Perspectives of a fisheries social scientist

[The Black pig]

I,m not to sure about nets being sustainable in any fishery to tell you the truth??The yellowfin tuna that use to visit Jervis bay every year without fail were wiped out by trawlers back in the late 80s.The very small number taken by land base game fisherman had absolutely nothing to do with their demise an 100kg yellowfin fin is held in a lot higher regard by most australian fisherman than any permit or bonefish swimming an theres plenty of fisherman willing to pay $1000 a day for the chance at a 100kg plus Tuna be it a yellowfin or southern blue,The money these fish generated in small coastal communities like Bermagui an Eden massively out striped the few small years of profit a few individuals with nets an trawlers took to wipe them out,Proof net isn't sustainable can still be see at Tuna can factory that still sits idle down that way because why wiped everything out an with is isolation to most recreational fisherman we can be pretty sure they had nothing to do with it.I live on the foreshores of lake illawarra an witness so called professional fisherman clear their nets in the swallows,most morning it takes them about 1hr to get 2 or 3 fish boxes full of mullet which they get 80 cents a kilo if their lucky but for the whole hour they are emptying their nets there is about 50 pelicans an numerous other sea birds getting a belly full of the 100s an 100s of small bream an snapper that make up this bullshit word ''bycatch'' they use to replace the words 'ALL THE OTHER FISH THAT WERE CAUGHT AN DIED AN THROWN OVER BOARD''An as far as the new improvements in nets goes hows gunna pay for them??? definitly not the guy catching mullet for 80 cents a kilo thats for sure.The advances made in aqua culture in the last few years there should be need for nets in any fishery if austarlia got their heads out of their ass an stopped pandering to a few individuals in each coastal community who give nothing back to the industry they continually destroy,Like the proffesional prawn netters of lake illawarra who have to travel 2hrs down the coast each summer to get prawns because they have wiped the stocks of lake illawarra out

[The Black pig]

I fully believe it is every persons right to eat fish,But I also believe no person has the right to let somebody else destroy a fishery on their behalf just because they want a feed of fresh fish

[The Black pig]

Attachment 2285Nothing about this pictures is sustainable???I dont care what spin you want to put on it

[Piscineidiot]

I,m not to sure about nets being sustainable in any fishery to tell you the truth??The yellowfin tuna that use to visit Jervis bay every year without fail were wiped out by trawlers back in the late 80s.The very small number taken by land base game fisherman had absolutely nothing to do with their demise an 100kg yellowfin fin is held in a lot higher regard by most australian fisherman than any permit or bonefish swimming an theres plenty of fisherman willing to pay $1000 a day for the chance at a 100kg plus Tuna be it a yellowfin or southern blue,The money these fish generated in small coastal communities like Bermagui an Eden massively out striped the few small years of profit a few individuals with nets an trawlers took to wipe them out,Proof net isn't sustainable can still be see at Tuna can factory that still sits idle down that way because why wiped everything out an with is isolation to most recreational fisherman we can be pretty sure they had nothing to do with it.I live on the foreshores of lake illawarra an witness so called professional fisherman clear their nets in the swallows,most morning it takes them about 1hr to get 2 or 3 fish boxes full of mullet which they get 80 cents a kilo if their lucky but for the whole hour they are emptying their nets there is about 50 pelicans an numerous other sea birds getting a belly full of the 100s an 100s of small bream an snapper that make up this bullshit word ''bycatch'' they use to replace the words 'ALL THE OTHER FISH THAT WERE CAUGHT AN DIED AN THROWN OVER BOARD''An as far as the new improvements in nets goes hows gunna pay for them??? definitly not the guy catching mullet for 80 cents a kilo thats for sure.The advances made in aqua culture in the last few years there should be need for nets in any fishery if austarlia got their heads out of their ass an stopped pandering to a few individuals in each coastal community who give nothing back to the industry they continually destroy,Like the proffesional prawn netters of lake illawarra who have to travel 2hrs down the coast each summer to get prawns because they have wiped the stocks of lake illawarra out

Please don't mistake my endorsement of well managed commercial fisheries for poorly managed ones. Unfortunately, many Australian fisheries were managed poorly in the 70s and 80s. The Southern Bluefin Tuna is still at only 9% of their virgin spawning biomass (total tonnage of adults able to spawn before commercial fishing) because of the fishing practices that fueled those canneries. There are certainly STILL a lot of fisheries that need to be managed better in Australia (not least of which is the continuing Southern Bluefin Tuna fishery), but there are also some that do well and have minimal impact. I too have witnessed many nets being emptied, and a lot of discards. Again, I don't endorse fishing that has a lot of waste, and there are certainly better ways of doing things. Some commercial fishers are already pro-actively fishing in ways that let them remove non-target species while still alive (https://youtu.be/owiIZ5JElxk) - I have absolutely NO problem with those fishers or that method. To me, it seems like a positive step in the right direction.

What I will mention too, is that it would be irresponsible for us, as recreational fishers to deny that there are not a lot of small, under-sized and undesirable fish being thrown back that aren't dying shortly after release. The impact isn't as immediate as watching a commercial fellow emptying his nets, but there are literally hundreds of thousands more recreational fishers than commercial ones, and not everyone A) Handles the fish appropriately or B) Genuinely releases the fish as opposed to discarding them. It's still not uncommon to see piles of toadies on local jetties, and that's just not good enough. Sure, our impacts are different, but we as recreational fishers certainly still have one. It wasn't that long ago that massive 'kill and weigh it' comps were the norm in Australia. People used to win because they caught hundreds of bream, sweep and sundry other things. I have good friends who used to participate in them - now they're basically 100% catch and release bar when they feel like eating some fresh fish.

I also don't disagree that there would be fishers lining up with $1000 in hand to target 100kg Yellowfin Tuna. Especially if they felt there was a reasonable chance at hooking and catching one. Unfortunately, as you said, the days of doing that in NSW are in the past. Perhaps they'll come back - we can only hope, and at that point in time, they will certainly be an opportunity for tourism that should be investigated. Judging from my conversations with a lot of old rock fishers in NSW, if the fishing/fish numbers were what they were 30-40 years ago, NSW rock platforms really would have the potential to draw tourism from all over the world. Unfortunately, as it stands, I'm not so sure. Maybe in the future, if we do a good job of managing our fisheries and they recover well.

Unfortunately, I can't see your attachment, but I am going to assume it's a net full of fish or an ungodly amount of fish being discarded? Again, I don't disagree with you on the fact that a lot of commercial fishing practices could be made cleaner and more sustainable. There's a reason why state and federal agencies invest millions on the monitoring, policing and assessment of Australian fisheries. In a lot of instances, I feel they could do a better job, but that's another issue altogether.

Feel free to read my blog if you'd like (https://fishandpeople.wordpress.com/). I'm very careful to present a balanced point of view (the whole reason why I started the blog), and I do provide links to references for any argument I make. I don't take sides, whether it's commercial or recreational fishers or fisheries management. We're all in this together.

[The Black pig]

Point taken, Have you checked out the Heritage fish jervis bay web page it's very interesting,Jervis bay land base platform have the potential be a massive draw cards on the calendar's of fisherman from all over the world but the Australian government would rather close off the area[just like the best murray cod fishery in nsw] so the RAAF can drop bombs every once in a while.Its ridicules the amount of prime fishing area's that the government have under lock an key in this country.An the fisheries department aren't much better!!I can only take 2 Abalone from my local dive spots an I have witnessed the Abalone in massive numbers in alot a spots I dive for the 2 only lobsters i can take but once the area is rezoned for the professional AB divers they will wipe whole points clean of Abalone for another few years.The destruction on marine specie's what ever they may be by so called professional fisherman is huge compared to the by catch of a recreational fisherman.There may seem like a lot at the local wharf or jetty but have a look in their buckets!!Not to many are catching anything at all