New Crabbing Rules/ Regulations - Announced Today:

HE State Government has announced a raft of measures to protect the blue swimmer crab for generations to come.

The measures were announced today by Fisheries Minister Dave Kelly and were made after considering public feedback and a proposal from peak fishing bodies.

The new measures include:

– A new seasonal crabbing closure in all waters from the Swan and Canning Rivers to Minninup Beach (about 15km south of Bunbury) will apply to recreational and commercial fishers and charter operators from September 1 to November 30 each year.

– A voluntary buyback for commercial licences from oceanic crab fisheries in the Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds managed crab fisheries and the Mandurah to Bunbury Developmental Crab Fishery, leading to their permanent closure to commercial crab fishing.

– Geographe Bay will remain open to recreational blue swimmer crab fishing all year, however recreational fishers will now only be allowed to take a maximum of five females in their bag limit of 10 crabs.

– A new bag limit of five blue swimmer crabs will apply to recreational fishers in the Swan and Canning Rovers to support a trophy crab fishery on Perth’s doorstep.

 

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 My Dad taught me how to Fish-Thanks Dad.(RIP)


Moking's picture

Posts: 1252

Date Joined: 30/05/12

 Hopefully this means that

Wed, 2019-08-21 10:31

 Hopefully this means that Mangles Bay/ Cockburn Sound will be opened this year to Rec Crabbing.

It's been a very long closure,and very little information coming forward as to if the Crabs numbers have improved,during the closure.

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 My Dad taught me how to Fish-Thanks Dad.(RIP)

Posts: 1317

Date Joined: 05/05/06

Yay more closures.

Wed, 2019-08-21 10:50

Yay more closures.

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Bend over

Livewire's picture

Posts: 264

Date Joined: 25/11/16

Here we go again.

Wed, 2019-08-21 12:05

 While there is commercial crabbing in the swan I disagree with reducing the bag limt! It's the same response every time. What about restocking and providing places to fish like the eastern state dams!  The protection of all our fisheries is always number one, but closures and reductions seem too be all we get...

Dale's picture

Posts: 7930

Date Joined: 13/09/05

Wed, 2019-08-21 12:09

https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2019/08/New-measures-to-protect-blue-swimmer-crabs-in-Perth-and-the-South-West.aspx?fbclid=IwAR3iPKk5iU4PxcHiVcOucffvmgBP9UH9c72DVivd2GKWiUg_mW_09bj1S-M

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"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."

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sunshine's picture

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Date Joined: 03/03/09

I for one totally support

Wed, 2019-08-21 12:21

Less is more but it must be strongly policed  

Posts: 8016

Date Joined: 07/05/12

Still no car limit? Looks

Wed, 2019-08-21 12:32

Still no car limit? Looks like 90y old granny holding and baby on the shore will still be taking home their 10 each from Island Point Reserve in the Toyota Tarago along with the other 6 vehicle occupants.

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Honourary Pies member for a while

quadfisher's picture

Posts: 1145

Date Joined: 28/09/10

Glad to have crabs ?

Wed, 2019-08-21 12:39

 I fully surport the extra month in mandurah , catching 20 undersize to get one just over in november is stupid and damages the fishery.

 And the buy back is cool by me too , but 5 crabs in the swan seems harsh but we dont know the science behind it.( STILL 20 BOAT LIMIT) 

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quadfisher

Brock O's picture

Posts: 3155

Date Joined: 11/01/08

Should have introduced the

Wed, 2019-08-21 13:00

Should have introduced the night curfew....dodgy phuker's at there best if you've ever visited the local jetties of a night time.

Posts: 935

Date Joined: 26/03/17

agree with the changes, but

Wed, 2019-08-21 13:17

agree with the changes, but also strongly feel there is need for stronger policing. as mesnitoned above heaps of dodgy night time activity, and cars full of crabs etc. all the times i have been crabbing, can only recall once or twice ever being checked. more manpower and hammer those that do the wrong thing. dont see any reason why it shouldnt be enforced as harshly as crays. vehicle confiscation etc. rules are pretty clear, thse days being ill informed isnt really a realistic excuse.

Livewire's picture

Posts: 264

Date Joined: 25/11/16

Still 20

Wed, 2019-08-21 13:33

 But you now need 4 people with a boat fishing license.  $$ very clever way of saying you can still catch the SAME amount, but now you have to pay for it! The Scamers would be proud of that one! For me I fish for recreation and a feed. To catch 5 crabs to share isn't going to be enuff for my family of 4. A big part of catching is being able to share with others and enjoy .if the cockburn sound was a better managed fishery " I mean free of spills and dredging " and policed better! Mandurah and the Swan would not have had all the pressure  of having our biggest crabbing grounds closed for so many years. Close on, open another, but keep a fair catch for everyone. 

uncle's picture

Posts: 9316

Date Joined: 10/02/07

That is just stupid

Wed, 2019-08-21 13:57

 Whos gunna drag their boat from nor for 5 f...ing crabs, the cost of fuel bait etc,is that their way of killing off crabing.

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all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs

rob90's picture

Posts: 1522

Date Joined: 06/02/13

 More rules punishing the

Wed, 2019-08-21 14:19

 More rules punishing the people who always follow rules. Still aint gonna stop poachers raiding the locals at 3am. People complain to fisheries and fisheries act. Moral of the story tell fisheries and recfish squat and enjoy what we have. 

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 Hi my name is rob............. and I'm a........... fishaholic

Brody's picture

Posts: 1021

Date Joined: 06/02/07

 Guys. None of this is about

Wed, 2019-08-21 19:28

 Guys. None of this is about politics etc etc, it is simply a matter of making sure we have enough crabs in the river in 20 years time.

 

The Swan is a trophy fishery and has been forever. The difference is now it is recognised as what it should be. Boat limit of 20 still stands.

 

Fishing for crabs in the Swan is not about needing to catch enough to feed your family by yourself or to post on facebook that you've bagged out. It's an experience. One that you won't find anywhere else in the world. We've had it very good for a long time and im extremely glad that right now, action has been taken to preserve this absolute gem of a fishery. If/when i want to take my kids crabbing in 10 years time, i don't want to be just telling them about how good it used to be, i want them to experience it for themselves.

 

We are soooo lucky to be able to do what we do here in WA and i think we forget this at times. You want your trophy Swan river crabs, then go catch them yourself. This fishery could be a classic case of not knowing what you've got till its gone. 5 crabs per person is more than enough.

 

 

Faulkner Family's picture

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 Looks like mandurah will get

Wed, 2019-08-21 19:33

 Looks like mandurah will get hit even harder wi t h the limit of 5 in the swan. 

Good idea about the extra month in mandurah . 

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RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together

little johnny's picture

Posts: 5320

Date Joined: 04/12/11

I think it’s all shit

Wed, 2019-08-21 20:55

Pros for years been stuffing it up for themselves and amature fisherman. Crabbing all year around. Taking all females. Which stay around all year.same thing will happen with crays in years to come. ( oversized females) Ban after ban . Extensions on bans . Pretty soon there will be no fishing. Same as freshwater fishing pay shit loads for catching pests . Once a year catch concrete trout yummy. No dought increase again on fishing licence.

Posts: 1991

Date Joined: 16/05/09

Saw that for years up here

Thu, 2019-08-22 07:24

Saw that for years up here with our threadies and barra, pro's fucking it year after year, finally got a buy back and got rid of them and as we predicted 5 years later the fishery is producing plenty of threadies and we are seeing barra in places that we never did before. Maybe a crab fishing license should come in for shore based crabbers and that money put into policing the arseholes that are raping the place. Boaters are already paying so why not?

little johnny's picture

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Date Joined: 04/12/11

Very good idea

Thu, 2019-08-22 08:28

Mandurah area alone would generate a heap of money. Rather than boaties paying all the time .

Moking's picture

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Date Joined: 30/05/12

  I'm sure these "lowlife

Thu, 2019-08-22 16:24

  I'm sure these "lowlife "would agree: A recent successful Court Prosecution from Mandurah:

"Four people caught with 115 undersized blue swimmer crabs were fined $5850 each plus court costs in Rockingham Magistrates Court on 29 July. Their vehicle was stopped by DPIRD Fisheries Officers during a roadblock in December 2018 and searched when the officers saw crab scoops in the car."

"As well as possessing undersized crabs, the four people had also exceeded the daily bag limit of 10 crabs per person." 

Unfortunately, even though the crabs were seized and released back into the estuary, it is unlikely they survived as small juvenile crabs can be very fragile and need to be released immediately if caught.

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 My Dad taught me how to Fish-Thanks Dad.(RIP)

Posts: 935

Date Joined: 26/03/17

good idea. crabbing licencse

Thu, 2019-08-22 09:57

good idea. crabbing licencse for shore fishes seems logical as certainly still catch a significant amount, and extra revenue could be put into better policing/monitoring.

Posts: 1991

Date Joined: 16/05/09

Hammer the buggery out of

Thu, 2019-08-22 16:00

Hammer the buggery out of recfishwest to get it in after all it's your license fees paying their wages and is the reason they exist. They are here to look after fishos concerns...

little johnny's picture

Posts: 5320

Date Joined: 04/12/11

It amazes me ,when rules change

Thu, 2019-08-22 19:27

It isn’t put out there very much at all. See on news tonight they put a reminder out about pinks.i bet a shit load get caught with there 10 crabs. Hence maybe licence would prevent this. You would think easy to understand rules will come with it . In English and other languages.

little johnny's picture

Posts: 5320

Date Joined: 04/12/11

I don’t mean people who

Thu, 2019-08-22 19:30

Already pay for licence . Don’t need another bill

Posts: 660

Date Joined: 28/11/16

I haven’t taken a female crab

Thu, 2019-08-22 19:59

I haven’t taken a female crab in the last 10 years eggs or not. Always plenty of big blue males around. But wouldn’t take a female regardless 

Does this mean cockburn sound will be open this December? 

little johnny's picture

Posts: 5320

Date Joined: 04/12/11

By the sounds of it

Fri, 2019-08-23 13:07

Possible. Can’t see why not. Now reduction in place

uncle's picture

Posts: 9316

Date Joined: 10/02/07

Maybe licenses for all

Thu, 2019-08-22 20:18

 Same as crays only in daytime.

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all aggressive fish love bigjohnsjigs