Jump to content

Can We Do Better?


Farawayfishing

Recommended Posts

Alright guys and gals,

Im a frequent watcher but only occasional poster.

I am posting today because I want your feedback. Not arguments or ideology. It shouldn't matter what walk of life any of us are from, if you are reading this, its because you love fishing.

I want to know, whether you are a QLD resident or not, what do you think of QLD fisheries management?

Do you think its too slack? Do you think we should have more regional/local control? Do you think we need a license system? How do you think bag limits are currently, too big?too oppressive? Is there anything that you think needs to change or, even better, thing that you think are working in fisheries and the way they are managed here in QLD?

Me personally. I live in what has forever been an incredibly rural area, though, with the advent of road development, its becoming more accessible.

I live across the road from the beach and 2 years ago for the first time in my life, I saw a boat towed in by a tourist. Since then, the fishing has been getting decimated.

With great regularity i see ridiculous (unpoliced!) numbers of fish, I'm ashamed to say, by rec anglers, pulled from the water.

Ive never believed that rec guys should let everything go and I've certainly never believed that we are to be besmirched for enjoying fishing. I do however believe that we as rec fishos have an obligation to look after our fisheries as best we can and I'm sure that most of you would agree with that.

I have become disillusioned with how archaic some of QLD's regs are and I'm desperately searching for an answer to help protect the local area that I have always called my home and the reason why people put it on their bucket list.

I welcome you guys to the floor. Vent, discuss, collaborate, create and inspire because it is QLDs fisheries and it belongs to all of us. Tell us what you think of your local fishery. What is your dream fishing holiday and where is it? do you think QLD laws need to be looked at? if you do, what would you do?

There is no right or wrong answer!

Hope to hear from everyone

tight lines

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, ellicat said:

I think it is under-policed though.

I could have sad it better myself. 

 

Rules are fine as they are. In my local area I believe it is the illegal netters working at night, and the people of different cultures decimating the system by keeping every single fish regardless of size. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i think you will get a vast majority of people saying yes to the current rules and regs, but not enough policing of the rules.

Just look at the recent snapper closed season laws that came into effect a few years ago. i swear the catch rate and size of snapper now being caught at Scarborough has increased dramatically.

Id be happy for a fishing licence to be introduced. ANy true recreational fisher would be hard to argue against it. Its not so much about the revenue raised form licence's, but to weed out the "ignorant" of the law people out there. I would like to see fisheries have more power (confiscating fishing gear on the spot) for people being caught in the act with under sized fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I appreciate all of your feedback fellas! I hope that there is plenty more.

 

not knowing where you all come from its hard to tell what areas you are fishing but with the mention of snapper it alludes to more than likely being in the SEQ region.

 

one of the issues that I see up here is that so much of the regulations in place are based around places like SEQ and it feels like we are blanketed in them despite having a completely different climate, rain affect, species diversity and population dynamics.

 

I would be surprised if you could find another expanse of 'first world' country in the world 2500kms long (the distance between Brisbane and my home town) and just one set of rules for it.

 

I Agree that licensing should be internally reinvested within the fishing community to help police, educate etc etc but it seems increasingly unfair that areas like mine aren't given the opportunity to even develop their own needs based system for authority because we are all covered under state rather than regional law.

 

Even  if we were to develop a license system in QLD, there is certainly no guarantee that any changes would be implemented in local areas like mine unless we emancipate or are given some sort of regional control over our own local fisheries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i was under the impression that there are a few geographical separating laws in QLD (closed seasons, bag limits, type of fishing etc) probably not enough though!

Unfortunately, as the population grows, so will the desire for new fishing locations. I agree with you 100%, local regions should be able to enforce their own rules and regs (much like local dams like Lake Samsonvale)...but that's in a perfect world.

the problem with that....there are too many hands in the cookie jar. It sounds like you live in somewhat of a remote area, so an influx of tourists means a boost for local business'. if you start to tighten the straps on what people catch and how many people are allowed to do so would start to cause issues in other area's of the area (local hotels, tackle shops, restaurants etc) Its another one of those shades of grey area, there is no right or wrong answer, nor is there one solution

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember getting bailed up by a Fisheries Officer in the middle of nowhere on a fishing/camping trip years back. He checked our catch and after a quick chat I found that they were there because a resident (1 of very few) had tipped them off about illegal crabbing in the area. They do get out to these places but only when advised by the locals that something or someone is not complying with the Reg's.

I agree with christophagus here but I would like to see fishing Reg's stay controlled by one entity. Being able to police it more is the key and as mentioned, like most, I would happily pay for a permit. Ideally would be great to have visual benefits as a result...such as increased policing etc.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the regs are fine and what happens today is a vast improvement over what was happening when I was younger. There were no limits and no thought about fish or habitat conservation and people just did crazy things because they knew no better. Everything was kept or killed, rubbish was dumped overboard, raw sewerage emptied out into the waterways. I know it is not Nirvana now but most people try and do the right thing.

On the other hand we have much increased fishing pressure in urban areas and the technology to find the fish that are there, so stocks and sizes have definitely dropped off in many areas. Having been lucky enough to fish in some pretty remote places, and seeing Angus' Papua posts, I am reminded of what fishing would have been like in areas that are now depleted and in some ways wish I was born 50 years earlier.

Like others I would happily pay for a licence as long as the majority of money went back into the cause and wasn't consumed by the administration of the scheme. Or if the science supported it, I would be ok if some areas were closed off for a few years and that arrangement rotated around different areas. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think some bag limits are a bit crazy - who really needs 20 bream as an example?

 

maybe once or twice a year I do a big trip out to the reefs with a few mates and we often bag out on a certain species on these trips and will (hopefully) take home a significant catch between us, all within the rules. We travel well outside of brisbane for these trips. I also fish up around central Qld and in northern nsw, land based and from boats. I enjoy traveling to different areas and trying them out and usually put a bit of coin into the local economy as well through buying food, bait, fuel etc. It is unrealistic to expect people to not travel and explore new areas and regions - to me that's all part of the adventure!

 

i completely agree about the lack of policing though. I spend a lot of time on the water or around the water and could count on one hand the amount of times I've had my bag checked, and if I was so minded it would be easy enough to not show them the whole catch either, it is usually a very cursory glance. I also would be happy to pay a license fee if it meant more officers and some improvements to facilities. 

 

but on the flip side to all that... No matter what the rules, no matter how well policed, there will ALWAYS be a section of the community who disregards whatever laws are there. And it is how they deal with this section of the community that needs the most attention. Usually leading into summer there will be a "publicity" bust by fisheries and a massive fine, jail time and a boat being crushed will be splashed across the news for 30 seconds in the hopes that people will quiver in their boots and throw all their fishing gear out and take up cross stitch. This publicity has no effect on people who obey the rules and also has no effect on the people who just don't care either, just makes the appearance that they are doing stuff.

 

i think we need better policing, a license system, and extreme punishments for repeat offenders, lifetime bans, jail time etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm fine with regulations that promote sustainability and should be in place well before species or average sizes diminish to nearly a point of no return.

It will not matter how many regulations that are introduced if they can not be policed. It is typically the same people that re-offend. Usually you find the person that does the right thing does it all the time, similarly the people that do the wrong thing, do it all the time.

The soft touchy feely approach is no good for these type and harsh penalties should be handed down in every case. If a person is a re-offender give them the maximum penalty and take away the tools they used to commit the offence knowingly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry for being so long in between drinks fellas.

Im stoked to have seen so much feedback. Its obviously an issue that we all as rec fishos should have an opinion on.

As for policing. Much of the funding in my home region was cut a few years back during a state government change over so now there are just 2 fisheries officers to cover an area the size of a country and as navigable as the deepest sections of the amazon.

If an area like mine was able to draw lines around its regions and say 'in this area these are the laws' and one of those laws was that a fishing license was a requirement, we should be given every right to reinvest the money derived from that license back into our own fishery to pay for things like policing which all of us have agreed is substandard.

What I don't want to see is two things; the money generated from a state based license paying for officers 2500kms away and, the goal posts sitting so unimaginatively low. We should not be developing policies and strategies to band aide the problems within a fishery like mine. We should be trying to preserve it to a standard where it is a world class destination.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Farawayfishing said:

Sorry for being so long in between drinks fellas.

Im stoked to have seen so much feedback. Its obviously an issue that we all as rec fishos should have an opinion on.

As for policing. Much of the funding in my home region was cut a few years back during a state government change over so now there are just 2 fisheries officers to cover an area the size of a country and as navigable as the deepest sections of the amazon.

If an area like mine was able to draw lines around its regions and say 'in this area these are the laws' and one of those laws was that a fishing license was a requirement, we should be given every right to reinvest the money derived from that license back into our own fishery to pay for things like policing which all of us have agreed is substandard.

What I don't want to see is two things; the money generated from a state based license paying for officers 2500kms away and, the goal posts sitting so unimaginatively low. We should not be developing policies and strategies to band aide the problems within a fishery like mine. We should be trying to preserve it to a standard where it is a world class destination.

No disrespect faraway, but I think you need to be careful what you wish for. I am guessing that you are probably somewhere around Weipa. The fishing pressure and number of fisher people is so much lower than in SEQ, so you would face a couple of issues:

1. If bag limits and closures are based on sustainability, your area would have bigger bag limits and fewer closures.  Paradoxically, size limits may go down as well because there would be less concern for breeding stock.

2. With so few (comparatively) fishos to buy licences, you may not have much in the way of re-investment so worse boat ramps, less enforcement and so on.

So you may be better off just retaining the state wide system and just enjoy the great fishing that you have available to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...