "cultural diversity" and that the practice of keeping anything edible may have it's roots in anything and everything being "fair game" in their home countries, but in most cases of undersize fish keeping that I have encountered, these folk appear to be 2nd and 3rd generation Aussies. Surely they'd've learned by now, or is it that they don't want to? *I've* managed to "integrate" so why can't/don't they? Jeeeeez, I even drink a goldie (which somehow manages to pass as beer) now and again and I don't whinge half as much as I used to :-)

Nah! This isn't about lack of education but about them not giving a flying f**k for Australian law.......or Australians if the truth be told.

This attitude may or may not be (I don't know) attributable to a minority, and perhaps even only to those who fish, so I am not prepared to judge all via the actions of only those I have encountered in the "fishing arena" but I do think it is pretty sad, and perhaps even catastrophic for Australia in the future, if these attitudes to fish taking carry over into the wider practices within the Australian community.

On a broader scale, witness the case a while back of all those undersize and female crabs being discovered in Bribie Passage. I don't for a minute doubt that these were bound for "ethnic" restaurants and that this particular case was only the tip of the iceberg......and I don't doubt that the buyers knew *exactly* what they were buying. Catching the buyers should have been a priority....without buyers, there'd be no need for suppliers.

If they want to live in Oz, then they should be conversant with, and abide by, Aussie law but TBH, I think they *are* conversant with,........they simply just don't care and they need to be taught to care via better policing and stiffer penalties.

Perhaps the Fishing Party can pick up on this one.

cheers

kev

[Dug]

MMM I was born a Fijian I wonder if they would mind me practicing a bit of my ethnic cultural heritage, i.e. Cannibalism. It was always known that Asians and Adventists tasted better that Europeans because of their diets. If I towed a big industrial mincer behind my truck I'm sure no one would complain too much? I don't eat fish so I think it is fair that I be allowed a few fishermen now and again [smiley=rifle.gif]

[Dug]

PS hit the media, send them this discussion, get some film crews out on the jetty, and see what happens. If they are brave enough.

cheers doug

[Lucky_Phill]

Close down the Jetty.

is this a simplistic approach ?

is this NOT the answer ?

Q's. Who owns the jetty ?
who gets the money from the entry fee ?
what is done with this money ?
why is there no restriction on numbers on the jetty ?
and finally, is Elvis still alive ?

Cheers Phill ( am I serious or NOT ? )

[Lucky_Phill]

Yes I am serious.

If the taking of indersized fish is on such a mammoth scale, the pollution is getting out of hand, the users of the jetty don't respect it, the anglers are hell bent on breaking the Law, physical violence is resulting and the Jetty provides a source for criminal activity, then Yes, close it down.

Wonder what Workplace Health and Safety would say about this ?

Cheers Phill

[bigal]

You know what i have a simmilar tail.. thereis a spot just near the border of nsw/qld border called little kirra groin, and not that many years it used to be the only one off few spots in my area that one could catch yakkas for live bait without a boat. We boys all of 16/17 would ride there every afternoon weather permiting somtimes regardless and pick up our selves a dozzen or two yakkas and fish the tweed north wall and some times snapper rocks for sharks and the like.. we would fish all night with top line airrators (?) to keep the bait alive and in tip top condition usually releasing what we didnt use in the river near boyds bay bridge. sounds silly but on a good night we would have the usually fun most fisherman of our ages could have,till one night.. We went to the groin as usual but the word must have got out or we must have been seen, but to our horror we saw no less than ten foreigners fishing with tha same gigs au you mentioned catching no less than ten yakkas a hit, sometimes at there own risk in the wash zone. i personally whitnessed six of the big white buckets (20ltr i think) being dragged by those bad ppl filled to the brim with yakkas to the point where there was actually no water left in the bucket. i was siickened that day but the very next day there was a good dozzen of them doing exactly the same thing, and so on and so forth. point is there was nothing we colud do about that one, the sand thankfully moved in and made the water to shallow to catch yakkas in which was good. but not to many months we whitnessed tha same ppl doint it worse near the northern boat harbour (jack evans boat harbour), only this time they had a common house mincer mounted to the hand rail. fois of any sort were caught from the water, dropped in the mincer and made dissapear. a bucket of mince was all that remained, so the fisheries could do nothing. we could though and a mate of mine pushed a bucket of small bream and the like back into the water.. was great and all that but the person proceded to pull a small fishing knife form his pocket and waved it in a manner that one could call "verry un fisherman like". it was discusting-i can not recomend anyone else doing this as the situation was most dangerous, and soon after handled by the police. this is a discrase to call thees ppl fishermen, as i bet that most ppl on this site will atest- we see a fellow fisherman on the water we always give a friendly wave and some times stop and say hi.. braging about catches ofcourse, but to see these ppl-as i have also been to the pumping jetty-i am discusted as everyone else here is. sorry for the jibberish msg but its late in the night and i have been drinking but i will leave you guys with this.. these ppl need to be baned from what they are doing, how i dont know but they just do. fisheries here in tweed is a joke, since the nsw licensing has been inforced, i have been asked to show it twice by the boys,what of these river rapeists? >

[yuankia]

Well, before I say anything first let me point out beforehand that I am an Asian, a Chinese Singaporean currently studying in Queensland to be more precise.

The first thing that annoys me is that Blue Rogue you seem to be specifically targetting Chinese people as a whole in your post. Sounds a wee bit racist to me (and a whole lot insulting too) to say the truth but I apologise to you if I have misunderstood your post.

Chinese as a whole are "industrious" (not really sure how to explain) and it has always been that we generally are more "greedy" (if that is the right word). I can't really explain why we behave that way because Chinese are spread out over vast geological areas and distances and with this each one of us have our own customs and beliefs. Of course every single Chinese is different from another so it's not really right to stereotype Chinese in the first place.

I've only got the fishing bug for about 7 years and in the beginning I admit (embarressedly) I take home every single fish that I caught (even small little 20cm groupers) and I wasn't breaking the law because even though Singapore is full of laws, there wasn't (and still isn't) any environmental laws to protect the fishing stocks in Singapore (I'm not too sure about the other Asian countries) so there really isn't any proper education channel to the people to conserve fish stocks.

Later on as a large portion of the angling community in Singapore realise what is happening, changes to the system were lobbied for but nothing concrete has been done yet.

The mindset of a large part of anglers still have not changed.
Things like 1. If I release this small fish other people will catch it and eat it so why not I be the one eating it. 2. Small little fishes can still be used to make fish soup. 3. (A bit outrageous) God let me catch this fish to eat and if I release it he will get angry and punish me.

I myself do get very annoyed when I see other people flouting the rules (and especially of my own race as it is like they are "tainting" the Chinese "name") and I won't hesitate to report them to the proper authorities or give them a ticking off myself. Best way as suggested by someone I believe is still to get a (digital) camera and take down their pictures and a note of the situation. Maybe pictures of people who got the limit, store their catches somewhere else and return with fresh buckets could face a massive fine or something. > >

Maybe I could apply to be one of the fisheries guy and catch those that flout the law and even if they can't speak English I can still speak Chinese to them although if they speak any of the other diverse Asian languages I won't be of any help at all.

Patrick



PS:To Seahunt
It's not really a case of a much healthier respect of laws in Singapore but it's more because of the effeciency of the proper authorities and the hefty fines, penalties and consequences that loom for people who get caught breaking the law in Singapore that makes the crime rate low and the tendency for the people to obey the law.

Eg: Possess more than 15g (I think) of illegal drugs? Off to the ropes to be hanged. Caught littering? Wear a luminous shirt with the words "Corrective Work Order" on your back and off you go to the most crowded places in the city and made to clean up the place as well as cop a heavy fine along the way.

[Maria]

MMM I was born a Fijian I wonder if they would mind me practicing a bit of my ethnic cultural heritage, i.e. Cannibalism. It was always known that Asians and Adventists tasted better that Europeans because of their diets. If I towed a big industrial mincer behind my truck I'm sure no one would complain too much? I don't eat fish so I think it is fair that I be allowed a few fishermen now and again [smiley=rifle.gif]

Being of mixed free settler and convict decent, I would say these days I could run around stealing loaves of bread, sheep etc to see what society would consider me as...but, it just doesn't seem to have the same ring to it or effect that cannibalism does/would.

Ben

[Maria]

Phill,

I would assume that as the jetty is used by the Gold Coast City Council to pump sand to various locations, it would thus be government owned. I have no idea where your $3.50 goes each time you pay to go fishing on there (or $1.50 just to walk on for that matter!!!), but it sure would be interesting to find out. With that much revenue raising going on, the least they could do would be to strengthen the thing. It shakes like a dog shitting razor blades when large waves roll in.

Patrick,

In Singapore, are there really people who stand outside public toilets to make sure the toilet is flushed in there by anyone using it, and consequent penalties exist for people who don't flush?

Thanks for your input mate - it's great that people from different ehtnic backgrounds have replied with their opinion and viewpoints also. Without your replies, I believe a lot of the cultural understanding (used very lightly) that is ingrained within some people would not be understood by average recreational fishermen. Besides, away from the fishing side of things, it's interesting to see how people of other cultures percieve, think and consider things.

Regards

Ben

[Dug]

I don't think we are about what colour or race these people are just their fishing habits. I know I used to think nothing of taking 100+ Tailor or whiting in a session even if I knew they would probably never be eaten ( Early 70's)
I would now be appalled by the same behavior.
There was a thing about Aboriginals catching Dugong on TV the other night. I have no problem with that as long as they use traditional methods.
A Tinny 50-hp outboard and spear takes the skill out of it though.