undersize fish at markets
Submitted by vinniefisho on Sat, 2015-01-31 21:41
i was at carosel today and i came across a small fish market, being a keen fisho i had to go and have a look. i counted 13 different species of undersize fish. i was just wondering if these small fish markets are allowed to take undersize fish to sell to the public. and people wonder why fish levels are dropping in the ocean i think people need to do something a bit extra to stop people from taking undersize.
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
and dont forget
and don't forget the undersize crabs being sold of at shopping centers
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
yeh they also had undersize
yeh they also had undersize crabs
sea-kem
Posts: 14833
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Not having a go but did you
Not having a go but did you actually measure the crabs to see they were undersize? Because I doubt it very much. Size crabs aren't that big and can look deceiving. But I walk past that particular shop at Carousel form time to time and agree with the fish sizes they are pretty small but probably imported. The only fish I buy are Salmon fillets and not from there as they are a rip off anyway. The best seafood section that I go to is actually Woolies in Riverton. The prawns are always fresh they have that shiny gleam, and they always have the fresh salmon with skin on yummo.
If you feel strongly about the crabs take a measurer and check some, if under then challenge them, take photos and call fisheries.
Love the West!
Belly88
Posts: 380
Date Joined: 08/02/12
Don't
I don't agree with it but it depends where the fish come from.. I did a few swings on a trap boat out of darwin and there is no size limit in the NT..
belly
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
ohh yeh
and they false advertise but they say wa caught and i know the size limits for wa i mean they call baby snapper skippy
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
if it advertised
if it is advertised as WA / locally caught , they should be size , fisheries should be having a good hard look at these places but that's just my opinion
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
yeh exactly
yeh exactly
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
problem with fisheries
the problem with fisheries is they prefer to swan about on their boats and crashing innocent boatys out on the 5 fathom bank (2 years ago they crashed into me) or hogging a whole ramp at point peron on a very busy day when their boat broke down and refusing to move it back down the ramp so other boatys could launch . On the other hand have met a couple of polite fisheries girls at bent street boat ramp , but they wont go and look at those that are selling undersize seafood
sstevee
Posts: 466
Date Joined: 15/11/11
I might get grilled here
I might get grilled here because I'm not sure on how the commercial fisheries operate, but if it's net caught then I'd prefer to see weight limit over size limit (I.e x amount of kilos of fish).. Could you imagine a commercial vessel attemting to measure every fish they catch? And more to the point, by the time the fish gets to be measured it's chance of survival if released would surely be very minimal/if any... All that then happens is they would have to move on and continue the process over again... So not only killing off undersize stock but doing it over and over until finding legal size stock... Give a weight limit and enforce them to take what they catch... Be much more sustainable than 'upgrading', which unfortunately seems to be the habit of some irresponsible rec fishos...
Flame suit on
Steve
Hutch
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Date Joined: 21/04/13
reece
Posts: 522
Date Joined: 10/07/08
I done a few years on a fish
I done a few years on a fish trawler out of point Sampson. Averaging 18-24 tone of fish a week! Every fish that has a size limit big or small has to be measured! If we sent a fish to market we would get big fines!! About $5000 per fish. That would come out of the crew percentage so it doesn't happen to often. We would also have to take trane fisheries officers out to do fish counts ect..
Also working on wetliners out of Dunsborough an Jurian every fish we caught has to be sized.
It could be imported or from other states! I'd still be giving the fisheries a call
Any one free to help me pull my drum lines tomorrow?
tassy
Posts: 372
Date Joined: 30/06/14
On our trawler, we had
On our trawler, we had fisheries demand we unload up to 30 score on deck for them to take a random sample of. Most fisheries are clueless idiots as a rule. They like totry an pick on us because we are easy to find. So they don't have to go to much effort.
20+ years an I never met a fisheries with a brain.
I can remember when worked long liners of the shelf a fisheries boat tried to measure all our hooks... Now anyone that's been on a liner knows you have thousands of shark hooks on a boat....idiots
Five bream an counting
One tree
One fooone hand
One jetty.
Subaquatic
Posts: 515
Date Joined: 23/04/11
The Irony of this comment is
The Irony of this comment is amusing.....;-)
sea-kem
Posts: 14833
Date Joined: 30/11/09
He he I was waiting for
He he I was waiting for something like this.
Love the West!
Meeuwissen
Posts: 744
Date Joined: 29/03/13
Here is some unfortunate facts for you.
If you see undersize fish being sold you can call fishwatch report what you have seen and fisheries will take there sweet time getting there.
As far as naming species different names i was told by a fisheries officer that because of being in WA our legislation prevents Fisheries from having any power and you would have to take it up with consumer affairs.
I have worked for 4 differents retail fish outlets and the worst thing i saw was parrot fish getting sold as balchin groper.
THE ONLY SPECIES THEY ARE NOT ALLOW TO LIE ABOUT ARE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN DHUE FISH AND BARRAMUNDI.
Dhue fish gets sold as pearl perch at fish and chip shops. And goodluck tastimg the difference.
I do not agree with this at all as you could sell red emperor and just put a cheaper reef fish fillets there.
I wish we could start a company where you go into fish shops and give them an approved sign that they do the right thing all the time and then people would know you could trust them.
Down the Line
Catch the Experience
GGs
Posts: 330
Date Joined: 06/09/14
Pearl Perch
I cant remember exactly where i saw it but ive seen pearl perch sold as "Northern Dhufish" and it came with a hefty price tag!
carnarvonite
Posts: 8622
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Pearl perch / dhufish
Why would you DEVALUE dhufish to sell it as pearl perch.
Not sure on what the pros get for dhufish now but son only gets about $8 or $9 a kg for pearlies and the best I got for dhufish at the markets around Easter 10 years back [best time of the year for high prices] was $18kg.
sea-kem
Posts: 14833
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Saw Dhuie for sale yesterday
Saw Dhuie for sale yesterday at the Carousel fish shop for $80kg on special from $90
Love the West!
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
well the barramundi they had
well the barramundi they had were well undersize
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
Most likely farmed Barra
Most likely farmed Barra from overseas. Also I was under the impression pro boats have different size limits to amateurs quite often smaller then us
tassy
Posts: 372
Date Joined: 30/06/14
Not true commucial boats hae
Not true commucial boats hae serious rules on sizing an we follow it to letter, because when your boat is worth nearly 2 mil, an a lot more for some. You take it it seriously.rec fishing rules seem a little looser or maybe about same, not sure. But rec fishing has a lot more cowboys an thieves. Simply because they have a lot less to loose.
Five bream an counting
One tree
One fooone hand
One jetty.
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
Confused
Confused
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
if it is farmed from
if it is farmed from overseas they cant go calling it wa locally caught
Hutch
Posts: 2221
Date Joined: 21/04/13
Don't think farmed fish have
Don't think farmed fish have size limits and there are barra farmed in the NW as far as I'm aware
petermac
Posts: 2946
Date Joined: 03/03/10
if you have ever seen
if you have ever seen a prawn or fish farm O/S you wouldn't be eating imported seafood
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Might not be able to lie about dhufish...
...BUT, they can be a bit crafty about it. Years ago, on a menu in a Two Rocks restaurant, was "imported dhufish". Also on the menu was "local dhufish", for a significantly higher price.
When I was told that the imported version was actually mulloway, I asked why it wasn't spelt "jewfish" and their response was that they didn't want to upset Jewish people.
As I said, it was cheaper but certainly illustrates the lengths some will go to in order to promote their product.
sea-kem
Posts: 14833
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Funnily enough Dhufish used
Funnily enough Dhufish used to be called Jewfish and the name was changed for prescisely that reason. Bloke who used to write the Sunday Times reports explained this to me once as he used to write all his articles using Jewfish and I questioned him why.
Love the West!
tangles
Posts: 1367
Date Joined: 17/12/06
notorious
notorius for selling undersize out of date fish that oe. They have been done cpl times by fisheries already. If I ever bought fiit would def not be from that shop!
The owners are priates and have noidea about fish! Go in there and ask em a cpl questions and see hw you go
james1989
Posts: 219
Date Joined: 22/11/11
I use to see it before the
I use to see it before the wanneroo market fish market closed. I bought a snapper off them just to show dad was only 31cm and was apparently wa caught. So instead of wasting it I filleted it then used scraps for crab bait, almost got done by fisheries for an undersize fish frame :/
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
yeh they were dodgey i was
yeh they were dodgey i was telling mum how the fish were undersize and some asian lady told me to get out of the shop. and the fish they were selling was also in really bad quality
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
and are the fisheries or
and are the fisheries or someone allowed to do anything about it? like make them close the shop or something?
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Fisheries and restaurants.
The only time I've heard of restaurants being investigated was when they were suspected of dealing in rec caught crays...they had the centre flaps missing from the tails.
Would be interested to know if fisheries pull restaurants/markets up for other reasons, or is it just too hard, like a shore-based rec fishing licence?
sea-kem
Posts: 14833
Date Joined: 30/11/09
I know restaurants are
I know restaurants are monitered for the type of fish they selling, I think there is now a simple test to see if they are flogging off Nile perch for Dhuie etc. There have been a few done for the substitution scam.
Love the West!
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
but can they tell small fish
but can they tell small fish markets off?
tassy
Posts: 372
Date Joined: 30/06/14
Take photos of the stock an
Take photos of the stock an the owner, then take it to fisheries, if there's a problem great an it's one more thief out of buzz. If your mistaken no harm as you did it for right reasons.
Five bream an counting
One tree
One fooone hand
One jetty.
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
yeh thats an alright idea
yeh thats an alright idea ill try that
tassy
Posts: 372
Date Joined: 30/06/14
Make sure pics are dated an
Make sure pics are dated an times
Five bream an counting
One tree
One fooone hand
One jetty.
mc
Posts: 91
Date Joined: 10/09/13
I'd want to be very sure
I'd want to be very sure before calling fisheries, come to think of it, I'd want to be very sure before making a post like this and possibly tainting a business' reputation.
fishy fingers
Posts: 1719
Date Joined: 28/04/07
Local or wa caught
one problem is if it's advertised as local that can mean the whole australasian area including indonesia, it dosent mean perth and surrounds, wa caught though is a different matter, also I think but cant be sure if it's landed i.e taken off the trawler at the dock in wa, it can be called wa fish even if it was caught elsewhere as oppose to flown in frozen from other parts of the world although the operator would have to prove it was caught overseas
vinniefisho
Posts: 212
Date Joined: 21/01/15
it said locally wa caught
it said locally wa caught
Karak
Posts: 111
Date Joined: 22/06/13
During my time in Coles, in
During my time in Coles, in the Deli.
We stock Vannamei Prawns ( product of Vietnam) and to restock for both Australian Banana Prawns and Vannamei Prawns
Thats how bad it was.
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
If you make enquiries with fisheries about size
Some years back I noticed a tray of what (to me) where clearly under size snapper being sold as plate size snapper at the freo markets. I phoned Fisheries about my concerns and was asked for the name of the business selling the snapper. As there was no identification name on the stall I obtained the name of the person in charge of the stall and got back to fisheries.
I was then informed that these fish where bread and raised in dams in the wheat belt, huh I questioned this at once and got the story that because of the salt level in a couple of dams in a certain area a few adventurers individuals had gained Fisheries approval and had a go at raising snapper in their dams. long story short they raised enough to test the local market for acceptance the fish being way under the legal size of wild stocks, all quite ok for farmed stocks.
The venture failed because fish tasted crap compared to wild caught fish and disease caused big problems.
So if you have concerns about the size of fish being sold and think things are not right, ring fisheries and ask questions you may be in for quite a shock and a bit of an education as well.
What ever you do don't stop asking questions about something you have seen with fish as if we are to keep our wild stocks of fish in good health eternal vigilance and reporting is everyone's responsibility, don't just look at things and wonder if.
Notorious
Posts: 914
Date Joined: 23/02/12
Every time I have seen
Every time I have seen undersize fish for sale I have called Fishwatch
If they are farmed fish, they can be undersize.
If the fish are from interstate where different size regulations apply, thats ok too.
Call Fishwatch and let them investigate, they are most helpful and thankful for the call.
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