North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

cuddlescooper wrote:The big advantage is the fact the continental shelf is close by for fish to hide off on the east coast. Plus that huge reef....I forget the name... Perhaps its the great barrier or something.

The NT in close to Darwin at best has rubble patches but no real substantial systems. It has shallow and easy water to fish. I think NT waters are far easier to rape then southern waters. Even more reason for it to be heavily regulated.

All true.

Feel a bit sorry for the poor bloke with a 14 foot tinny and 15hp motor in all this. You know the bloke that goes out and catches a couple of poxy snapper for a feed? AFANT is being run by a bunch of colored shirt wearing posers that don't give a toss about the everyday bloke trying to catch a couple for a feed. Ill tell you one thing for free if they bring in some cr.p about paying for a license so you can go on a three day slaughter fest as long as you pay a fee there will be an outcry. Shouldn't be about money,size of your boat or how pretty your shirt is. If the stocks are in as bad a way as they say there should be a blanket ban on catching them anywhere for five years (all sectors). And while there at it trickies reds and trout should be reduced baglimits now so it doesn't get to this stage with them as we'll.

ghound wrote:Feel a bit sorry for the poor bloke with a 14 foot tinny and 15hp motor in all this. You know the bloke that goes out and catches a couple of poxy snapper for a feed? AFANT is being run by a bunch of colored shirt wearing posers that don't give a toss about the everyday bloke trying to catch a couple for a feed. Ill tell you one thing for free if they bring in some cr.p about paying for a license so you can go on a three day slaughter fest as long as you pay a fee there will be an outcry. Shouldn't be about money,size of your boat or how pretty your shirt is. If the stocks are in as bad a way as they say there should be a blanket ban on catching them anywhere for five years (all sectors). And while there at it trickies reds and trout should be reduced baglimits now so it doesn't get to this stage with them as we'll.

Hey GHOUND.....Wanna here something funny.....I agree with you!

At least I agree with the blanket bans bit. I find it wrong that you should be able to pay more to rape the seas. That just makes us as bad as that island up to the north that are happy to grab money for a resource from the rich and taking the opertunity away from the not so rich, segrigating the people that is trying to protect the resource in the first place.

As for bagging AfANT im not so sure, at least they are having a crack at achieving something. They have done well with the barra Fishery. Unfortunatly reef fish wont be that easy and we are already well behind on the forgotten species of the reefs.

Hey cuddles

See I'm not all bad

As for the AFANT thing your probably right. Lets just say short of one or two I don't think the bloke catching a feed of fish in eat arm are the main user group that AFANT cater to. It gives me the s...ts that the guys with big boats and big budgets think they have more rights than the little bloke.

Ghound

dont be silly no one actually goes out and catches fish to feed there family !!!
been my point all along really !!
as for barra i dont think we could wipe them out could we ?? i mean the pros have had a fair crack for 30 years now ?? we cant fish and access the breeding areas to rape them all like the snapper the places are either inaccessable or on blackfella land !!

ghound wrote:Feel a bit sorry for the poor bloke with a 14 foot tinny and 15hp motor in all this. You know the bloke that goes out and catches a couple of poxy snapper for a feed? AFANT is being run by a bunch of colored shirt wearing posers that don't give a toss about the everyday bloke trying to catch a couple for a feed. Ill tell you one thing for free if they bring in some cr.p about paying for a license so you can go on a three day slaughter fest as long as you pay a fee there will be an outcry. Shouldn't be about money,size of your boat or how pretty your shirt is. If the stocks are in as bad a way as they say there should be a blanket ban on catching them anywhere for five years (all sectors). And while there at it trickies reds and trout should be reduced baglimits now so it doesn't get to this stage with them as we'll.

Pretty much all true as well ghound. I feel a bit sorry for everyone affected, not just the guy in the 14foot tinny. The blanket closure would be the way to go, but if they dont have the guts to do it they need to be carefull they ont wipe out the close fish totaly, my ensuring everybody targets them.
Man I am agreeing with a lot of stuf latley.

ghound wrote:Hey cuddles

See I'm not all bad

As for the AFANT thing your probably right. Lets just say short of one or two I don't think the bloke catching a feed of fish in eat arm are the main user group that AFANT cater to. It gives me the s...ts that the guys with big boats and big budgets think they have more rights than the little bloke.

Ghound

Not sure about having more rights but they have the potential to do more damage to whats left, I am pretty keen to make sure they dont.

Unfortunately by closing off certain aspects of the fishery others (like barra)are going to get a lot more pressure. Be interesting to see how it pans out. Look at jewfish not that I'm an expert but I'm under the impression that they bred like rats and grow at a fast rate yet fisheries are telling us they are in decline as well. For my money if a fish like this can suffer from over fishing anything can. I wouldn't want to be a barra in the harbor in the next few years going to be a whole lot more fishing pressure on them that's for sure.

Ghound

ghound wrote:. Look at jewfish not that I'm an expert but I'm under the impression that they bred like rats and grow at a fast rate yet fisheries are telling us they are in decline as well. For my money if a fish like this can suffer from over fishing anything can. I wouldn't want to be a barra in the harbor in the next few years going to be a whole lot more fishing pressure on them that's for sure.

Ghound

I think jewfish would recover fairly well if we had a complete ban for two or three years. They are supposed to be fast growing and breed a few times a year so a couple of years of no body targetting them should see a huge rise in stocks.

the reason they say that they have become under pressure is due to there regionality. A school of fish is fairly residential in a small range so they dont spread out and breed with other fish in other places. Once you work out there spawning location you can go and smash fish after fish off that reef untill none are left. they are very predictable as was suggested by Shaggs in the statement that his young bloke on the pro boat could still go to Charles point and pull 60 fish a night on given tides. I cant see this lasting for long especially as more people cotton onto the right time to be fishing for them.

I suggest a three year blanket ban then a set spawning ban of a month or so every year after that on certain reefs that they aggregate on.

This is only for Jewfish. Snapper will be harder to get back to health as they are slow growing from that data I have seen.

As for the extra barra pressure, I think with the removal of the nets the barra fishery should be able to withstand the pressure. Especially with the statement that someone posted a while back that the threadfin salmon would over take Chambers bay if nets are removed. There is a good eating fish that people could target instead. It could all fall into place if all the ideas are acted on now while we still have a chance and the nets are removed.

Im just thinking out loud here but can jewies and goldies be raised from eggs in captivity and released into the wild? just like they do with Barra?
I agree that some serious measures have to be put in place before there is nothing left but we may also be able to help them along abit.

ghound wrote:Unfortunately by closing off certain aspects of the fishery others (like barra)are going to get a lot more pressure. Be interesting to see how it pans out. Look at jewfish not that I'm an expert but I'm under the impression that they bred like rats and grow at a fast rate yet fisheries are telling us they are in decline as well. For my money if a fish like this can suffer from over fishing anything can. I wouldn't want to be a barra in the harbor in the next few years going to be a whole lot more fishing pressure on them that's for sure.

Ghound

Your onto me about the barra .
Heres my plan with the barra Ghound, we fill the fish eskys up with grog on the big boat, sleep and eat on board it as accomodation at the barra spots and fish out of the smaller boats.

I'm just glad I finally put the new donk on the back of the old girl...... Gonna need it for the race down the barra rivers.

Lumborghini wrote:Im just thinking out loud here but can jewies and goldies be raised from eggs in captivity and released into the wild? just like they do with Barra?
I agree that some serious measures have to be put in place before there is nothing left but we may also be able to help them along abit.

Thats what i said earlier. I reckon they could if they tried. They so it for salmon, troutand recently kingfish. It will cost money and we will be footing the bill
Bring on the licences, rego etc etc

Thats what i said earlier. I reckon they could if they tried.

They have it done it with red drum in the USA, which are a bit like jewfish.

They have bred many species of marine fish in Asia.

But there are genetics and cost issues ... and there is opposition to it locally from some quarters. I believe a proposal to put excess barra fingerlings into Darwin Harbour was knocked on the head.

There have been some good issues raised on this thread, there's no easy answers. There are some comments I don't understand ...

*Why the problem with commercial and charter operator licences going up in value if there are no more entrants allowed in? I assume there is a reason for this and it's not just ill feeling towards these sectors.
*What is the problem with the big charter boats or others buying a permit for an extended bag limit for fishing spots that are half way to Indonesia? (Not an official proposal by the way, as far as I am aware). Sounds good to me if they are fishing further away, there's not going to be as much pressure in close. And because it costs a fortune to go wide and weather is a limiting factor, presssure on the wide grounds from charter boats will not be anywhere near as great as near Darwin. Not many trailer boats will be going to Tassie Shoal etc.

Also, the actual NT fisheries proposals are currently only for tighter possession limits, and education about barotrauma. Discussions about other restrictions have come from elsewhere. Whether the proposals change remains to be seen.

The comments about AFANT are disappointing, they have done a hell of a lot for recreational fishing, if someone has an issue with AFANT policy or action then they should get on the phone and let them know, or write to them, the feedback would likely be taken into account. As for the coloured AFANT shirts comment - checkout the Daly during the run-off it, sometimes it looks like a mardi gras ran into a pensioner's convention

CSIRO do it with many species expecially ones that are in decline.
they do the development and then sell it off.
they have kept the tiger prawn operation which is booming, maybe that raises a few more $ than expected.

Jewies would be perfect, fast growing etc etc.