Recreational fish catch falls 50 per cent to meet management plan target

The latest survey from the Department of Fisheries has revealed the success of measures designed to halve the recreational demersal scalefish catch on the West Coast.

Fisheries Minister Norman Moore announced catch restrictions in July 2009 as part of a raft of new recreational fishing management measures designed to protect vulnerable fish stocks.

The management measures followed independently reviewed research that indicated demersal scalefish species such as dhufish, pink snapper and baldchin groper were overfished and stocks were in danger of collapse.

“The new management rules came into effect last October and the latest survey results are very encouraging - revealing that we have almost achieved the desired 50 per cent catch reduction outcome,” Mr Moore said.

“The recreational fishing catch reduction is occurring and is a credit to fishers who have followed the rules and played their part in contributing to the recovery of fish stocks.”

The Minister said the commercial fishing sector had already cut its catch by 50 per cent at the time the recreational fishing measures were introduced last year.

“Reducing recreational catches was a vital step in the long-term recovery plan for the fishery,” he said.

“It will take time for the fishery to fully recover, given that species like dhufish and pink snapper are slow growing and can live to nearly 40 years of age.

“For these reasons the rules that were introduced last year will remain in place for the next two years before they are reviewed.”

Key recreational fishing rules for demersal scalefish in the West Coast Bioregion (between Zuytdorp Cliffs north of Kalbarri and Black Point near Augusta) include:

• two-month recreational fishing closure (October 15 - December 15).


• mixed bag limit of two demersal fish per person.


• bag limit of one dhufish.


• boat limit of two dhufish (six on charters).


• pink snapper size limit 50cm (south of Lancelin).


• compulsory use of a release weight.

Mr Moore urged recreational fishers to continue to treat demersal species with a sense of personal responsibility and stewardship in order to help ensure the future of fish stocks.

“In addition to estimating the catch of demersal species, the survey also showed a significant increase in the release of some species such as pink snapper,” he said.

“This issue will require further investigation along with a higher than expected catch of baldchin groper in the Mid-West and around the Abrolhos Islands.

“While this may lead to some focused management solutions, in some regional locations, the overall sustainability rules that apply to the West Coast region will remain unchanged.”

More information about the West Coast demersal scalefish fishery can be found at www.fish.wa.gov.au and from the Recreational Fishing Guide - West Coast Region, which is available online or from Department of Fisheries offices and information outlets.

Department of Fisheries 8/10/10

taking the new weapon for a run on friday gonna smash up the bream and need an off sider please pm if keen

coraline 550 stealth tournament . electr4ic soon to be upgraded to 24 v kota

Hi guys,

I want to look at diving at rotto this cray season but a little scared of shark reports out there

Have many of you dive out there and seen sharks at all ? .

As I want to get into diving looks like fun

hey guys i just got the gold card and was wondering if it can plug into my comp or will i lose everything on the card

Just a few questions for the South African members haha

Heading to South Africa in January and we are heading to Knysna to stay for a while.

I was wondering if there is any sort of sportsfishing scene there, be it fresh or saltwater? Or even game fishing...

Was hoping to take a couple sticks and chuck around some placcies and hards for some hard fighting sportsfish but would be happy to pay to do a charter and chase gamefish.

Tried googling but not a lot of info came up.

Any information would be great!

Cheers guys,

Schecky

for example we had a sambo off two rocks once try and swallow a 4kg pinky, that sambo was at least 55/65kg (we have caught plenty of 35/40ish kg sambos and that thing was a freak!!!

Hey guys im aware that the demersal closure is between the 15th of oct and the15th of dec,is the 15th inclusive in the ban or do i posibley

have one more fish up my sleeve this saturday

Wow what a weekend for a fish no winds no swell but typical banns start friday inclusive aghh bugger and I wanted to get out there oe more time :) So does anyone know were to find the tuna ? I heard somone say in 30m and then there is the back of rotto ? Birds or no Birds you can randomly get lucky ?

Further to Adams jewie post, thought I might add a pic of a Black Jew I got last year some time.

Lets see any injured fish pics you have. Got to be a few out there.

Got this one in the Hedland harbour. Still went hard considering.

hey guys i'm new to the site and just wanted to ask a quickie if anyone can help.

I'm in the market for a new rod to use off my boat, i'm not that much into the technical side of things, but thats what im here for. Can anyone recommend a good one or maybe point me in the right direction with some tips what to look for?

I've got a travertine TRB55 reel.

Cheers

just thought id see whos runnin wat braid havin a tuff time thinkin about what to put on the new saragosa 18000

Cheers for all the info.

Reelax.

Caught a big 68cm Pinkie 7 kms of lancelin, directly out from the North Channel of Lancelin on Saturday. I had some spots to try out,, but they were too far out so we went well into the 25m, threw out the sea anchor and had a drift. The mulies we had were hardly getting touched, but then we baited up some of the small whiting we caught earlier, and there was alot of interest. Sunday was blowing hard, but the beaches looked very fishy, I reckon there is monster whiting on the beach up there in rough conditions, Lancelin has some good whiting records too, can't wait to get back. Good little break from the hustle  n bustle.

I have found that I am losing good fish midfight on the SPs. I mean the occasional lost fish is normal, but this is happening more frequently. Two reasons I can come up with, 1. The hooks on the Nitro jigheads are not chem sharpened. 2. The lead jighead hanging out of the fishes mouth would help it to throw the hook. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced the same thing. cheers Pete

New riffe euro on on its way and a return trip to shark bay next monday - either dirk hartog or peron weather depending... Hopefully some nice fish speared! report and pics will follow

poddy

Going to Rottnest on the weekend. Just wondering where is the best place to catch Herring, Skippy.

Did anyone go down to mandurah and have a look? If so what did they think, any nice boats??

Gady,

I'm heading up to Jurien for a week with the Mrs and my 2yr old son (starting the 16th/10), havnt fished there B4 I have a Nissan Patrol. Can anyone give me some spots to try and pointers ?

Hi all,

been a lurker for a very long time, but decided it was time to ask for help.  I am heading up to Cassini Island (middle of nowhere in the Kimberley) in the next couple of days.  It's a bit late, but thought I'd ask if anyone has been there and has any advice/suggestions etc etc.  I know they get a lot of tuna and macks with a good mix of sails and GTs, but would love any advice from anyone who has been there before. Interested in all the reefies too.

picked up new rod and reel from Honsu today in preparation for some big hits...

thanks in advance.

On saturday arvo around 130 pm at Mindarie Marina wash off bay a guy with a cat called Dominator had a rod and reel knocked off.

The guys that knocked it off had one of them walk around and speak to the owner of the boat while his partner in crime took the rod and reel from the other side of the boat. The guy that spoke to him was around 20 with a southern cross tattoo on his forearm. The gear that was taken was a 20000 stella on a custom calstar rod.

If you are reading this and are the ones that took the rod then my advice is to move away or return the rod to mindarie bluewater tac kleworld as you have taken something from the wrong guy.  He is hunting you and is an australian representative martial artist that is not a happy camper and i dont think he will forget your face in a hurry.  Put bluntly i think you will need a better dental plan and quickly.

In short people keep an eye on your gear.  If you have a stella 20000 offered cheap from a mate then give him this warning and send a pm to me and i will organise a drop off point somewhere.

Is it just me or does there seem to be a lot of Dhuies around these days?  Sounds like there are more about now than a few years ago.  There seems to be a lot of the smaller ones about too?  Is it just me or can we put it down to changes to fishing rules over the last few years?  What's going on?  Or am I wrongly mistaken?

Have a Northstar GPS Setup in the boat - - Good Unit , Great Screen except when i hit any bump it switches itself off. It is dash mounted with a Bracket that is supplied ( which allows it to be tilted etc ) . Is it a common Problem ? - Any Ideas to help it out

I would love some advice on sounder for a 3.8m ali dinghy. I fish around the three mile around Hillarys to Ocean Reef (not very successfully)

I have a pirhana max hummingbird (entry level b and w sounder) but have had trouble with the transducer.

Should I go for a colour sounder or a high detail black and white? budget prefer $300 maybe up to $400. Saw a good deals on garmins, $220 for the 160C which i think is really just a coloured basic sounder, but the 400C for $350 ish looks a good buy?

any tips on what to look for and what to not waste money. eg dual beam etc . I would not be much deeper than 40 meters I would think ever, usually closer to 20m.

thanks!

when i was their last year i notice two reefs north west from the crayfishmens jetty just wondering do they fish well and how deep the water is my fish finder broke so i will  be going up blind spwen

i am thinkin of goin to garrett rd bridge do you think i will catch somthin and what times will be the best do you think???

hey me and my dad went to two rocks this morning and the molls at the marina were closed are you not aloud to go on them anymore. The were both cut of by fences or did an accedent happen??

Looking at getting some of these when I can, who sells them and how much are they roughly.

Cheers
Dale

Well I had an interesting day yesterday afternoon. With the weather looking good I decided to get out for a fish before the ban comes in. Left the ramp at around 1pm and headed around the cape. With some good reports coming in the last couple of days we all were pretty excited about what the arvo would bring. Just as I was about 200m from my first spot the motor made a couple of clunking noises and then stalled. After about an hour of trying to start it again we realised it wasn't going to start and we were going to need a tow. Contacted Quindalup sea rescue and the tow home was arranged. Knowing the boys would take a while to reach us we threw out the pick and decided to have a fish. With a sandy bottom below we didn,t really expect too much but down went a variety of rigs. After about half an hour with only a few wrasse caught the rods were left in the holders and we all just kick backed. Not long after there were shouts of big rod, big rod. Seb quickly grabbed the rod and was soon hooked up onto something solid We were all calling it for a ray as it just wanted to sit on the bottom but after a few minutes it started coming up and started to really fight. As it came into view we could see it was a shark and when it hit the surface we could see it was a large gummy. Stoked a little compensation for a bad trip. With the sounder showing a school of long skinny fish below it wasn't too long before a second gummy was caught and landed. After this fish was delt with we decided to call it a day and get ready for our tow home. Not long after the boys from sea rescue arrived, hooked us up and started the long haul home. The trip home took around two and a half hours. On the way home we spotted around 15 whales, a little more compensation for a bad day. Reached Quindalup just as the sun was going down.

A big thanks to the guys from Quindalup sea rescue that gave up their friday arvo to come and get us. Very much appreciated.

hi guys,

could you put a symmetre 1000 on a egi force type b? could anyone give me their reviews on the rod

cheers matt

ps.could i use it for plastics if not what rods are aout there under 200 which are good for squiding and light plastics landbased