PLEASE READ
Please read the thread about fishtraps being introduced in to the Gascoyne region as this will affect everyone who regularly fishes from boat or shore from south of Steep Point and right through to north of Coral bay.
It will allow the pros to drop their traps right in close to the ledges for baldies, on snapper schooling grounds, all the small lumps that we regularly catch red emperor without restrictions. The proposal has been rushed through with only a couple of weeks for public comment but some in the know have already stated it has been passed.
Traps were banned from the west coast some twenty five years ago for good reason and now this govt has seen rise to bring them back because the pros have come up with a 20% loss of total hooked catch to sharks when actually from one of my sons account [who has worked on wetliners in this area for the last 4 years] is nothing near as high as stated.
The Govt proposal to reopen the Northern Shark Fishery from NW Cape through to the NT border will have no effect on this area of the coast so please send off your emals to as soon as possible as submissions close on the 24th Feb
cruzy111
Posts: 274
Date Joined: 08/10/13
Just a question Carnarvonite
Just a question Carnarvonite if you know the answer. Are there licences to fish the area that are currently not being used? and can other boats come into the area or use an unused licence. This could be a real problem, or are only certain boats allowed to use traps.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Quota system
The Gascoyne area has been under a quota system for years, you have to buy or lease units to be allowed to fish. At the top of the season when the snapper gather to spawn there are about 6-7 vessels working from Carnarvon, from memory one, Cygnet Lass had about 80 tonne of snapper but then there was no limit on bycatch.
Multiply that by 6-7 plus the boats that work from Denham and Coral bay you have a very large number of fish coming in
Gav475
Posts: 393
Date Joined: 16/11/11
Shark Fishery
I dont mean to hijack your thread Carnarvonite but is the proposal to reinstate the shark fishery going ahead ? It would be a godsend if it is as we are all aware of the shark issues up that way.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Northern Shark Fishery
IMO I cannot see it reopening, the price of shark fin has dropped to nearly bugger all taking away the major source of your returns. The meat from the sharks up that way is very tough and unsuitable for you local fish and chip shops to sell and without showing that you have a good solid market for it you will not get a licence. Unless someone comes up with a viable proposal nothing will happen.
When I fished up there we had to do 10-14 day trips to make it worthwhile because of the distances involved, our Licence was from Lat 109 at NW Cape through to Lat 120 about half way between Hedland and Broome and as far north as we wished. Leaving Hedland and stepping our way through to Exmouth was a very regular occurrence and to fish Exmouth gulf was a risky business as we didn't know where the trawlers were operating which could have cost us most if not all of our gear.
We had some massive hauls but also had a lot of duds to balance it out.
ricey
Posts: 734
Date Joined: 24/12/09
Email address wrong
Matt@recfishwest.org.au
forgot an s.
it would be beneficial to have a link to the proposal too.
Wise man says - first take the plank out of your own eye before trying to take the speck out of somebody else's.
opsrey
Posts: 1200
Date Joined: 05/10/07
So is there a standard type email we should send in?
Or a bunch of trigger issues we can raise in an email.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Response
Just put your opposition to the proposal and if you can bring up new points even better
Thank you for contemplating it, we need lots more to prevent this happening
cruzy111
Posts: 274
Date Joined: 08/10/13
A question to anyone out
A question to anyone out there who may have been doing some reading. All the reports,overviews and management plans ive read today indicate that there are reviews going into the management of non pink snapper scale fish in the zone supposedly in 2015. Does anyone know if there is a new plan already out that can be downloaded?
Perry Home
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 07/10/10
So you're talking IFM of Scale fish for the West Coast demersal?
Hi Cruzy
So you're raising the matter Integrated Fissures Management of Scale fish for the West Coast fishery?.... or another sector?
cruzy111
Posts: 274
Date Joined: 08/10/13
No the gdsf The gascoyne
No the gdsf The gascoyne demersal scalefish fishery management plan. Has anyone got a link to this proposal thats up for public comment I cant find it?
redfin
Posts: 96
Date Joined: 07/11/08
Need to keep this going.
Need to keep this going. Numbers might just get enough attention. If you want to see what happens to the undersized fish released from a trap check out old brown dog fishing co. Face book page. Some one may be able to post link.