North Australian FISH FINDER forums

DOUG wrote:That's a fact well one I just made up

We will never know the truth unless accurate stats are obtained.

I know an ex pro from Lakes Entrance who gave the game away 'because the fish just dried up for no reason'
He honestly believes he had nothing to do with it.

ghound wrote:It's the old adage Doug if there is a buck to be made a lot of peoples scruples go out the Window. This includes Commercial (obviously) FTO (obviously) and the grubby pr..ks that go out with no license and sell fish on the black market. I think these are on the decrease. And then there are the guys that slip into more than one of these categorty's. FTO's selling fish for example. Either way they all have financial gain to be made. In the most part I think most amatuers do the right thing.

Either way back to the point at hand
AFANT = waste of space
Fisheries = FTO whipping boys
Ghound = p...ed off

Breath in breath out

I know an ex pro from Lakes Entrance who gave the game away 'because the fish just dried up for no reason'
He honestly believes he had nothing to do with it.

Could be other things involved - environmental degradation and pollution are the big ones, dunno how bad it is down there, but look at Google Earth - southern Australia is one big farm. Lots of pesticides and herbicides and silt about, it's amazing there are any fish in some creeks. That's why the NT is so good, for now, but mining might start changing all that.

Good to see Tynan doing an article in todays paper talking about "we" the rec fisho's.
You get paid you tool you are a P.R.O.F.F.E.S.I.O.N.A.L.
The last thing I need is some FTO wannabe giving me life lessons on how to manage the fishery.

ghound wrote:Good to see Tynan doing an article in todays paper talking about "we" the rec fisho's.
You get paid you tool you are a P.R.O.F.F.E.S.I.O.N.A.L.
The last thing I need is some FTO wannabe giving me life lessons on how to manage the fishery.

Maybe you should put your frustration into a letter to fisheries and AFANT, can't hurt. I feel your frustration.

[quote="AM"][FTO's selling fish for example. [quote="AM"]

Never heard of that happening?

oo

Maybe you should put your frustration into a letter to fisheries and AFANT, can't hurt. I feel your frustration.

Interesting theory and I must admit that it has crossed my mind. Then the synic in me thinks it is like arguing with your missus. Sure they give you the impression they are listening but really

Right or wrong I have decided that AFANT an Fisheries are moraly corrupt. While the vested interest of a few is catered for over the majority my view won't change.

AFANT

fisheries

ghound

I heard a whisper that the other day at the boat show some guy from AFANT went up to a rec fisho pushing for membership or some cr.p. The guy said to the AFANT bloke "you'd want to lift your game before I decide" or words to that affect. 5 mins later the AFANT bloked chased him down and asked why he said it and found it interesting & tried to give the rec fisho paperwork but the rec fisho wasn't interested. Hopefully it sends a message to AFANT but highly doubt it.

While AFANT and Fisheries include fishing tour operators (FTOs) under the "recreational fishing" banner there can be no unbiased representation and actual recreational fishermen will lose out. As exemplified by this decision by the Blue Water Classic.
It’s not okay to whinge about these things and not offer solutions. So IMHO this is what I think could be done:
1) FTOs to be declared as commercial fishing operators by Fisheries and excluded from representation by AFANT. This will alow AFANT to better represent real amature fishermen and restore their credibility.
2) FTOs as commercial operators should be subject to bag limits for all species of pelagic and reef fish and total boat limits applied.
3) A mandatory code of practice (COP) should be implemented and enforced by fisheries. The COP would include: best practice catch and release, target species variation (not just goldies and jew), load spreading of fishing and commercial no go zones.
4) Bag limits should be at a level which the punters on board can still catch fish, but take into account that FTOs are out there day in day out, finding aggregations of fish and hitting these spots until all the fish are all gone. As such commercial operators including FTOs should be excluded from some known fish aggregation sites via closed seasons.
5) A vessel management system (VMS) could be implemented to track “commercial” vessels to ensure compliance. The VMS data can be used by fisheries to determine area usage and determine closed areas therefore spreading fishing pressure.

I'm not saying the recreational fishos are blameless, I'm just saying while we're lumped together with FTOs we cannot get effective representation and workable solutions for fish stock decline.

Holy cr.p Fish Tank you have the job.

Couldn't agree with you more.

Ghound

Fish Tank wrote:While AFANT and Fisheries include fishing tour operators (FTOs) under the "recreational fishing" banner there can be no unbiased representation and actual recreational fishermen will lose out. As exemplified by this decision by the Blue Water Classic.
It’s not okay to whinge about these things and not offer solutions. So IMHO this is what I think could be done:
1) FTOs to be declared as commercial fishing operators by Fisheries and excluded from representation by AFANT. This will alow AFANT to better represent real amature fishermen and restore their credibility.
2) FTOs as commercial operators should be subject to bag limits for all species of pelagic and reef fish and total boat limits applied.
3) A mandatory code of practice (COP) should be implemented and enforced by fisheries. The COP would include: best practice catch and release, target species variation (not just goldies and jew), load spreading of fishing and commercial no go zones.
4) Bag limits should be at a level which the punters on board can still catch fish, but take into account that FTOs are out there day in day out, finding aggregations of fish and hitting these spots until all the fish are all gone. As such commercial operators including FTOs should be excluded from some known fish aggregation sites via closed seasons.
5) A vessel management system (VMS) could be implemented to track “commercial” vessels to ensure compliance. The VMS data can be used by fisheries to determine area usage and determine closed areas therefore spreading fishing pressure.

I'm not saying the recreational fishos are blameless, I'm just saying while we're lumped together with FTOs we cannot get effective representation and workable solutions for fish stock decline.

Where were you last weekend when we had to vote. Sounds better then anythng the othere stooges had to offer. Just be carfull that the limits they put on FTOs are the exact same limits that they want for genuine amatures and you are spot on.

Fishtank

If you are a member of some (most?) fishing club, you will already be paying a membership fee to AFANT - no voting rights of course! What's the point

How are you Fishtank???

I,m impressed you know more about this than most on here ,,,pifful ,,,Good valid suggestions.

But thats all they will be is suggestions until we ALL stand up and get some action.

Still have to think over your ideas some ,but they seem workable.

Can you imagine the impact on a AFANT meeting if at least 100 of the most out spoken FFF members on here walked in and had
Their 2 bobs worth heard,,,,,Thats action.

Remember " I FLOAT AND I VOTE "

And good luck to all in the Blue water clssic..what a thread hijack

Not many turned up to the AFANT agm last year, maybe the next one a few more might attend!

I agree in some respects with the fto's being commercial, but you have to remember that the people that go fishing with them are same as us except, a lot are tourists and others don't own a boat and only go once or twice a year.

I have been out on a couple over the last couple of years and haven't really caught much, glad I can go by myself, with family and friends and explore