IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

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Warrship
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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by Warrship » Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:30 pm

Dear all I have not responded to some of the recent posts. I have had trouble logging on numerous times over the last few days which is why I asked the administrator to put up my last post. However today I am successful.

Firstly I would like to respond to "Mr Re-tyred" who thinks that the fish are owned by the community. They are in fact a natural resource not owned by anyone. Regarding the ability to transfer commercial access licences. My assertions are based on conversation with Mr Dallas D'Silva, Manager of Policy, Science and Licencing at the Victorian Fisheries Authority. If you want an access licence there is currently one for sale with boats and all equipment on the market for $378000 through Melbourne Ship Brokers. Good Luck!

So further to the other discussions....
The most reliable indicators of available fish in the Gippsland Lakes is provided by records of commercial catch rates. Since 1989 where the commercial landed catch was 1200 tonnes (all fish) the Lakes fishery has declined to 283 tonnes in 2016, 94 tonnes of this was carp. (ref Commercial Fish Production, Victorian Fisheries Authority (VFA) 2017).

While some of the decline in commercial catch can be attributed to the reduction in commercial licences, the VFA admits to the decline. The VFA state however that the fish stocks "were stable", although at a lower level of productivity compared to the 1970s and 1980's." ref. The Gippsland Lakes fishery-An overview 2016. This document can be found at the fisheries website.

Recreational fishing figures are based on interviews with anglers, creel surveys and diarists.
The Gippsland Lakes fisheries assessment 2016, Fisheries Victoria Science Report Series No 14 ( also available on line), contains a report on a local knowledge survey. In summary, 12 surveys were distributed to recreational fishers with 4 responses. The responses included 3 angler diary participants, who fish more than fortnightly for bream in the Tambo and Mitchell rivers as well as the Nungurner and Metung areas. These respondents believe the abundance of legal sized bream has decreased in the last year due to a number of factors including commercial fishing. These diarists are regular and experienced anglers and can be expected to catch fish in a sponge! They belong to the saying "10% of the anglers catch 90% of the fish". It was disappointing that more anglers did not respond to the survey to improve the significance of the results.

I do not believe that conservation and sustainability are dirty words, those of you that resort to the term "greenie" as a form of personal abuse, says more about you than about me. I happen to believe that all the Gippsland Fisheries are an invaluable resource to be responsibly managed and not over exploited to protect them into the future.

For anyone who is interested there is a significant archive relating to the Gippsland Fishery Edited by the late Lynton Barr. This archive is available online by searching for "Around the Jetties by Lynton Barr". The issue list goes back to 2005 until the last just prior to his passing in 2016. 104 substantive newsletters are published with the archive held on the Lake Tyers Beach website. They give a great insight into fishing in the East Gippsland Fisheries. I hope some of you maybe already familiar with the newsletter or may access it in the future.

Signing out... Warrship

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by frozenpod » Fri Dec 22, 2017 1:09 pm

If you want people to support your cause I suggest you start by being open and transparent.

IE all the information and supporting evidence upfront and be open about your identity.

IE post up all the supporting documents as attached files or with a direct link for people to click and read.

PS these decisions or number of licences quotors, bag limits should be based on science and not beliefs.

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by re-tyred » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:34 am

I am well aware you can buy a licence, equipment and quotas in the fishing industry. What you cannot get is the equivalent of the old Victorian Master Fisherman's Licence. Now called an access licence. This allows an individual to fish either with their own licence and equipment or some one else's. So in affect I could buy a fishing business but cannot operate it in Victorian waters. Once again warrship you didn't listen. You still did not address the argument of . why take out what by your own admission is the minor player. You admitted both recreational and natural predators are by far the biggest takers of fish in the Gippsland lakes. If the take is too high then a reduction in bag limits would need to happen.
Last edited by re-tyred on Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by re-tyred » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:46 am

Once again you are being pedantic as to"ownership" of the fish. Yes a natural resource managed by people who bestow a right to members of the community to take to eat. In affect a presumed ownership by government representing the community. As I previously stated if some people can have them then all people should have access to the limit the resource can sustainably be taken. It should never be the case that only those that fish can eat fish. What you are promoting is just personal greed. You want it but you don't want granma to have any
There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by re-tyred » Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:30 am

While I have always been open as to who I am. Just for this post I will re state what I have in other posts. My real name is Mike Gilbert. I grew up around the Gippsland Lakes . I fished on them as a boy. I was a commercial fisher, offshore from 1972 to 1987. I was involved for the rest of my working life in marine electronics, servicing the commercial fishing industry and all others. I am now semi retired living in Lakes Entrance and a keen recreational fisher. In my semi retired roll I drive various vessels, including some charter vessels for a favour and some hydro graphic vessels for money. I could do fill in jobs on commercial fishing vessels to relieve skippers who need a break. However I cannot do that in Victorian waters as I did not keep my master fishers licence.
There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by smile0784 » Sat Dec 23, 2017 12:14 pm

re-tyred wrote:While I have always been open as to who I am. Just for this post I will re state what I have in other posts. My real name is Mike Gilbert. I grew up around the Gippsland Lakes . I fished on them as a boy. I was a commercial fisher, offshore from 1972 to 1987. I was involved for the rest of my working life in marine electronics, servicing the commercial fishing industry and all others. I am now semi retired living in Lakes Entrance and a keen recreational fisher. In my semi retired roll I drive various vessels, including some charter vessels for a favour and some hydro graphic vessels for money. I could do fill in jobs on commercial fishing vessels to relieve skippers who need a break. However I cannot do that in Victorian waters as I did not keep my master fishers licence.
Impressive
You definitely know the area

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by cobby » Sat Dec 23, 2017 1:00 pm

smile0784 wrote:
re-tyred wrote:While I have always been open as to who I am. Just for this post I will re state what I have in other posts. My real name is Mike Gilbert. I grew up around the Gippsland Lakes . I fished on them as a boy. I was a commercial fisher, offshore from 1972 to 1987. I was involved for the rest of my working life in marine electronics, servicing the commercial fishing industry and all others. I am now semi retired living in Lakes Entrance and a keen recreational fisher. In my semi retired roll I drive various vessels, including some charter vessels for a favour and some hydro graphic vessels for money. I could do fill in jobs on commercial fishing vessels to relieve skippers who need a break. However I cannot do that in Victorian waters as I did not keep my master fishers licence.
Impressive
You definitely know the area
Exactly. If there's 1 person I'd listen to RE the Gippsland lakes system it is re-tyred and him only.

Whilst people like Dallas D'Silva are decent guys and good at their jobs, he and the others are inherently selfish. Until recreational bag limits are greatly reduced and measures to control fish eating wildlife populations are introduced there should be absolutely no one with any train of rational thought supporting this petition.

I've fished Westernport my whole life, it's been commercial net free for a decade. There's been not 1 single iota of difference in catch rates for anyone, including those you'd put into that supposedly special 10% category. The floating weed is still as bad as it ever has been. The sizes of catches are still the same. The same species, including Whiting, Bream, Flathead and EPs are still around in variable yet roughly the same biomass numbers.

There has only been 3 major commercial fishing changes that have had a major affect in recreational catch rates. The reduction in SBT take, the ending of Kingfish trapping and the removal of scallop dredging from PPB.

If you want proof of how recreational fishing has a bigger detrimental affect on fish numbers than commercial fishing then look no further than Mallacoota inlet. The dusky slot limits were introduced because of us. It was once a premier location. Now it's not worth the drive past Lakes Entrance to get there for worse fishing

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by mingle » Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:05 pm

Even though I fish, I do class myself as conservation-minded and do agree with the OP to a greater extent. I've never fished commercially (although I went out on a commercial boat back in the early 1980s out of Rhyll) and don't claim to be an expert, but surely leaving 280+ tonnes of fish in the system is a good thing?

Regarding the ban of netting in WPB not having an effect on catches; it takes a lot longer than 10 years for stocks to recover, particularly bearing in mind the 10(ish) year cycle of key species like the KGW. I've been fishing WP for over 35 years and my personal land-based whiting catch (anecdotally) has actually improved over the past few seasons: I used to be lucky to catch one or two 38-42cm fish per session, now it's rare to get any less than that. The season before last (for me was a bit tougher, but the last couple have been great.

The majority of floating weed is a result of grazing by black swans, not a result of netters dragging over the seagrass beds. Bad weather also loosens a lot of seagrass, particularly over the shallower mud-banks.

I have no beef with anyone on here, despite my posts sometimes being construed as ****-stirring. I'm happy to disagree with people and don't take offence (I also don't mean to cause any!) :-)

My broader view is that wild-fish stocks are not there for our benefit and shouldn't be considered a 'resource' as such. Give them a chance to live without constant pressure. I enjoy wetting a line, but would certainly welcome tighter bag-restrictions. Seriously, who really needs 20 KGW or flatties per session?!? Surely 10 fish is more than enough for everyone?

The madness of the snapper seasons is another one (probably better in a separate thread) - a closed season makes perfect sense to me, as does an increase in minimum size.

Cheers,

Mike.

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by smile0784 » Sat Dec 23, 2017 2:47 pm

So things haven't changed dramatically in a decade

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Re: IT'S TIME TO END COMMERCIAL NETTING OF FISH IN THE GIPPSLAND LAKES

Post by re-tyred » Sat Dec 23, 2017 4:07 pm

Bag limits are set based in fisheries science ,as they should be. Same with size limits. These should be a guide, they are not a target to brag about. I am lucky and can fish often. I just take what I am going to eat. Which is always less than the bag limit. Same with size. I rarely keep fish that are just size unless I think they won't survive. Everyone should only take what they are going to use. The reason this thread got up my nose is that I know the rec take and the over development around the lake system is the biggest threat. The commercials are a minor player. These petitions are about going against the science and making politicians feel they should do something or lose votes. Exactly the same tactic is used by the people who want to stop everyone from fishing. Just like the recent stingray ban. No science just emotive rubbish
There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)

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