Unfortunately this happens all to often, I see it time and time again.

 its not just the ones you mentioned. its all types of people that do it. unfortunately there is so many areas that people go to and the officers can only spread so far relying on others to do the right thing. it would be a shame to shut down mandurah crabbing like they did in cockburn but if that what it takes it will happen 

 Seen it at Leschenault , chucked a few catch buckets back in for them.

I never think its racist to discuss  a group or groups whom seem to be over represented in certain conduct but I think its also good to be able to put yourself in others shoes to gain any unstanding of whats going

on ,  and I think I may be able to shed some light on the subject , but if anyones interested please read the following , esp the 2nd last poster at end of this short discussion

whos a 2nd generation asian migrant in the U.S , it may help explain things.

www.reddit.com/r/Fishing/comments/2b0wde/asian_fishermen_question/

As stated it could be more of a cultural thing , than any real intent of a race of people to destroy something.

As a way of thinking of cultural diffrences , younger Aussies , in general , as a group think nothing of being drunk in public , or being rowdy

etc , something other people from other parts of the world wouldnt do.

Does that mean its wrong , mmm I let you deciede that one ( I have been there myself in younger years)

And a couple of  my english relations whom fish , just couldnt believe the amount of fish we Aussies get to catch and keep , when I have sent them

cleaning boards full of fish shots.

 A old Singaporean work mate always seem to question me why we aussies catch and release , when you already went to the trouble of catching the thing first!

I think he thought we were all mad , bit like running after some game in the bush , catching it , then letting it go.

And any longer term users of this forum will know the asian or asian desentants on here are great guys whom fish well with limits , and love there sport, so its more of a

letting go of old ways thing , than any conspiracy theory, but I also feel your pain , as on numerous occasions we have come home with 5 crabs after letting 15 go , only to hear on news 2 or 3 days later some

group got caught with 300 undersize, it kinda makes you feel what you have done is worthless and disrespected.

cheers.

 well said. agree fully . its not race there is just greedy buggers out there from all races when most do the right thing 

After what I have seen on the estuary today I will be amazed if there is any crabs of any size left in the Mandurah estuary.

I have never seen so may boats and so many crab pot floats on such a small expanse of water, you could walk from one side of the estuary to the other on polystyrene floats.

 sounds like its best to go weekdays . could only imagine what tomorrow will be like

Couldnt care less if they are asian, black, white, or green....

Doing the wrong thing is doing thr wrong thing. the whole 'i didnt now the rules' or 'i dont speak english' should NEVER fly anymore.

This happens in almost all fisheries along our beautiful coast. Yes people of Asian decendant are often at the center of such allegations, this from my personal perspective comes down to culture. Culture in the South east asian countries is to catch to eat, and catch as much as you can. Population in that part of the world drives alot of the over fishing, and undersized catches and this ends up flowing down to other countires where people from these areas have relocated too.

Australia have fisheries all round the place which are alive and kicking, easy to catch a feed (Mandurah crab fishery is an example)

It's hard to change culture, its hard for those who's history, heritage comes from places were "Fishing for the future" isnt something that they are born in to.

People form Asian countries are not alone, look at Africa, India and the like, huge populations demand huge amounts of seafood, its culture.

Now days, those countries that have fished this way for centuries are passed being able to implement viable measures to sustain or rebuild fish stocks and habitats (not all but some)

What the right answer is I've no idea anymore, policing it will only solve the problem at that point in time, not change the culture of the wider community.

My rant done

 Maybe introduce a license so the money generated from that can fund additional fisheries officers to catch the bastards. Also may reduce the number of participants. I agree some people may think why should I have to pay it's my right etc but maybe thats what it will take.

 Especially  in the swan.let some grow to big sizes again.love crabbing but I'd  support a ban.

 yes I would also support a ban on crabbing in the swan river if  it would help rebuild stocks.i think the amount of people crabbing in the swan has tripled in the last ten years.a 1year ban or even for a few months in the year may not be the solution but help the future of the crabs stocks.

 will work for the first year only and that is assuming a ban applies to commercials as well.  Then what happens is that the good size crabs get cleaned out in the first year the ban is lifted.  This is what happened when they applied a ban on marroning a few years ago.  Plus tourist dollars will be lost.  Better to open the season in January with a 135mm size limit and a license and a possesion limit per car for scoopers.  We have a 20 per boat with a RFBL for boaties but a family of 5 including 3 kids can rock up in a car and legally take 50 crabs.  Needs to be equalised.  20 crabs per family of 5 is heaps if they are 135mm size.

That still supports tourist dollars and school holiday crabbing without a total ban.

 Does kind of suck to plan an 1800km round trip once a year to get some crabs....just to stop at a fishmarket and buy some after an unsuccessful venture. I usually do the trip late January, not sure I'll bother this year. Unless I see some good reports popping up on here. 

I pretty much agree with most of what Oldbull has to say, to me what has been said is pretty much common sense and the talk of a ban comes from those with the biggest stake in the outcome, us crabbers/fishing people.

The problem with the idea (that of starting the season in January) is money, for the shops in Mandurah that is. A lot of the shops associated with crabbing, fishing gear, bait, accommodation, petrol stations fast food outlets etc have come to rely on the season opening late in the year when the crabs mostly are not of a good size and a lot of people take their holidays then as well.

Why, well that's the start of the crab season isn't it, and the bloody crabs better play the game.

If you want to experience how close you can become to being the main event at a lynching mention the subject of delaying the crab season until the end of January the following year in amongst a group of local retailers.

You will get a feed of crabs early in the season but most (try 60- 70%) will be undersize, which means a lot more effort has to be put in and generally the crab size is not what it used to be some years back.

Again this is good for business, more resources will need to be consumed right.

Think back to the Amity Beach situation in the picture Jaws.

By the way I am most absurdly not anti private enterprise.

The idea of a licence for all crab chasers has merit however, any poly who mentions that has kissed his chances of re-election goodbye, the oldies (me included) have always had free access to this fishery and it had better stay that we cause we vote too remember.

I don't think the pros are a problem, from memory I think they are restricted to a size limit of 135mm.

That IMO is why the government brought in a FBL licence the back door way of bringing in a licence to crab if you use a boat.

Just my tuppence worth view.

 well said . one thing i did read in a previous post was about the limit that land based crabbers can take. boaties have limit of 20 so i agree that lb crabbing families should be restricted the same. that i feel will protect the stocks from being depleted , 

 10 per fisher landbased .. I think it could 

shrink a bit ? Maybe 5 per fisher ! 15 boat! 

 Well I hope fisheries read this thread and take note that there are fisho's who support a ban to replenish and control stocks. I would support it in a heart beat and also a drop in bag limit. Six big Swan blues is more than enough of a feed for one person. 

Wasn't the Peel Inlet declared sustainable only last year or is the MSC certification a sham like the Heart Foundation tick whereby the number 1 criteria is that you've paid vast sums of money for said accreditation/tick?

Nonetheless it hardly makes sense that I can take my family of 5 on the boat and only catch 20 yet a family of 5 can go scooping and bring home 50 crabs and I usually stop at 10 unless I know I'll definitely be able to sling a couple of red crabs to the old man and my brother. I usually aim for 10 and still give a couple away to the oldies so like Pirate, I wouldn't be adverse to a drop in the boat limit to around 15 for my own circumstances but only if LB were limited to 5 as well as 5 crabs is a good feed for someone and really can only be eaten fresh.

imo ....old bull has nailed it totaly

there needs to be a possesion limit of 20 per car/vehicle and up the size to 135mm, as well as open season on jan 1st .and a possesion limit in place of residence , same as for crays etc

there should also be a commmercial buy back implemented over a 10 year strategic plan to reduce pressure on stocks

the marine stewardship certification is micky mouse stuff

currently any one shore based can take as many as they have bodies and keep them , im sure there have been plenty of day trippers , campers and holiday makers who stay in the mandurah area for a week or more as well as locals who plunder the crabs every day or so and its all perfectly legal ...... not all but many do

This thread commenced following the witnessing of overfishing or the taking of undersized crabs.  Posting of on forums such as this are informative to others who use the forum and useful do heighten awareness of such activity, however IMO more can be achieved.  All of us who witness or suspect illegal activity should be contacting the relevant enforcement agency, in this case Fisheries.  If in doubt as to what to do go to the Fisheries web site - FishWatch.  I would go one further than Fisheries recommend and be photographing and/or videoing the offenders.  This is best done without the knowledge of the offendering person(s) which saves confrontation and minimises destruction of evidence. 

If you chooose to submit your information anonymously then don't expect to be contacted by Fisheries and don't say they don't do anything.  You will never know how useful your information may have been.  If you do provide contact details and the evidence of offending is sufficient to prosecute then expect to be contacted. In this circumstance if you don't get contacted, contact them yourself and enquire as to any action or proposed action to be taken.  You will not be privy to full detail of the matter but should be provided with sufficient information to satisfy you that appropriate action has been taken.  

With regard to protecting crab stocks, IMO the priority is the crab and such things as personal and commercial interests etc are secondary. I will gladly forego a season or two or whatever is required to get things back to a quality and sustainable fishery.

 Got 15 today between brother and I.  The dark blues are still soft shell and growing. still a bit light on for meat. The orange ones are hard shell and full.

Just what sort of crabs are we talking about, can't say that Ive seen any orange coloured crabs at Mandurah.

If you are catching orange coloured crabs you best have a talk with fisheries or a doctor LOL.

 I think he was probably talking about the pinkish underside of the crabs.

yes I also agree with oldbull.

 Go down to murphys on a weekend. Can catch plenty of crabs down there. No size or limit required haha!

 These are the dirty orange/brown shell males.  every year we get a mix of bright blue and white crabs plus a few hard shell males with the shell a dirty orange/brown colour.  get them in the same area so not river crabs.  Cook up and taste the same.

Had a feed last night of claws and the blues were  very light weight in the claws.  Also soft shelled still.