Fisheries Now 'Sustainable' Catch Quotas Jump

[Gad]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-21/fish-quotas-up/5336194

Updated Fri 21 Mar 2014, 4:04pm AEDT

Fishermen say a rise in the eastern states' catch quota for the coming season points to the long-term sustainability of the industry.

The quota for the fishing region south of Sydney down to Kangaroo Island, including Tasmania, has jumped by 816 tonnes, or 4 per cent on last season.

Chief executive officer of the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association, Simon Boag, says the industry is now sustainable and quotas will continue to rise.

"I think the heavy-lifting is done [and] we're now starting to enjoy the spoils. We are now in a place where it would appear that quotas every year are trending upward."

Mr Boag says in the past five years, quotas have on average risen by 3 per cent.

“Previous to that, it had never gone up; it had either gone down or stayed the same. It’s just good signs for this south east trawl fishery,†he said.

“We are really fortunate to have CSIRO do all our stock assessments and to be working in a sustainable fishery.â€

Mr Boag says the upward trend of the quotas should instil confidence in consumers.

“Most importantly, the consumer can be assured that when they eat flathead tonight, it is sustainable.â€

The new season begins on May 1.

[Gad]

WOW.. is that not good news for all fisher- people.

As rec fishos` we should now be leaping with joy and taking comfort in the knowledge that by having our bag limits lowered, and having minimum and maximum size limits in place,we have played a great part in helping our fisheries get to the sustainability stage where our com/pro fishos` can now continuously up their quotas for the overall good of our fisheries.

Yes, I`m over-come with that warm and fuzzy inner glow, knowing that I am doing my part in building our fisheries stock so that I may enjoy our piscatorial pursuits well into the future :dry:

[Damien2Rad]

Absolutely shocking.

[Brett62]

We should not be surprised !!!!!!!!

Next our bag limit will be reduced further with more restriction on where and when we can fish.

I agree with protecting our fish stocks so why the hell would we now increase the pro's quoter.

I can't work it out, it's to hard.

[Samrenny]

What an absolute load of crap. They should be cutting back on what commercial fisheries are allowed to take, let numbers increase instead of taking more and keeping numbers down.

[Damien2Rad]

And to top it all off, fisheries funding - in QLD at least - is so low that now new staff have been employed for a few years and there are not enough fisheries officers to keep an eye on whats going on any ways.

I stick to the bag limits (or much lower) but I know that not everyone does, going by what I've seen at boat ramps over the years.