Mandurah crabs
Why is it that people (and I don't want to sound racist) of Asian ethenticity have to rape, pillage and plunder the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary taking anything that looks like a crab no matter what size they are, had a visitor from the Eastern States tell me that over the Christmas period they witnessed crabs of all sizes being taken at Island Point and when these pirates left they also left their rubbish laying everywhere, this was cleaned up by others. Not wanting to be critical of our Fisheries Officers but surely over a weekend like last they would be all over the popular spots, if this behavior is allowed to continue eventually the popular pastime of crabbing will have to be closed for a longer period to allow the stocks to improve, we don't want to have to close it off as they've done in Cockburn Sound....End of rant.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Fair enough rant
Unfortunately this happens all to often, I see it time and time again.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18018
Date Joined: 11/03/08
its not just the ones you
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
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Mandurah crab fishery...
...will NEVER be shut down. There could be not one single crab left but they will NEVER shut it down. Too many tourist dollars. Cockburn crabs are a local fishery...no tourist dollars to be lost.
Furthermore, I believe the unchecked numbers of people doing the right thing are ultimately causing at least as much damage to the crab stocks as the illegals are. The bag/boat limit hasn't changed in something like ten years but the amount of people hammering them has at least doubled or tripled in that time.
I know it's been a good season in Mandurah so far, but I firmly believe they have to readdress the limits and or shut it down in DEC/JAN for a few years.
Coastrunner
Posts: 439
Date Joined: 25/10/14
Its not just Mandurah
Seen it at Leschenault , chucked a few catch buckets back in for them.
quadfisher
Posts: 1146
Date Joined: 28/09/10
Not the R word
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.
quadfisher
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18018
Date Joined: 11/03/08
well said. agree fully . its
well said. agree fully . its not race there is just greedy buggers out there from all races when most do the right thing
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Most people 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.
jighead
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 03/02/12
same
We were out to. I think you could see the water level dropping there were so many crabs being caught.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18018
Date Joined: 11/03/08
sounds like its best to go
sounds like its best to go weekdays . could only imagine what tomorrow will be like
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
Couldnt care less if they are
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
jighead
Posts: 725
Date Joined: 03/02/12
License
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.
uncle
Posts: 9474
Date Joined: 10/02/07
Time for a 1 year ban?
Especially in the swan.let some grow to big sizes again.love crabbing but I'd support a ban.
all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs
Kuz
Posts: 57
Date Joined: 28/02/15
yes I would also support a
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.
Kuz
IncognitOh
Posts: 103
Date Joined: 29/04/17
+1 for short term ban
Unfortunately, I am also at the point where I would support a 1 or 2 year complete ban on crabbing in the Peel & Harvey estuaries. We maybe still be catching crabs of the current legal size but how many of us are catching the whoppers of the old days? What we are currently doing, hammering these crab populations harder and harder is simply not sustainable.
There are now big crabs in big numbers up the coast where a ban has been in place for a couple of years - the population is recovering.
We can say there are too many tourist dollars to lose if we ban it but, if we ban it for a couple of years, thats better than losing tourist dollars permanently when the crabs disappear entirely!
With regards to those catching under size crabs with over size bags, toughen up the penalties! Take their cars, boats and what ever other equipment is being used to over exploit this fragile fishery! Tough penalties appear to be working on the cray fishing side.
Another rant done!! Happy New Year Fishos
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
crab ban
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.
marrisy
Posts: 200
Date Joined: 08/09/11
Agree with you.
This is something Tims Tackle was talking about with relevant people. 127 is small, and if theres a boat limit, why not a car limit.
regards Marrisy.
tadpole
Posts: 387
Date Joined: 28/01/13
Does kind of suck to plan an
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.
eziliving
Posts: 875
Date Joined: 30/12/09
We picked up 20 in an hour
We picked up 20 in an hour this morning all around 15mm over size and weighty.
Get busy living, or get busy dying!
tadpole
Posts: 387
Date Joined: 28/01/13
Well maybe there's still
Well maybe there's still hope yet!
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
I mostly agree
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.
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
Megladon
The retail shops in Mandurah during December are flat out selling cray pots, cray bait, xmas pressies and whiting lures. They may sell a few crab nets in december but if the season opened in january they would sell them in january. So it's really just a bit of crab bait they are missing out on. Their freezers are jammed full of cray bait though. Your right though - those bloody crabs just need to grow quicker. Bring on global warming.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18018
Date Joined: 11/03/08
well said . one thing i did
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 ,
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Da pirate
Posts: 1560
Date Joined: 03/05/15
Land based....??
10 per fisher landbased .. I think it could
shrink a bit ? Maybe 5 per fisher ! 15 boat!
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
Only 20 per boat if there’s 2 people, otherwise 10 only.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
sea-kem
Posts: 14959
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Well I hope fisheries read
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.
Love the West!
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8140
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Wasn't the Peel Inlet
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.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
hezzy
Posts: 1521
Date Joined: 27/11/09
imo ....old bull has nailed
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
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
Fatty
Posts: 10
Date Joined: 28/07/17
Help law enforcement
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.
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
still growing
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.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Orange ones????
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.
sea-kem
Posts: 14959
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Lol he probably means
Lol he probably means cooked.
Love the West!
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
I think he was probably talking about the pinkish underside of the crabs.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8140
Date Joined: 07/05/12
We call them dirty crabs (vs
We call them dirty crabs (vs clean crabs) and Pop always said they come from the areas around the rivers which are a higher temperature earlier on in the season hence the larger size earlier on.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Kuz
Posts: 57
Date Joined: 28/02/15
yes I also agree with
yes I also agree with oldbull.
Kuz
Jadeo
Posts: 269
Date Joined: 08/06/15
Go down to murphys on a
Go down to murphys on a weekend. Can catch plenty of crabs down there. No size or limit required haha!
Oldbull
Posts: 175
Date Joined: 21/09/15
orange crabs
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.