Demersal Ban

 Well after heading out for a fish on Monday and catching a couple of ripping dhufish, 1 went 10kg and the other 16kg i am convinced that the ban is a croc of shit. Reason being the female of 10 kg was choka full of roe. A mate also picked up a female dhufish and it to was full of roe.So my question is. Is the ban put in place to please the vocal minority or is it in place to preserve fish. I feel that if the powers that be are dinkum then the ban should run from mid December for 2 months. What do you guys reckon? 

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Agreed

Wed, 2015-12-30 10:38

Yes, we have caught Dhufish in April full of eggs, and if we had known would have gladly released her.

Below is fisheries link to WA Dhufish, which states the breeding season runs from November to April, with the peak occurring between January and February.

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/species/wa-dhufish/Pages/default.aspx

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Auslobster's picture

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Ok, that's dhufish sorted...

Wed, 2015-12-30 10:44

 ...what about other species? We know snapper start earlier than that. What about other demersals? I personally don't know. Do we simply cover all bases with a four, or even six month ban so all spawning seasons are addressed? 

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Ban

Wed, 2015-12-30 10:45

 I for one think it is working , don't know about anyone else but we have seen a huge increase in juvenile dhu since the ban started .

I do think it is more timed for the masses than the prime spawning time .

imagine the public outcry if it was over the xmas holiday period and the loss of revenue to various costal towns with all the costs involved in catching a feed of fish.

Thats my 2c

 

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 Nothing to do with removing

Wed, 2015-12-30 20:05

 Nothing to do with removing all commercial demersal fishing Mandurah Two Rocks at the same time?
Know where Id put my money...

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My moneys on the stopping of

Thu, 2015-12-31 06:23

My moneys on the stopping of the pro fishing .

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Minister Ford

Sat, 2016-05-28 20:02

put aside 3.2 million to clear the Metro waters of Pro's...................surely a similar closure a little further SOUTH would be an asset in itself......................Look at the SALMON closure and what that has done in DOLLAR value for MANY communities.

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Totally Politically Motivated

Wed, 2015-12-30 11:02

 Hey Willo

Its not rocket science mate.  In  the SW we get the ban in the best 2 months of the fishing season.  Snapper are in close, the days are longer so an afternoon fish is not out of the question plus the wind conditions are classic small boat weather. 

By mid December way fewer days available due to wind spds..Snapper have moved on etc. If you ask Fisheries they can tell you the Aggregation months for Dhufish and interestingly this corresponds with the holiday season. .. what would happen to those town economies and then the electors if the season was closed when it should be?  Join the dots on that one. 

Personally I'd like to see Fisheries release data from the SW region since the ban has been put  in place about how they believe the Fishing has been improved in this area. All that has happened is that the commercial interests in the area now have open slather from Oct to Dec. since the start of the ban x number of years ago.  Remember the only region getting a rest is the Metro region where no commercial fishing takes place year round. There is no rest here from commercial activity and they pay for a license so why should those who pay for a RBFL be excluded from being able participate as well? 

More than happy to hear from the Fisheries Minister or a noted Fisheries Dept somebody over the continued substantiation over a policy that has other prolonged effects in this area... that won't happen and we know why. 

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Fully agree

Sat, 2016-05-28 20:00

Perry. Rocket science it IS NOT.

Marron season>>>>>>>>>>when everyone is on holidays..

Closed season for us....but not the Others??

 

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Not spawning related

Wed, 2015-12-30 19:31

 From what i have read the ban is not spawning related. There is a seperate ban for that and it involves snapper.

The dermersal ban is set to reduce the total number of fish caught for the year in the west coast region and from the reports it has worked. 50% reduction in total demersal fish caught. That leaves half of the normal yearly catch to breed in their normal spawning times and in my opinion it has been working a treat. 

Stacks of juvie Dhues and size ones getting caught. Baldies, blackass and before the sound disaster pinkies all increasing in number and size. All good i say.

I can understand the frustration of pros targeting areas outside the banned ones but rec fishers have the right to fish outside banned areas also it is just hard for us to get the time to travel.

Always more work can be done by fisheries to manage the resources but i dont think we want more/seperate bans for all the different species.

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Enough bans

Wed, 2015-12-30 19:59

 Don't wish for more. If you feel it's wrong don't go fishing simple as that.Just because it's open doesn't state you have to go out and catch dhues.  I always thought dhues spawned end March April. :):):)

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 halelujah!

Wed, 2015-12-30 20:06

 halelujah!

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Thu, 2015-12-31 13:30

 

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 the scientists put forward

Wed, 2015-12-30 20:02

 the scientists put forward Dec Jan for the ban as the peak time, but pollies knew that goat was never gonna fly.
So it was placed where it is now..,.

 

I thought everyone was aware of that?

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since I have been back

Thu, 2015-12-31 05:30

 majority of what I have caught has had eggs. Snook herring snapper Skippy kg. I feel like 2 months is long enough for the dermesal ban and alot of people agree there are alot of juvenile dermesal fish. If everything reported there catches to fisheries they could use that info and adjust accordingly.

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All valid points , maybe I

Thu, 2015-12-31 10:18

All valid points , maybe I misunderstood. I always thought the ban was to protect the breeding cycle of primarily the dhufish and others but mainly the dhuie . Definitely don't want more bans John or rules but that's a whole other thread alone. I think Perry and Paul G nailed it , especially south of Mandurah where I fish . Its just frustrating for me that a rule is introduced to benefit the fish and then is manipulated by the pollies so they don't lose their precious votes. There is no doubt the ban is working but in my opinion if it was delayed south of Mandurah especially , for a month then run for the 2 months it would work a whole lot better. Do Fisheries ever review this kind of thing or is it that once instigated its then there for ever?

edit oh yeah John I wish I had the time to fish when I want then I would self ban but alas that's never going to happen lol

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Lol

Thu, 2015-12-31 17:20

 :):):(:(

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 With the ban and the amount

Thu, 2015-12-31 13:21

 With the ban and the amount of windy days through the summer we all probably lose another month anyway. And as you say Willo we can't even get out on the days we want most of the time anyhow. Sort of makes our fishing times very lean. Was talking to a charter skipper here in NZ yesterday who runs charters in the Havelock sound. He reckons the fishing in there is flogged out due to lack of management. He was quite impressed when I gave him a run down of ours. Showed him a coupla Dhuie pics and he was doubly impressed. 

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I agree with Rob

Thu, 2015-12-31 20:39

 that period was as good as they could get, aligns close to first white run also when Dhue do visit close, biggest help would be pros gone and lobster guys no longer aloud to drop lines.

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Lobster fishers using drop lines

Thu, 2015-12-31 21:03

I thought they stopped lobster/cray fishers from fishing for any thing other than crays some time back at least in the West coast region. We are talking about WA right. Obviously from the above comment by Brock O I'm wrong.
I can remember the topic creating a lot of loud discussion and raising quite a few hackles from wet liners and cray fishermen.

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 Crayboats lost the right to

Fri, 2016-01-01 17:11

 Crayboats lost the right to dropline on their MFL everywhere.
All demersal wetline boats were banned between Two Rocks and Mandurah same time as ban came in.
My observation is along the lines that there appears to be quite an improvement in Metro are but little change up where I am midwest.

Which leads me to conclude that the ban does very little (except make some people feel good) but the removal of commercial pressure has made a significant difference.

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I agree with you

Fri, 2016-01-01 23:19

I think the removal of the commercial fishing pressure has made the local fishing better.

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Removal of Commercial fishing pressure... where

Tue, 2016-01-05 14:57

 You must be talking of the Metro area Meglodon. Where would people think the commercially caught Dhufish are coming from? 

15 million $ set aside for Wonnerup estuary fish stocks. .. the majority going to land catchment.  Could some of those $  be spent in Demersal licence buy back? We ve seen the pro boats within 400m of the beach at Peppy Grove in Geo Bay.  Why can't the politicians find some.'....s'... and have a non pro / recreational area set aside. .  Geo bay exclusion zone for commercial demersal fishing?

And don't read this as Pro bashing.  Those guys deserve to earn a living and provide a resource.  My point is with Fisheries .. the stewards of the ocean. They should be conducting a review of the whole IFM plan. .. and for that matter RFWest who as the peak governing body of the greater collective representing recreational Fisheries need to look further afield than the metro backyard and recognize that they need to do more for Regional areas especially those within a short drive of Perth. Yeah ok N.I.M.B.Y!

 

 

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Commercial fishing

Sat, 2016-05-28 17:03

Very frustrating when you see commercial fishing during the rec fishers ban...south of Preston line . Would be good if the line went all the way to Augusta, then Geo Bay fishers and south could enjoy the same fishing as seen here by metro anglers, ban demersal gill netting. let the commercial use long lines not kilometers of net, all these juvenile Dhu as reported on this site will soon be perfect mesh size for the demersal nets , whats the point of bans, make you feel good if your in the metro area ?Shared resource ?
No I am not against commercial fishing ,just how its done and where its done.

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Pro v Rec

Sat, 2016-05-28 17:54

 2013/2014 Commercial Westcoast Demersal Scale Fishery caught 48 tonne of Dhufish

2013/2014 Recreational West coast bio region caught 81 tonne

intresting.......!!

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I Do Not

Sat, 2016-05-28 20:05

believe those figures.....Research estimate, yes estimate to get an overall figure which would be extremily bias.

Metro water have and still do fish way better than waters further south......

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 Interesting for sure. Any

Sat, 2016-05-28 20:32

 Interesting for sure. Any idea how many commercial demersal fishers operate in the west coast region and where? 

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 Yep ban all the pros and

Sat, 2016-05-28 20:15

 Yep ban all the pros and give them 200 cray pots each as compensation so they can move on. That way it's a win win for everyone. Hopefully then fish will be so plentiful that we will be able to catch them with our hands. 

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thing is while most recs

Sat, 2016-05-28 20:59

thing is while most recs look at the commercials guys fishing while we have the 2 month ban from oct 15th to dec 15, with total disdain they forget the commercials do have a 2 month ban also , their ban is from the 15th aug - 15th oct

that was primarily brought in voluntarily by them for the whiskery shark pupping times

our ban is not based on a spawning time as mentioned its to reduce fishing pressure ,

what utterly shites me is to see years of hard work go into removing pressure on stocks by recs such as snapper , we then see snapper start to come good all along the coast especially inshore areas like geo bay & you then have the very large commercial shark netters moving in a working that ground over with thousands of metres of shark net clearly targeting snapper and mulloway in water less than 6 metres ,which should be left for rec line fishers

these big boats should be designated out by special zones that remove them from nearshore coastal waters where there moving in at prime snapper times like now & killing the pig

really poor form to see this going on and its totally legal

hezzy

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Sun, 2016-05-29 08:58

 Absolutely, well said Mike.

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Two month ban????

Fri, 2016-11-25 13:27

then why would two net boats brag about the huge catch they had on the "Super Moon"....So much fish came out of their hidey holes they said...