Four sub 50cm dhuies on scuba straight hook
Submitted by Jamie-Chester on Tue, 2024-01-16 15:00
Came across a situation recently where someone had speared four sub 50cm dhuies on scuba. Given that the removal of the size limit and extension of boat limit from 2 to 4 for dhuies was only introduced to mitigate the barotrauma loss issues what are peoples thoughts on this given that spearos, as they always brag, can be selective in a way that line fishing cant.
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sea-kem
Posts: 15030
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Perfect question for Don
Perfect question for Don Punch.
Love the West!
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
Im emailing it now. No shit.
Im emailing it now. No shit.
Bodgy 79
Posts: 294
Date Joined: 04/08/22
Agree
Selective hunting with a spear but ya can't seem to please! Shoot a juvenile you get told it's a baby,rail a horse and it's a breeder.
As a whole there are lots of dhuis coming ashore atm
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
Yep too many. And Im quite
Yep too many. And Im quite sure there are plenty being barotrauma - ed and released to pursue bigger ones...and small ones being nailed as well. The coffin nails are being banged in from both ends of the stock.
A breeder is a breeder regardless of line or spear capture. The thing is these rules were designed for unselective not selective fishing methods and also assumed people would keep the first fish they caught when line fishing. This AINT happening.
Billcollector
Posts: 2086
Date Joined: 16/05/09
The rule was never going to
The rule was never going to work and fisheries knew it wouldn't work.
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
i actually think they
i actually think they thought it would. i think it was incompetence rather than malfeasance
Mick C
Posts: 607
Date Joined: 26/12/13
Incompetence
How could fisheries scientists that have “identified” a population under threat legislate that taking juvenile Dhufish, and allowing an increased bag limit, would reduce that threat? It certainly doesn’t pass the “pub test”.
Having met with Punch and the senior members of his staff, I have no faith that these people know how to protect the sustainability of demersal scalefish in the West Coast Bioregion.
Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it - LH.
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
yep
yep
dodgy
Posts: 4580
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Good and bad in every
Good and bad in every different class. All perfectly legal it's just the 'vibe' that's open to interpretation.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18064
Date Joined: 11/03/08
The know all's stuffed it for
The know all's stuffed it for all that enjoy time out with a few mates. 4 people on a boat are going to want the 4 biggest fish possible , that means small ones go back.
Logic says don't change what has been working as dhuie stocks were on the increase . These new rules will result in tighter rules
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Brock O
Posts: 3251
Date Joined: 11/01/08
If only people cared, its a
If only people cared, its a shame most don't give a fk and its there right to target what they can or the biggest fish they can as they keep releasing anything but!
I can understand the thinking in the comments above...but
I guess your the best at releasing them, they all survived it was healthy. Released fish are dead fish simple..
People keep forgetting our fishing time has been reduced massively, yeah there's always a few dumb c^%ts. But in the end the fishery should be better for the current rules.
highlighting the 4 undersize to Don wont help us one fkn bit..
IMO.
Marineboy
Posts: 845
Date Joined: 14/03/14
Well said
Well said brock
My spots are so secret even the fish don't know about them !
Reefsta
Posts: 327
Date Joined: 03/08/19
Keeper decision depends
I fish mostly 10-15m and let smaller ones go if I feel the fillet they will provide is a bit small. I think dhu have something like a 40% yield after filleting, so an average 50cm fish probably provides 1kg of fillet. Taking smaller doesn't have much appeal on that basis.
Sea goat
Posts: 993
Date Joined: 26/03/17
My first issue with this is
My first issue with this is spearing on scuba. Personally i think that kinda sux. Esp when targeting fish like dhus. Freedivers I have a completely different opinion. Huge amount of practice, skill, and the fish have a chance. On scuba it's kinda like shooting fish in a barrel. Literally. Just a big barrel lol.
Second thing that irks me is the argument about spearing being more environmentally friendly is way overused. Yes, you can say it reduces bycatch, but that isn't necessarily as good as it sounds. Any method that is that selective can put massive pressure on a particular stock as if you are the type of person that only wants dhus, then you will only take dhus... every... time...
compare to line fishing. One trip may be a dhu and a snap, next might be 2 baldies, next maybe 2 snapper. So 6 fish, mixed variety. Possibly some mortality for few wrasse as bycatch. Same success rate when spearing would be 6 dhus (again, assuming you just had that mentality of only wanting dhufish). So what's worse? Putting all the pressure on one stock? Or having it spread over a few with some minor bycatch (usually not target fish, which aren't likely to be facing much pressure).
Im not saying spearfishing is any worse than line fishing. But it's probably not a huge amount better either, so the selective fishing argument can be a bit flawed.
not sure if that made sense... struggling to articulate what is in my head at the moment! Lol!
as far as spearing 4 small dhufish. Well yes I guess it's legal, but does it make sense? To me... absolutely not.
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
It is selective. Which is
It is selective. Which is my point. There was no reason to include spearfishing rules in the "unselective" management strategy. In fact they should NOT have been included or had different rules.
squalis
Posts: 117
Date Joined: 23/11/14
Spearing on scuba
Sea goat has no clue re this issue. His conclusion is completely wrong. If he had tried this technique he would know that the bubbles released while scuba diving scare the living daylights out of all fish let alone a shy elusive dhu. Scuba divers are at a distint disadvantage because of the noise and extra pressure wave made by draging thier scuba gear thru the water. Fish are not stupid and are very sensetive to radical changes in the sub aquatic envviroment. I fredive and use stealth to approach these sensetive and elusive targets.
piscetor
Posts: 190
Date Joined: 13/05/16
spearing on scuba
Mate you couldn't be more wrong. i scuba dived on the F/F spearing dhuies and i can tell you that the bubbles sure as hell don't scare them away. most times i would hit bottom just to have a dhuie come over for a look see. i never, ever speared under size. i always speared ones that were 10 pound+ and its easy to gauge the size of the fish. we also took sambo's blackarse and harliqin fish. the only one that was hard to get and usually ment a chase was baldchin, they were flighty. But dhuies where to curious for their own good. Bubbles no trouble.
Filletmaster
Sea goat
Posts: 993
Date Joined: 26/03/17
Squalis, who are you to say
Squalis, who are you to say I have no idea on the matter? I am by no means a pro when it comes to spearfishing, but do a reasonable amount of free diving, and have tried spearing on scuba a number of times, certainly enough times to notice the difference. At no stage when diving did I find the fish flighty, at best not enough that I couldn't just wait them out. It was enough for me to personally decide that for me, spearing on scuba just didn't feel right, so I dont pursue it. Opinions other than your own may actually have some merit, even if you don't agree with them.
sea-kem
Posts: 15030
Date Joined: 30/11/09
What aload of tripe Squalis,
What aload of tripe Squalis, I used to scuba dive for years. We had a shack at Leeman and used to spear Dhu's all the time, they were never ever scared off by the site of us.
Love the West!
sstevee
Posts: 472
Date Joined: 15/11/11
We are clearly never going to
We are clearly never going to learn that divided we will fall. Anyone spearing 4 sub 50 dhu's is a bell end regardless of freediving or scuba. If you 'came across this' you should have called it out, not sook to Don. He would be rubbing his hands together at the opportunity to ostracize another part of the fishing community.
I breath hold spearfish and I line fish and I would fight against any further restrictions for either way of fishing. Need to stop pointing the finger at sub groups and start acting like we are all in this together. If there's individuals taking the piss they need to be held to account. It's no different to anyone who attempts to upsize to the 4 biggest dhus they possibly can while line fishing. That individual is a moron and not every line fisher in general.
I really hope all those who use the ocean to put seafood on the table for their families get it together as one collective voice. Otherwise we won't be able to catch it and won't be able to afford to buy it. But I guarantee it will continue to be caught so it can be exported for top $$$
sea-kem
Posts: 15030
Date Joined: 30/11/09
You are so right mate, you
You are so right mate, you should read some of the social media fishing sites. They are slitting each other's necks over the whole new rules issues.
Love the West!
sstevee
Posts: 472
Date Joined: 15/11/11
Scary times at the moment
Scary times at the moment Andy. Yet fishos and lovers of the outdoors in general keep cutting off their nose to spite their face!!
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
I did gently call it out -
I did gently call it out - the reply was "well they are the rules"
Hard to argue with that really.
Which is the point - its a massive flaw in the regulations. You dont apply unselective fishing management strategy to selective fishing methods.
Its not really fighting with each other.
sstevee
Posts: 472
Date Joined: 15/11/11
Good on you for saying
Good on you for saying something.
I was thinking about this today. When was the last time any fisho received educative correspondence on the life cycle of dhufish, or demersal species in general (other than voluntary recfishwest stuff)? Could this not be sent out as effeciently as your license renewal? If people truly understood that taking small dhus is significantly impacting the ability of the species to reproduce and survive and also that the big models are able to reproduce exponentially more in qty and effectiveness would that not benefit everyone and perhaps change some attitudes and behaviors? I.e spearing 4 sub 50cm models or attempting to upsize! Hell, put some ads on TV, invest in educating people, get more FADs out to encourage pelagic fishing, actually be pro-active.
I do agree that there was no need to remove minimum sizes when spearfishing. This was just stupid. I don't believe the majority who are well informed are shooting fish under the old limits but it's those who aren't educated or ignorant who now have a loop hole.
I'm sure I've said somewhere on here before that it feels like we have been handed the rope for our own necks.
Rob H
Posts: 5808
Date Joined: 18/01/12
and then you have these
and then you have these organisations campaigning "give flake a break", that sharks are endangered here and shouldnt be eaten.
Petition – Stop the silent extinction crisis beneath the waves – Shark Champion (sharkchampions.org.au)
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
Jamie-Chester
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 28/07/10
I know. Its so dumb.
I know. Its so dumb.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18064
Date Joined: 11/03/08
Give sharks a break. Ok I
Give sharks a break. Ok I will. I will break their head before I cut the gills and tail so it doesn't feel a thing before I fillet it.
Since I have been I hedland I have probably taken in excess of 300 out of the system and they all tasted great . Still thousands swimming around . Enough to feed the world
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8154
Date Joined: 07/05/12
This takes the cake for the
This takes the cake for the dumbest things I've heard in 2024. I know we have about 359 odd days to go but it'll take some beating
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
sstevee
Posts: 472
Date Joined: 15/11/11
I love this crap. This is
I love this crap. This is where anyone who doesn't use the ocean gets to stand on their soap box and claim moral high ground like they're a great saviour. My personal favorite is the 'oh a shark in its own backyard' 'sharks are only in their habitat, don't disturb them and they won't disturb you'. This is all easy to say whilst they're in their house, using roads, getting their chai latee from places that were cleared of native flora and fauna. We unfortunately live in a messed up society where the uninformed voice is often the loudest
Swompa
Posts: 3901
Date Joined: 14/10/12
You couldnt be more spot on
You couldnt be more spot on
Rob H
Posts: 5808
Date Joined: 18/01/12
yes this is true, we see it
yes this is true, we see it in petitions to "protect the whales" where a great proportion of the signatures are from countries like Switzerland and other distant or landlocked countries.
The result is these "whale sanctuaries" we have, when whales have already been protected in Aus waters for many decades
Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...
The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.
Everyone's just winging it.
timboon
Posts: 2961
Date Joined: 14/11/10
Too many whales, not enough
Too many whales, not enough Dhu....
This ban is ridiculous, everyone that has a boat in their driveway feels the need now to hammer the ocean before the ban kicks in and as soon as the ban comes off...
Then they'll take any dhu they catch becuase next week we can't fish for 3 months or whatever the fuck it is....
Social media has a lot to answer for also, blokes that takes pics of their catch to big dick their mates, then their mates need to get out and update their insta account so they have a big dick as well...
Never ending cycle...
I'm somewhat a fan of an ammo quota system but I don't want to hijack this post with those thoughts, just my opinion of course.....
Bodgy 79
Posts: 294
Date Joined: 04/08/22
Yeah
Fair call boon and not to mention the extra pressure being applied to the neighbouring regions.I've photos of wich I won't share of boats with 8 big dhuis plus the rest of their full bag snaps,nanny's ect since the rule changes.I personally know a few that are travelling more than 500km round trip for a day fish to catch these big bags purely because of the quota in the west coast zone even when it's open season.
Im not a winger and don't give a shit what others do but this is going to fuck everyone over that wet a line !!
fishfish
Posts: 307
Date Joined: 01/09/09
Slot size ?
It's unfortunate that big dhu in deeper waters are prone to baratrauma otherwise a slot size limit would have been an easy way to manage a fishery . It worked in sharkbay with pinkies when the bay was pretty much wiped out . Took many many years for them to recover but it's a lot better now .