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New Fishing Rules From Sep1


ellicat

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1 hour ago, jon said:

I don’t mind the closed season if it improves stocks, not a fan of boat limits though. I would have rathered to have seen the minimum size go up five or ten cms and still be allowed four per person. Won’t be much fun divying up the catch if there’s four blokes in the boat. 

I agree with you there @jon snapper at 45cm min and pearlies at 40cm would be good.... it will be tough going for the boys who drive 6hrs to 1770 to fish for 20 fish max .... Some guys put alot of time and money into those trips.  Mind you 20 fish in the esky looks bloody great. I wonder how they got data to think a 1 month ban was the solution. 

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5 hours ago, Cobiaaddict said:

I agree with you there @jon snapper at 45cm min and pearlies at 40cm would be good.... it will be tough going for the boys who drive 6hrs to 1770 to fish for 20 fish max .... Some guys put alot of time and money into those trips.  Mind you 20 fish in the esky looks bloody great. I wonder how they got data to think a 1 month ban was the solution. 

Nothing has changed regarding the bag limit of 20 CRFF that is targeted at places like 1770.

Snapper and Pearl Perch have always been extra species that you could catch on top of your 20 CRFF bag.

The only real difference now if the boat limit for Snapper and the increase in size and smaller bag limit for Pearlies.

 

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11 hours ago, aussie123 said:

Nothing has changed regarding the bag limit of 20 CRFF that is targeted at places like 1770.

Snapper and Pearl Perch have always been extra species that you could catch on top of your 20 CRFF bag.

The only real difference now if the boat limit for Snapper and the increase in size and smaller bag limit for Pearlies.

 

Thanks for clarifying that @aussie123that makes sense to me now...

 

 

 

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So the new rules for marking your traps means no trap owner can take out a bunch of traps and set them and allow random deckies to pull them to get their crabs, redclaw or shrimp.

Each person must have their own name and address on the traps and each person must only have a combination of 4 traps and must only pull their own traps.

I am still waiting on fisheries for clarification on the legal possession limit for wild caught shrimp as the way this new legislation is written, it looks like a possession limit of only 20 shrimp per person is now in place.

If this is the case, anyone buying bait shrimps must get a receipt or you will be in breach of these new regulations.

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Honestly I was expecting worse...

@aussie123 is completely correct - CRFF bag of 20 has been in place for a while, things like snapper, grassies, cobia, trag etc all continue to sit outside this limit so it certainly doesn't mean a total catch limit of 20 fish full stop.

even off DI we need to keep track of CRFF totals - by the time you hit a patch of hussar, a bag of tuskies and a few moses perch or cod, a red throat, a GS wrasse and hopefully a red, trout or nanny, you're pretty much done.  definitely helps keeping track of what goes in the box in a log book.

Support changes in limits on crabs.  Who really needs 20 muddies between two mates anyway?  if you can eat 14 between you before they go off you are better than me!

@Dinodadog - challenge accepted?  40 yellas in a day... i'd like to see that.  definitely not a huge fan of increasing the bag limit on bass, especially for the WBB.  i'd supporting 2 in stocked impoundments and 1 or even no take in the wild.

@jon - certainly sounds like a big problem dividing a measly 8 snapper between mates.  I mean it's a first world problem but a problem none-the-less! 😂

anyone have any thoughts around a possible future rec fishing licence like Vic or NSW with funds going back to restocking, buy out of commercial licences, FADS, research and maybe oyster reef projects?  I'll go on record as saying I personally don't see it is a completely negative thing... and then i'll duck...😬

the fact remains - those that break the current rules will continue to break the new ones and realistically, 99.5% of the time they are going to get away with it.  it's like speeding - those that speed will continue to speed even if you change it from a 100 zone to a 90 zone and the majority of the time, they will get away with it.  i would fully support more patrols and a much more visable presence of fisheries officers - i know this is unlikely to occur given $'s would be required to be invested.

 

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I don't really agree with you @benno573 on your Bass limits, Bass are bred and released by the millions so I think that a bag of 5 is good.

Stocked impoundments are based on a put and take system and the old limit of 2 Bass was ridiculous, especially when you see some lakes so full of small Bass due to the lack of food.

I do agree on the new crab limits as open slather of Sandies was just insane and 7 muddies if still enough for a feed. The boat limit on muddies is not good though, especially when camping with a group of mates you can have 7 each but when you hop into the boat to go back to the ramp, you can only have 14 muddies in the boat.

The new trap tagging rules are good too. Now the tags need to be labeled for the fisherman and not the owner of the traps. This should stop people using large numbers of traps as every person can now only have 4 traps in the water with their name and address on them and that person only must pull them.

I also think a fishing licence should be bought in as long as the funds are quarantined to fisheries related usage only and not going into general revenues for the government of the day to waste on what ever.

I do not agree with these new boat limits as they penalize groups of people fishing together and I do not agree with charter boats not having boat limits because at the end of the day,  they are only rec fishos too.

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51 minutes ago, benno573 said:

Honestly I was expecting worse...

@aussie123 is completely correct - CRFF bag of 20 has been in place for a while, things like snapper, grassies, cobia, trag etc all continue to sit outside this limit so it certainly doesn't mean a total catch limit of 20 fish full stop.

even off DI we need to keep track of CRFF totals - by the time you hit a patch of hussar, a bag of tuskies and a few moses perch or cod, a red throat, a GS wrasse and hopefully a red, trout or nanny, you're pretty much done.  definitely helps keeping track of what goes in the box in a log book.

Support changes in limits on crabs.  Who really needs 20 muddies between two mates anyway?  if you can eat 14 between you before they go off you are better than me!

@Dinodadog - challenge accepted?  40 yellas in a day... i'd like to see that.  definitely not a huge fan of increasing the bag limit on bass, especially for the WBB.  i'd supporting 2 in stocked impoundments and 1 or even no take in the wild.

@jon - certainly sounds like a big problem dividing a measly 8 snapper between mates.  I mean it's a first world problem but a problem none-the-less! 😂

anyone have any thoughts around a possible future rec fishing licence like Vic or NSW with funds going back to restocking, buy out of commercial licences, FADS, research and maybe oyster reef projects?  I'll go on record as saying I personally don't see it is a completely negative thing... and then i'll duck...😬

the fact remains - those that break the current rules will continue to break the new ones and realistically, 99.5% of the time they are going to get away with it.  it's like speeding - those that speed will continue to speed even if you change it from a 100 zone to a 90 zone and the majority of the time, they will get away with it.  i would fully support more patrols and a much more visable presence of fisheries officers - i know this is unlikely to occur given $'s would be required to be invested.

 

46 Yellas one morning has been my best, a few years a go in a post.

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34 minutes ago, aussie123 said:

I don't really agree with you @benno573 on your Bass limits, Bass are bred and released by the millions so I think that a bag of 5 is good.

Stocked impoundments are based on a put and take system and the old limit of 2 Bass was ridiculous, especially when you see some lakes so full of small Bass due to the lack of food.

I do agree on the new crab limits as open slather of Sandies was just insane and 7 muddies if still enough for a feed. The boat limit on muddies is not good though, especially when camping with a group of mates you can have 7 each but when you hop into the boat to go back to the ramp, you can only have 14 muddies in the boat.

The new trap tagging rules are good too. Now the tags need to be labeled for the fisherman and not the owner of the traps. This should stop people using large numbers of traps as every person can now only have 4 traps in the water with their name and address on them and that person only must pull them.

I also think a fishing licence should be bought in as long as the funds are quarantined to fisheries related usage only and not going into general revenues for the government of the day to waste on what ever.

I do not agree with these new boat limits as they penalize groups of people fishing together and I do not agree with charter boats not having boat limits because at the end of the day,  they are only rec fishos too.

Traps or pots, I have 3 sons and my wife who have the same surname as me, how are fisheries going to know whose I am pulling up. As long as I only pull 4 pots I am safe.

 

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Families can have the same name on their taps and pots Dino but they must be on the boat to take them in and set them.

They must also live at the same address as written on the trap.

If you already have your 4 traps set, technically you cannot take another 4 in and set them, they must do that themselves.

 

 

 

 

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Yep I agree on the reductions for taking of crabs also. I don't have enough knowledge/experience regarding the increase of bass to comment.

I don't crab enough to know the true impact on the new tag/label rule changes, however one plus would be that it would make it easier for Fisheries inspectors to tell if someone was stealing or checking someone else's pots.

I don't agree with the new boat limits and can understand how it could prove problematic. In saying that, overall it would protect stocks a little more than the previous rules (a couple of top notch anglers catch enough for the 'not so gifted' anglers on board ......). I agree with you @aussie123 that if it is going to apply to recreational fishermen it should also apply to charter boats. If they aren't prepared to apply the rule to charter boats then they shouldn't apply it.

I've always said that I'd happily pay a fishing licence fee as long as it is spent on worthwhile things.

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I'm a bit perplexed by the changes to Snapper.

Fisheries around the country have flagged that Snapper stocks are depleted. SA apparently last month were considering a 3-4 year ban on Snapper fishing.

I found a link earlier in the day to a 2014 vulnerability study done in QLD. Rough numbers I think were 121 tonnes in 2008 from commercial fishos and estimated 550 tonnes in 2005 for rec fishos. Rec fisho seems incredibly high - 10 tonnes per week, every week ? 🙄  Understandably some of these numbers are quite old, who knows where they are at now. I've just grabbed the first numbers I found - so take from it what you will.

So now what have QLD Fisheries done? They've capped commercial hauls to 42 tonnes. Okay, great, I think that will certainly have a positive impact on fish stocks. Cut that 121 down to 42.

But Rec Fishos? Sweet f*** all.

The only change is a ridiculous rec boat limit. Now I have a 6m centre console, could easily take 3 or 4 out but I only ever take 2, so I'm not impacted at all. The thing that gets me though is that Fisheries have quite clearly highlighted that this rec boat limit isn't to assist with stock levels (at least not directly) but to combat the Black Market. Obviously the flow on impact is less black market = less stock depletion, so it does have a flow on. 

To me, this action says the problem of snapper stocks are a factor of commercial over fishing and the black market.

If so, what a pointless, stupid rule. It's illegal to sell fish privately/black market, so if they're already breaking the law and regs, what is another regulation going to achieve?

 

If Snapper stocks are as bad as they say, I'd rather see the bag limit reduced to 2.

Some other random rambling points:

There are articles suggesting in 2010 time period our snapper stocks were overfished and somewhere between 15-40% biomass level. 

DAF's own website says a 65cm snapper has a median age of 9 years. 

It's going to be a long road to recovery for those Snaps

 

Edit: 

Also, where are the defined boundaries for Stanley and Mary Rivers? Looking at the exclusions to the Mary River closure, I'm guessing the boundary is somewhere up near Tiaro / St Mary ?

Some crazy amount of closures in that list.

 

 

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Thanks Brian. Interesting site that one :)

So following on my rambles, a limit of 42t for commercial fishos is unlikely (I would think ?) to have a dramatic impact if their take is 56t in 2017. 

So what are we doing about the depleted fish stocks? The only change, beyond trying to crack down on Black Market fishos, is a 1 month closure. I don't think I even saw a snapper on the inshore reefs we were fishing during that time - May and June were far more productive. Obviously that's one season and you need to look at seasonal trends, but still... 

I'd rather see tighter bag limits if that was the case.

The problem is that if we're tightening commercial (and everyone elses) catch limits in proportion with the stock depletion, then we're never actually going to recover but rather continue the decline. At some point you need to really cut back to allow stocks to rebuild. 

 

Either that or hope NSW continue to manage their fisheries at a better than sustainable level and hope our stocks can rebuild from migrants down south.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 02/09/2019 at 2:35 PM, aussie123 said:

So the new rules for marking your traps means no trap owner can take out a bunch of traps and set them and allow random deckies to pull them to get their crabs, redclaw or shrimp.

Each person must have their own name and address on the traps and each person must only have a combination of 4 traps and must only pull their own traps.

I am still waiting on fisheries for clarification on the legal possession limit for wild caught shrimp as the way this new legislation is written, it looks like a possession limit of only 20 shrimp per person is now in place.

If this is the case, anyone buying bait shrimps must get a receipt or you will be in breach of these new regulations.

I wrote to fisheries re this and just received a verbal response. Legally there is in possession limit of 20 shrimp but this was not meant to occur and was overlooked when the legislation was drafted. This will be amended at some time in the future and in the meantime a written directive has been issued not to enforce this section of the act. I know that this is only word of mouth but he said that he is not empowered to put it in writing.

Cheers Ray

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