North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

All good to talk about closed seasons and size limits, but is someone going to tell the fish??
How many times have you gone out chasing one species and ended up with a mixed bag..
Sounds like the only way is to stop everyone from even launching.
Considering fish wander all over the place, it seems that a total ban on all fishing, bar the freshwater areas is the only way to go.
Trolling for pelagics excluded of course.
I love me goldies, and want me kids to still be able to get a feed when they're my age, I'm pretty sure everyone is on the same page there.
The reason I'm willing to put out good dollars to go 'deckie' is,because I was mug enough to go on a FTO boat once, and saw firsthand the total disregard for any semblance of ethics.
Not all FTO's are in the same boat (no pun), But there are enough to cast a bad light on the rest.
No doubt there is a percentage of 'rec' fishos with the same attitude.
I'd be willing to bet me (recently mangled) left nut, that nothing has/will change on that scene, regardless.
This is going to take some very serious sorting out, and I'm not sure how it can be managed without everyone, recs and FTO's all agreeing to bite th bullet and work at it.
Wouldn't want to hang by afore-said left nut waiting for that tho'.
BTW..A couple of me comments were a bit 'tongue in cheek'. I'm sure you'll work that out.
graham.

Dont get it Mike, to me it dosent matter how many amateurs there are on a charter boat it surely is still a boat load of amateurs. Same limit as the 4 amateurs on my boat is the only fair way to go for my money. If it dosent suit the buisness model in a post new bag limits world then unforrtunatly ...get out of the buisness..

Agree 100% AM there is no room in this argument to give FTO's any special lee way. They have been a big contributing factor to the situation we are in now and as such must be reigned in with the rest of us. It is unfortunate that its thier buisness suffers but unfortunatley thats part of the game they play. To apply the same logic what about all the poor whalers that will be put out of a job when whaling is finally banned world wide??? what will they do? And what about all the ivory dealers that would have went under when the world decided that the wholesale slaughter of elephants wasn't acceptable??? Why do we feel like it is the FTO's right to operate outside of the bag limits, closures etc most people seem to think are a good idea?

Ghound

BarraBase wrote:

cuddlescooper wrote:Size limits =dead fish and no change in stocks being taken. Pointless.

Bag limit reduction means less fish taken= more fish in the sea still to breed. if you think up grading doesnt already happen you are blind. At least the majority will do the right thing.

Total spawning closure would suit the whole fishery in my veiw better then either of the two options above but I will accept the bag limit reductions first as at least it is a move in the right direction and not a complete denial that there isnt a problem.

not bad cuddles ,this is a good point but we need to save the pub

Not sure if you are taking the p..s or calling me an alcoholic here BB. But saving the pub is 1st on the list of prioritys.

Hmmm I think I misread the proposal.....I read the "general personal posession limit" as the limit for the boat.....which is why I thought it could be relaxed for tour operators. But I realise its limit for each angler. Serious? You mean right now a charter with 8 fishermen, a skipper and a deckhand could legitimately take home 300 fish in one trip? OMG! Really does anyone need more than 5 of anything. Even 150 fish per trip out would quickly decimate our stocks. I'm sure it doesn't happen every time but it wouldn't need to to be catastrophic.

The fish trap boats are bringing in more than 10t a trip of reef fish how many boats are doing that??
And we're worried about amateurs taking couple dozen reef fish per trip !!
Pros are killing it !!

DOUG wrote:The fish trap boats are bringing in more than 10t a trip of reef fish how many boats are doing that??
And we're worried about amateurs taking couple dozen reef fish per trip !!
Pros are killing it !!

trap boats fish where 99 % of anglers cant reach.+ they hardly catch any goldies or Jews.

agreed Seano

100KM boundry around Darwin will sort out the rest

30 crabs is not a lot of crabs when you have a 450 klm round trip by road then 80+ Klms by boat to get a crab.And only one or two trips a year.
Ok for you lot who have them on your doorstep in Darwin . I dont ever recall getting anywhere near the limit even on extended trips.



Why the frig did the salmon , and jacks and lobsters ,and prawns get included ? . Jesus give the wankers an inch and they grab a mile.

And restrict the number of FTO's ,and up thier licence fees to $5000.00 a year .

seano wrote:

DOUG wrote:The fish trap boats are bringing in more than 10t a trip of reef fish how many boats are doing that??
And we're worried about amateurs taking couple dozen reef fish per trip !!
Pros are killing it !!

trap boats fish where 99 % of anglers cant reach.+ they hardly catch any goldies or Jews.

There was 2 traps at sail city during the billfish comp last year !! There 50m of slack rope on the surface nearly ended up in my prop !
Traps are out near flat top also!!
Wouldn't it have to have an effect on the fish stocks or have they worked out that they don't migrate ??
Trap fisherman I know catch goldies mainly west more though !

trap boats I worked on fished the Timor box. between 90 -120mtrs we targeted mainly Goldband snapper and red fish. if there's traps inshore that's a different fishery and I seriously doubt they would be catching 10t trip. I wouldn't like to see them in close .worse thing they do is damage the bottom habitat. I reckon the line boats do the most damage to Jewfish stocks. plus the illegal unlicensed boats taking chilly bins out to Charles point.

Yeah agree with the line fishermen !!the nets are the worst off Dundee tho !
Yeah the local traps wouldn't get much but still alot more than the average amateur boat

Limits, limits, limits, this is only to stop some people doing the wrong thing, but there is no/inadequate current policing of this.

I too fish to put meat on the table.

If you take speed/alcohol limits, we have them and the Gov't has various ways to enforce them. Camera's, traffic control, booze busses, rego inspections every 2 years or more, etc.

If we had a simple solution of policing the boat ramps, ie every boat is checked for their current limit, there would be no need to change the limits.
Every one would obey what we currently have.

If these proposed rules are inforced, will the Gov't give me money to buy back my boat, trailer, as it won't be economical to fish any more.
Is there a GREEN thing in amongst all this?

The number of people doing the right thing far out weighs the number of people doing the wrong thing ;ie exceeding bag limits !

DOUG wrote:The fish trap boats are bringing in more than 10t a trip of reef fish how many boats are doing that??
And we're worried about amateurs taking couple dozen reef fish per trip !!
Pros are killing it !!

Been saying it for a long time Doug but it falls on deaf ears
We need to restrict pro licenses so as there is only enough to supply the Australian market
Well over 50% of the annual catch goes overseas(f@rk overseas,we didn't ruin their fishing grounds they did)
This is what is decimating the countries fish stocks
But money speaks louder than your or my needs and it's obviously easier to to pull the wool over the publics eye's and penalize them as to take on big business
People they stopped one super trawler for a short time but there are a lot of big trawlers out there opperating
I've got video footage here of a recent trip before X'mas on a trap boat that would make a few stand up and look just cant work out how to get it of the camera yet
Trap boats don't just trap they drop line as well and a lot of those fish are coming up from over 200meters no chance of survival for them
These blokes wipe out reef colonies ,not to mention the damage done to reefs

We are a population of 20+ million people and have some of the best fishing grounds left in the world but they are fragile
Our population does not even make up some of the major cities around the world
Put things into perspective and look at who is being shafted