Gives me the sh@#s

[ONTHECHEW]

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15:06

I woke up to a phone call this morning from a mate who was talking to his mate that was fishing the pine river this morning and bumped into one of the local pro fisherman (netters). The boys have been smacking some good numbers of good Jew in there for sometime now until recently. It had them both stumped as to why. They then spoke to another mate who knows one of the pros who work the area. He told of this particular so called "pro" netting the river up to three nights a week and catching up to three tone of fish a night including big Jew and big tailor up to 10lb! It was then confirmed to them when they seen it right in front of there eyes. The netter boasted of catches of Jew and tailor in the pine similar to what they had been told. He also bragged how he netted the Brisbane river the other night and hauled in four tone of Jew!! Any wonder the fish stocks are supposedly in danger according to all research and yet our government and the greenies continue to allow this to happen while at the same time pointing the finger at us recreational anglers for doing all the damage. It really breaks my heart to hear of this stuff going on and I can't believe our current governors allow this to happen in such areas. Anyone with half a interest in fishing need to spread the word as to what is happening in our local creeks, rivers and bays in order to make the larger part of our community aware therefor bringing us one step closer to bringing the slaughter to a end.

One can only imagine how great our fishery could become if it wasn't for these massive numbers of quality fish being taken out in one foul swoop!!

Better than we could ever imagine....

[sehrguht]

That sucks, I didn't even know they netted for fish in the pine or brisbane river I thought that stopped a long time ago. Is it gill nets?

[Damien2Rad]

It's so disappointing to hear things like that...

Something has to be done, but what?

[tekung]

man that is disappointing, something needs to be done

[Doobsy]

Maternal Fornicators...

[rathabfishin2]

Maternal Fornicators...

Agreed..... Ritchard Heads..... :whistle:

[sweresy]

maybe it was the same 'pro' that operates out of the Port, loves to drive right down the middle of the ramp so no one can launch either side, strolls over to his tied up boat then drives it up onto his trailer and slowly crawls his way up the ramp. Whole process takes him about 10 minutes and meanwhile gives all and sundry 'death stares' while you patiently wait like he owns the joint. takin the pi55....

[rayke1938]

Sounds like someone is pulling your leg or something else.

Do you know what 3 tons of fish looks like?

Tales like this have been circulating for years and never verified and only give the pros a bad name.

All the pros that I have known are very conscious of the sustainability of their industry and would never net in areas that they are closed to them.

To the best of my knowledge the only pros allowed in the Brisie and pine are the prawn trawlers.

Maybe Lance would comment.

Cheers

Ray

[Dinodadog]

I have seen boats dragging nets in the pine when I go over the pine river bridge certainly hasnt stopped.

[crazywalrus]

I have seen boats dragging nets in the pine when I go over the pine river bridge certainly hasnt stopped.

Does not mean they are pros. I think there is a lot of illegal netting done. I rocked up to a place to get my bait the other day and I was offered the opportunity to sell my catch to them. I declined.

[Gloomy Samurai]

Quite often I see a guy going down the middle of South Pine dragging a net. If he is illegal, he obviously is pretty confident he won't get caught.

It bothers me a bit too. I rarley keep fish for a few reasons, but when the netters take tonnes at a time (from a discussion with Sean Conlan, so do not doubt his claim), it makes you wonder how much we actually contribute to the preservation of our fish stocks as responsible recreational anglers.

Andrew

[Shane69]

Sounds like someone is pulling your leg or something else.

Do you know what 3 tons of fish looks like?

Tales like this have been circulating for years and never verified and only give the pros a bad name.

All the pros that I have known are very conscious of the sustainability of their industry and would never net in areas that they are closed to them.

To the best of my knowledge the only pros allowed in the Brisie and pine are the prawn trawlers.

Maybe Lance would comment.

Cheers

Ray

I agree with Ray on this one.

I have met a few pros and trawlers in the river.

They not bad blokes once you get to know them.

They do it for a living and im sure they dont want to ruin it for themselves.

And in the end even if they are taking tons of fish id rather them take it than the white bucket. It all ends up back at the same fish market anyway.

[aussie123]

I would like to see commercial netting of rivers and estuaries totally banned but I am also in favor of a commercial fishing industry.

Fish stocks belong to everyone in this country and not just us rec anglers therefore there must be a commercial sector to harvest the stocks for the people who either do not fish or are incapable of fishing.

It's no different to the farmers who produce food for us people who cannot do it ourselves.

Someone has to do it whether we like it or not.

The last 10 years has seen some of the worlds best practices introduced into our net fisheries and a lot of other restrictions as well to fishermen and their vessels and gear as well a RFH's and green zone closures ect and hopefully it will not be too long before we begin to see the recovery of a lot of fish stocks from all of the new regulations.

If we want a top notch fishery we need to look further afield than a handful of commercial guys taking a few ton of fish here and there for a few months of the year.

The real problem lies in our catchments.

Pesticides,Insecticides,Soil Erosion,loss of habitat and Acid Sulphate Runoff are just some of the major issues facing our estuaries and our fish stocks and causing more harm than a few commercial fishermen ever will.

If we can fix those issues and more there will be enough fish for everyone.

[elops]

Prawn trawlers are allowed in the Pines upstream of the yellow zone boundary bycatch regulations are convoluted. In the Brisbane the same no downstream limit but have to work within port and navigation rules. Net Fishery google "Guidelines for commercial operators in the eastcoast inshore finfish fishery" all you need to know about what is permitted. If you see commercial operators fishing illegally report them.

[motu]

yea the pros do stick too there limits just like the guy cought at raby bay with 222 shelled crabs and yea I do know a few pro fishers and they get away with what they can its a tough game out there for them

[darcy]

^well said. Obviously they arent all "nice blokes". It comes down to money most like money a whole lot more than a prospering eco system. Most just see it as what i dont take, other pros will.

[rayke1938]

^well said. Obviously they arent all "nice blokes". It comes down to money most like money a whole lot more than a prospering eco system. Most just see it as what i dont take, other pros will.

I have known a fair few pros over the last 50 years of so and whilst some of them are rough diamonds they are/have been concerned about the sustainability of their livelihood.

Some of the crabbers get a bit territorial about their pots and if you drop one of your pots on top of theirs the odds are that the float will disappear.

Most of these guys have been in the game for 4 or 5 generations and wish their kids to continue in the profession.

There are some bad apples in the game but they do not last too long as they are usually weeded out by their peers.

Cheers

Ray

[tiotony]

There is certainly people illegally gillnetting though- I've seen gillnets staked across mangrove creeks around Cairns. Apparently you can buy a gillnet off ebay.

Personally I'd like to see a dramatic reduction in commercial fishing for wild stocks and the public encouraged to fish for a feed rather than buy it.

Of note, after the massive buyback of barramundi gillnet licences around Cairns 15 odd years ago, barramundi for the rec fisherman has steadily gone from being a unicorn fish rarely caught, to one of the most commonly caught fish. They are pretty much a bread-and-butter species now that you can go and catch at will (if the weather and tide is good of course). However, word on the street is that the pros that used to target barra now target salmon- this is evidenced by the fact there's always fresh salmon in the local fish shops selling very cheap when before you'd hardly see them. I've also noticed a dramatic drop in salmon numbers on Cairns beaches- 10 odd years ago I could catch a salmon at will, nowadays I haven't seen a decent salmon run in 5 years, and have only caught one legal one in the last 3 years.

[rayke1938]

A couple of years ago I wrote to fisheries and the then Minister about the availability of gill nets on ebay.

Apparently it is not illegal to sell them only illegal to use them.

Cheers

Ray

[ChrisC]

bull sheet ey