Crabbing at Mandurah, a heads up
Sadly, I see in our local paper (The Coastal Times) a three quarter page story on just what the danger is of having a crabbing season in Mandurah can lead to when it is opened way to early, and most of the crabs are way under size at this time of the year.
A local resident has been coming across piles of dead under size crabs that have been brought to shore and when found to be way under size left to die (if they aren't already dead)on the fore shore or in the rubbish bins.
He also reports sightings of people spearing these small crabs with gidgees and then using the gidgee as a lacrosse stick to flick the crabs off the prongs of the gidgee so that they can then continue there bloody wonton destruction of the under size grabs.
I know that I'm just repeating what I have moaned about for a couple of years now, may be just may be fisheries will take notice of what is happening to the main attraction of coming to Mandurah, which is lets get a feed of delicious crabs and you don't need a boat to do it.
I hold grave fear for the future of this fishery as I have seen this wanton destruction going on for near on ten years now, and I don't believe that the destruction of these small crabs can continue on add infinitum.
One day the people and business in Mandurah are going to wake up and say gee I wonder why we aren't getting as many visitors coming to town, well guess what no crabs no tourist dollars flowing into town and just who is to blame.
In my view we the residents of Mandurah are to blame for not pushing hard enough for fisheries to keep the crab season closed until near the end of January at the very earliest. I know that a lot of the local businesses will throw up their hands and accuse me of speaking heresy just to mention having a later opening.
Mention a later opening at a social function with the towns business types in attendance and you will certainly liven up the gathering I can assure you.
The story also has an adjacent column on how the pro crabbers are being hit hard by people destroying their gear.
I have the strong suspicion that some of the flat earth brigade think the lack of decent crabs is the fault of the pro crabbers, enough said about these types of people.
If you are coming down to Mandurah to do a bit of crabbing, do yourself a favour save your petrol dollars and leave it till at least a lot closer to December at least. The crabs are just not worth the time effort and money at the moment.
Rant over
quadfisher
Posts: 1146
Date Joined: 28/09/10
Changing values?
No-one with any idea would disagree there mate, Its funny I have always been a person
who believed in NOT having to many regulations and rules , to do with all sorts of issues, but for whatever reason
it seems like now days , we need to regulate people more than ever , witness the cray season criminals , and as you say
earlier and earlier crabbers , whom If am not mistaken , must be selfish to the point of thinking , well I have come all this way ,
I am going home with a feed, or If I dont go early, some other guy will go in November and clean up.
Reguardless of the year , we go mid jan to about mid march , and usually get good catches, all size , and meaty.
I vote no crabs to 2 weeks before xmas , and be done with it.
quadfisher
jighead
Posts: 728
Date Joined: 03/02/12
Fully agree.
I think you should be allowed to shoot the prick's
The Saint
Posts: 472
Date Joined: 30/01/13
I reckon quadfisher is spot
I reckon quadfisher is spot on.
Two weeks before Christmas would be the ideal time to kick off the crabbing at Mandurah.
Give them a chance to grow !
Mike17
Posts: 323
Date Joined: 30/06/13
Enforcer
The time the season opens of closes does not change the fact that people will not follow the rules and the rules in place are not enforced hard enough.
This time of year the only place you "Might" find a fisheries officer is at the boat ramps looking at cray catches. Unforunately crabbing in Mandurah is not very high on fisheries list of priorities untill the Xmas holidays.
I have lived and crabbed in mandurah for over 30 years and don't see any benefit in increasing the time on the crab closure.
There are size crabs in the estuary all your if yu know where to look for them so when you are able to keep them will make no difference.
Use The Force
quadfisher
Posts: 1146
Date Joined: 28/09/10
Agree to disagree.
So you would agree that theres just as many undersize crabs in the shallows of the estuary in feb -march , as there is in
oct -nov?
cause I dont! and I think the numbers of people getting booked for undersize earlier in the season , would support that.
quadfisher
D_d_001
Posts: 1522
Date Joined: 09/03/13
quadfisher :"So you would
quadfisher :"So you would agree that theres just as many undersize crabs in the shallows of the estuary in feb -march , as there is in
oct -nov?"
don't think Mike is saying that. really think he is just saying that idiots will be idiots regardless of the rules.
I certainly agree it needs more policing.
personally wouldn't care if the season was put off a bit as I don't go down to Mandurah till hot jan. but sometimes extra rules just make it worse for the ppl who abide by the rules and treat the females and undersize with respect and care.
Mike17
Posts: 323
Date Joined: 30/06/13
Logic
So are we to use this logic for anything with a size limit??
Set size limits and set bag limits and ploice them properly.
As i said i've fised in the estuary for 30 years and have only been stopped by fisheries less than 5 times.
They simply don't do enough so placing more restrictions on this fishery will not work as the ones that are in place now aren't enforced.
More restrictions are not the way to solve this problem.
Use The Force
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8156
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Hey Megalon. Camping in
Hey Megalon. Camping in Mandurah next weekend and wanna see if you've been across to the spot I shared with you last year for a look. Keen to grab a feed of crabs then chase some whiting popper mayhem and if there's big ones around, that'd be the spot
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Tradewind
Posts: 754
Date Joined: 18/09/12
This might draw some hate but
This might draw some hate but what about a License for Crabs? (Land Based as you already need a RFBL for boat)
Would also slow down some families i've seen with tots hauling in 50 crabs between 5, they'd be less likely to purchase 5 licenses.
It wont stop every offence happening but it'd be another injection of cash which you'd hope would give us a few more officers to police Mandurah during this time of the year
I also agree with starting the season later, closer to Xmas as the amount of small ones land based isn't worth it anyway
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Problem is...
...as mentioned above, can fisheries be bothered to effectively patrol for licences, closed seasons or whatever else might be brought in?
I spent a LOT of hours chasing whiting in the estuary last summer, amongst many, many crabbers, and never saw one fisheries officer. Much easier to lie in wait at the boat ramps then to actually have to get out of the vehicle and be proactive.
Tradewind
Posts: 754
Date Joined: 18/09/12
Last season I spent many
Last season I spent many nights scooping out on those whiting flats and consistantly witnessed very shady behaviour
I made multiple calls to Fisheries about the goings on, and I know they can't be there 24/7 but with that pattern i'd hope for more oversight this season
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
thing is while i can see
thing is
while i can see the point in moving the season back to later opening date in mid dec ,
people who dont follow the rules and regs now , or have no respect for the fishery or its sustainability will still not neccessarily abide by them with the changes in place
having a visible active enforcement presence out and about making more contacts with the general public is a definite winner imo
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
crasny1
Posts: 7004
Date Joined: 16/10/08
As mentioned
Crabs are there year round, and if you know what to do you will get them.
We look out over the Bouvard area off the estuary, and you can just about set your clock by this. We see the odd boat before November, mostly cruising or biscuitting. Come Nov 1 there is always boats that go crabbing, and for us its a little chuckle because the little ones dominate what ends up in the nets. It is slowish (even on the weekends) until about mid december, after which the ramp is backed up. This pattern continues until Easter, with Public Holidays mayhem. The record number of boats crabbing we saw from our verandah was a staggering 48 (yes I count sometime just to see) on last years Aus Day, and I just cant imagine how many is on the Estuary in total, as we have a great view, but it is only a small area of the total estuary we can observe.
Come easter its mayhem again, but once this passes the numbers drop dramatically. We still go and get a feed well into Winter but patience and a little knowledge is needed later, but the crabs are large and full. The season IS open but we might see 1 per week crabbing in winter itself. It is like the public closes the season themselves.
So the closure makes little sense to me (even though I know the period is calculated as the spawning time). But the day the season open we see boats. It is like some have wanted to go crabbing, dust off the nets or just get out. Then over the next few weeks there is again a few boats out, but nothing like November 1.
Closing the season has merits, but it is like a red flag to a bull when that closure ends. If there was no closed season I myself would be very interested to see when people actually start going. I suspect it would be fairly slow in November.
The reports from friends and neighbours have been fairly slow, but with heaps of small ones. There must be a few, because leaving a Wednesday night fishing net for a little to long without lifting it results in mangled fish in the net. It surprises me at how much damage a crab(s) can do to a fish in a net when the net is checked every 30minutes.
I think moving the closure (if it is needed) up would be useful. September and October historically (even before the closure) saw very few boats, so moving it to to cover Mid October to mid December would suit all parties concerned IMO. The crabs are small, so not many would complain because the work rate to catch a feed is large. Mandurah is not in Holiday mode yet (starts basically mid December) and thus it wont effect local business much.
Despite living 200m from the ramp as the crow flies, 600m by road we can go anytime, but havent even bothered yet. Apart from a few days when we have friends/family over for a BBQ we never go for a bag. 10 crabs is more than enough to feed the 3 off us so that is our target mostly. But in November/early December it is historically a wasted fishing time to do that, when you have other options for fishing open that is more productive. Days I can get out are precious, and I would rather go out and get a feed of whiting/squid than plod around trying for crabs and having to sort out and injure truck loads of undersize crabs.
I dont think a closure is needed because people self regulate. But if it was there it should be moved to cover the time when the crabs are getting bigger to stop injuring many undersize crabs.
My 2 cents worth.
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
Shark1
Posts: 1086
Date Joined: 21/05/12
its not the time of year -its
its not the time of year -its the lack of policing thats the issue
got 10 in less than 30 mins sunday past all 5mm or more oversize
in 20 trips last year didnt see a single officer -when i phoned to report 2 blokes netting on a weekend -taking everything, they said they didnt have any officers down there to investigate - took details (rego etc)
same 2 blokes with 4 more was there next weekend- doing the same thing
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Quick question
What happened to the VFLO programme, I don't think they had the power to book any one but the sight of a yellow jacketed person wandering around had the desired effect on people fishing in the cut and taking bucket loads of herring. They stopped doing it quick smart, possibly they resumed after the yellow jackets had gone but that can't be helped. A few big fines might make most baby crab catchers think again but the hard core types will still chance it.
Jackfrost80 I had a look a week ago and there was nothing but heaps of under size if they get the chance to live for another couple of weeks thins should be good again. Feel free to contact me a bit latter on for an update.
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8156
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Cheers bloke. Heading down
Cheers bloke. Heading down anyway so gonna have look around as I'm staying at a caravan park next to the Serpi and Furnisdale ramp. I generally don't keep anything I feel like I have to measure so prob too early for me
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
beachsoul
Posts: 215
Date Joined: 14/06/12
I know the answer for the future. Rambling on again!!!
Firstly their are size crabs around throughout the year.....if you have an undersize crab in your pocession it must be measured and released immediateley on capture.
You cannot keep them in the tub for measuring later........that is an offence to my understanding.
I think a multi pronged approach is needed.
Make fines high enough that it will pay for more fisheries officers to be on the prowl. BIG FINES
Education There could be a subject on being a good environmental citizen..Teach kids in schools how to be decent human beings. Not little fing pricks. God knows their parents should be doing this. ( The adults can learn what is common knowledge through the hip pocket )
My kids are adults now and both regularly pick up rubbish. My son who fishes only ever keeps enough for a feed. Rarely keeping the bag limit. Crabs I don't catch many. We only take enough for a feed ( 3 or 4 each ). If we bag out on crays we keep them all but we stop once we have a small amount in the freezer....its about getting out and catching fresh seafood for us. Not filling freezers....
Busting those who refuse to conform to the regulations should be almost a self funded industry. Why should we doing the right thing always pay to police the criminal element...the wrong doers should be paying for doing the wrong thing.
Im sure the fines are big now.....they should go bigger....
Ps I have done the wrong thing in the past....I snuck down and blocked illeagal tracks into degraded dunes with my tree loppings....Im sure the ranger would have seen it as dumping. To me at the time it was being proactive.
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
Fully agree, close the
Fully agree, close the season till christmas.
With regards to policing it, how hard could it be to recuit people to walk around the shores checking for licenses, surely some sort of quota system or bonus system could be put in place. I for one dont mind someone getting paid to fine these people who feel they need to break the law and rape and pilage the Mandurah crab stocks because they dont want to pay for it..
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Must be harder than we think...
...because they're not doing it.
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
no i ts not that hard, it
no i ts not that hard, it just comes down to who is going to pay for it ultimately im sure!