Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals



Here is the timetable for the Recfishwest response/submission on the proposals for changes to recreational fishing rules for West Coast.



Closing date for submissions to the Minister is 5pm Wednesday 30 April.



Draft

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RFW draft available by pm Friday 11 April.



Will be posted on the RFW website, emailed to RFW members and lots of other public contacts and the link will be provided on fishing forums.



Comments on the draft can be made by RFW members and others and will be considered.



Deadline for comments on the RFW draft - probably pm Friday 18 April - To be confirmed.



That will give people 7 days to comment on the RFW draft if they wish, or 18 days to use to use anything from the RFW draft submission in their own submission if they wish.



Final

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The final RFW version will be available by pm Thursday 24 April.



This will use comments from RFW members and others where changes are needed.



Will also be posted and distributed as above for the draft.



That will give people 5 days to use anything from the RFW final submission in their own submission if they wish .



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YES Recfishwest HAS read and will continue to read the many posts on the various fishing forums, emails etc, and so is ALREADY aware of the many (sometimes conflicting) opinions.



These proposals are NOT simple, and there is a lot of details and options to be considered, including things which are NOT in the proposals.



It is just not possible to say everything which needs to be said in 1 or 2 pages, so the RFW submission will probably have a summary and be followed by several pages of detail, like the RFW response to FMP225.



These proposals are THE most important changes affecting recreational fishing for a very long time, this MUST be done properly, and that all takes time.



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Contact Recfishwest

PO Box 34, North Beach,

Western Australia, 6920

Tel: 9246 3366 Fax: 9246 5955

Email

Website http://www.recfishwest.org.au/



TerryF

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==============



Please keep this thread for discussions/questions on the RFW submission or timetable.



Please use an existing thread or start another one if you want to comment on the details of the actual proposals



==============


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References for people who want more information

Thu, 2008-04-03 12:04

References for people who want more information and/or put in submissions



Current papers (March 2008).



1. Minister for Fisheries' "Recommended changes to recreational fishing of vulnerable iconic fish - especially dhufish, pink snapper, baldchin groper, breaksea cod and red snapper in the West Coast Bioregion" is available from http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/WestCoastDemersal/index.php



2. The latest Fisheries Management Paper 228 - "A Strategy for Managing the Recreational Catch of Demersal Scalefish in the West Coast Bioregion" (March 2008) is available from http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/mp/mp228/index.php?0706



3. Recfishwest media statement titled "New West Coast fishing proposals a 'mixed bag'" http://www.recfishwest.org.au/MediaStateWestCoastMixedBag.htm This was prepared on the morning of the release of the previous two papers and couldn't at that time cover ALL of the implications of ALL of the changes recommended by the Minister in Ref 1 or the Dept of Fisheries in Ref 2.



4. Minister for Fisheries' media statement 28 March 2008 is a summary of the proposed changes, available on http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Results.aspx?ItemID=129922 This is a media statement summary of Ref 1 so does not have as much detail.



Recfishwest's submission on the Minister's proposed changes and Fisheries Management Paper No. 228 will be put on the RFW website when it is prepared and will be advised on fishing forums.



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Previous papers (September - November 2007) leading up to the current papers.



5. The earlier Fisheries Management Paper 225 - "Managing The Recreational Catch Of Demersal Scalefish On The West Coast - Future Management Scenarios for Community Consideration" September 2007 is a previous paper referenced in FMP228 and is available from http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/mp/mp225/index.php?0706



6. Fisheries Research Report 163 "Spatial scales of exploitation among populations of demersal scalefish: implications for management. Part 1: Stock status of the key indicator species for the demersal scalefish fishery in the West Coast Bioregion." September 2007 is available from http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/frr/frr163/index.php?0401



7. Recfishwest submission 15 November 2007 on that Fisheries Management Paper No. 225 is http://www.recfishwest.org.au/SubDemersalFishingFMP225.htm Note:- That submission was prepared 15 November 2007 and covers FMP225, so does not cover the Minister's proposed changes or FMP228 released in March 2008.



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TerryF

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Colin Hay's picture

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Thanks

Thu, 2008-04-03 12:06

for the update Terry

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Fri, 2008-04-11 16:08

As promised, the Recfishwest Draft submission is on the RFW website at http://www.recfishwest.org.au/DraftSubDemersalFishingFMP228.htm



Please read WHY as well as WHAT.



Comments on the contents of that draft can be made by Recfishwest members and others and will be considered for the final version which will be posted on 24 April.



Recfishwest, PO Box 34, NORTH BEACH Western Australia 6920, Tel: 9246 3366 Fax: 9246 5955 Email:



Summary from that webpage:-



Quote:
Summary of Recfishwest Position on Recommendations:



Recommendation 1 Mixed daily bag limit of 4 for category one fish:



Supported, subject to splitting of category and limit of 4 applying to vulnerable species and overall category 1 limit remaining at 7



Recommendation 2 Bag limit for pink snapper reduced from 4 to 2



Supported



Recommendation 3 Size limit for pink snapper increased from 41 to 50 cm south of Kalbarri to Augusta.



Supported for entire West Coast bioregion - consider staged introduction of 45 cm for 2009 and 50 cm for 2010. Support the retention of only one fish over 70 cm for Cockburn Sound



Recommendation 4 Boat limit of 2 bag limits apply except for charter boats which have two fish per person.



Support option b(i) That the boat limit of two daily bag limits for Category 1 fish (demersal) is introduced for the west coast bioregion. Where five or more fishers are on board a recreational boat, an additional two category one fish should be permitted for the fifth and additional fisher.



Recommendation 5 Closed season from 15 October - 25 December and then from 1 February to 31 March.



Not Supported. Recfishwest supports a two month closure from 15 October to 15 December with additional demersal scalefish species included.



Recommendation 6A Prohibition on take of category 1 fish on compressed air.



Not Supported



Recommendation 6B Prohibit use of power assisted fishing reels



Supported with a buy-back provision for 6 months at $200 per reel - surrendered reels to be provided to the Fishers With Disabilities Association



Recommendation 6C (Recfishwest initiative) Compulsory carrying of release weight



Recfishwest recommends that any boat which is required to carry and EPIRB and has fishing gear onboard, should also be required to carry a device capable of being used as a release weight, including all commercial fishing boats with wetline entitlements.



Recommendation 7 Public Fishing competitions targeting high risk species to be discouraged



Recfishwest supports discussions with organizers of fishing competitions.



Recommendation 8 Possession limit at the Abrolhos Islands be 10 kgs or 1 days bag limit



Recfishwest supports making the Abrolhos Islands a Wilderness fishing area.



Recommendation 9 Volunteer log book program to be expanded



Support expansion with greater timeliness and Recfishwest involvement and strong consideration to a compulsory log book system.



Recommendation 10 Recreational trust fund



Supported



Recommendation 11 Fish reserves



Not supported at this time.



Additional matters.



Resourcing



License/Registration system



Wider application of these proposals




Summaries can never tell the full story. Lots more details and explanations of each of these on the website.



TerryF

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Colin Hay's picture

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Thanks again

Fri, 2008-04-11 16:14

for the update Terry. I will give it a good read over the wekend.

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I agree with all the points,

Fri, 2008-04-11 16:59

I agree with all the points, I think during the closure there should be a ban on all demersal fish as I don't think it would be worth fishing the bottom any way if you can't catch the 5 fish listed, this would stop the bycatch problem?

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Jigging

Fri, 2008-04-11 19:21

So no bottom bouncing means there goes the jigging season !!!!

 

YES it's lures only , BUT you DO get Snapper and dhuies on jigs regularly.

Think about it , do you really want to not fish for all that time ???

 

And NO I don't have a vested interest in jigging , just can't see why we need so many reforms at once ,

 

 where is the DATA to say why we need these bans ????

 

I'll just pop into the bedroom and grab my hat , so I can pull some numbers out ! 

 

 

NEW Oatsfishwest member 291 .

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Fri, 2008-04-18 10:19

Quote:
Deadline for comments on the RFW draft - probably pm Friday 18 April - To be confirmed.


The majority of comments received by phone, email, etc have agreed with the draft and have not asked for any changes to the RFW draft submission. Yes, some have hinted at major changes, but the majority did not.



Not many comments on some fishing forums.



Comments received are mainly looking for clarifications or change some words, without affecting the meaning.



So, based on the comments received up to now, the final submission will not have many changes and will not take much time.



The deadline for comments to be considered for the final submission is now received by start of business AM Tuesday 22 April.



The final RFW submission will be completed and sent pm Thursday 24 April well before the Fisheries Dept deadline of 5pm Wed 30 April.



That final RFW version will be posted on the RFW website.



The direct link will be published here, and also linked from the draft version http://www.recfishwest.org.au/DraftSubDemersalFishingFMP228.htm



Theres's enough time for anyone to use any part of the final submission or the draft submission, if they wish, in any personal submission.



A doc showing the differences between the final and the draft versions will also be published so you can easily see them.



Still time to make comments on the draft to RFW. If you don't say what you think, how can we know?



TerryF

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Commercial Netters Urgent Banning Needed

Fri, 2008-04-18 15:21

Last week you could not fish the coral lumps of Cape Nat because of the amount of nets in the water.

The last weekend past, a commercial netter caught ovet 10 tonne of cat one fish(Dhuies] near Hamlin Bay so please Recfishwest what is your view on this for looking after the stocks.

Cant wait for your answer.

 

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Typing Mistake

Fri, 2008-04-18 15:26

Sorry gentleman, it should have read,

One Tonne of cat one fish (Dhuies)

Thankyou.

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Fri, 2008-04-18 17:34

Quote:
please Recfishwest what is your view on this for looking after the stocks.

The Recfishwest draft says:-

Quote:
Recfishwest recognizes that there have been significant reforms of most sectors of the commercial fishing industry through the Wetfish Review, although concerns still remain over the potential impact of demersal gill net fishing in the West Coast bioregion.

Many recreational fishers are extremely concerned that the commercial fishing industry will not be subject to closures. While we accept the management reforms that were undertaken for commercial wetliners will have an impact when controls actually come into force in 2009, there is nothing to stop commercial operators from moving onto inshore reefs near population centres during the closed season. This would mean that the benefits to recreational fishing from accepting the conservative management would be offset. This will, require careful monitoring.


Recfishwest doesn't make the commercial rules. Department of Fisheries and the Minister for Fisheries make those rules.

Despite that, there are lots more comments on commercial fishing on the Recfishwest submissions page http://www.recfishwest.org.au/Submissions.htm

This thread is looking for comments on the RFW draft submission, and how that has covered the (sometimes conflicting) comments in all the other threads.

TerryF
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Frames

Fri, 2008-04-18 17:44

Terry can you shed any light on whispers that the data collected on the Dhuie frames we handed in for reasearch helped towards these closures ???? 

NEW Oatsfishwest member 291 .

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Fri, 2008-04-18 19:11

Mav



A simple question. The answer may not be so simple.



Research is covered in Fisheries Research Report 163 "Spatial scales of exploitation among populations of demersal scalefish: implications for management. Part 1: Stock status of the key indicator species for the demersal scalefish fishery in the West Coast Bioregion." September 2007 available from http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/frr/frr163/index.php?0401 Various bits from that are quoted in FMP225 and FMP228.



It says on Page 93

Quote:
6.2 Methods



Length data are routinely collected from the charter sector (2002/03 and 2005/06) and during recreational surveys (1996/97 and 2005/06). In addition, age samples are collected as part of a biological sampling programme (Table 8). The sampling program and detailed methods for estimating age are provided in St John et al. (2007).



Due to the high commercial value of whole pink snapper and dhufish it was not possible to take samples of whole fish at markets or processors. Therefore only legal size fish frames were obtained from the commercial wetline, longline and demersal gillnet fishers, processors, and from restaurants. Samples from the boat-based recreational fishery were collected from fishers operating individually, or as participants in fishing competitions. Undersize fish were collectedby research staff and recreational and commercial fishers operating under exemptions.



Although location within the region was surmised for all samples, the exact location of capture (i.e. GPS location) was rarely volunteered. Samples were either whole fish or filleted frames and fresh or frozen.




I'll leave it to others to decide after reading all that Research Report how much recreational people's frames led to the conclusions in that research



AND then how much that research helped DIRECTLY towards the Minister proposing a 4 and a bit month closure.



TerryF

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damm about coral lumps

Fri, 2008-04-18 19:34

 se why can,t the pros fish out WIDE. i mean the coral lumps is not far out, thank god i went north that day, but explains why no-one is getting dhuies now.last cple weeks dhuies have dropped big time, does this ban include pros from netting spawning fish,coz i think more damage is done there..i thing exclusion zones are a must down here.is there any infoon this?

 

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Thanks

Fri, 2008-04-18 19:38

Thanks Terry , I didn't mean to put you on the spot but guessed you would be able to direct us to the relevant people / information , you are a wealth of info , after all I was the one who posted up for people to hand in frames for research and have had a few people tell me ( some in no uncertain way) that we ( people who participated) greatly helped in the closures by giving fisheries access to the frames , I can see their point but like you posted it was a small drop in the pool of research but I can't help to think that the info gleaned from the rec caught fish would of had a great deal more importance as the time, place , depth etc was given with the frame which would of been more than they would of got from a frame out of a restaurant kitchen.

 

Cheers for answering my question I hope it informs the relevant people , Brendan / MAV.

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Thanks Terry

Fri, 2008-04-18 20:34

Thankyou for your reply terry.

About 10 to 15 years ago we got the netters banned from coming closer than 3km of the coast of geraldton south of Point Moore to greenough and African reef.

Life Members of the B.C.O.F.Club STEVE McCASKIE, MURRAY OLDEN &

BRIAN BILLI also Pel Robson(Passed Away)

 Pushed the Fisheries to safe guard these areas so the netters could not come and rape and pillage the Dhuies when they came inshore.

So why arent RecFish wth all there might not doing the same as a small bunch of guys who got something done.

Please explain!!!

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support

Fri, 2008-04-18 20:48

 well done terry i support all pints and have submitted my opinon

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Sat, 2008-04-19 08:51

Quote:
About 10 to 15 years ago.....So why arent RecFishWEST wth all there might not doing the same



Please explain!!!




Up to 10-15 years ago there were almost no controls on commercial wetline fishing - apart from the need to have a commercial fishing licence which wasn't very hard to get and there were lots of them issued over the years.



The world has moved on.



Since then, Recfishwest HAS constantly been involved and pushing for proper management of lots of different sorts of commercial fishing OVER THE WHOLE OF WA not just small stretches of coast, and things have changed dramatically.



Now commercial demersal wetline fishing:-



1. is banned from a 200 km stretch and 14,000 square kilometres of the Metro coast from Lancelin to Port Bouvard, which is incidentally (I understand) the biggest recreational only fishing zone in Australia, if not the world.



2. most of the commercial fishing licencees are no longer allowed to fish for ANY demersal fish between Exmouth and Augusta,



3. those 60-70 who ARE allowed to fish have a management plan which restricts the areas they can fish in, the gear they can use and the number of days they can fish. And those restrictions are different for each licence - some have more days than others.



Just SOME of Recfishwest's involvement in all those changes are covered in Recfishwest submissions page http://www.recfishwest.org.au/Submissions.htm



So the answer is:- Recfishwest IS in there doing MUCH MORE for ALL OF WA.



TerryF

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Thankyou for your reply BUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sat, 2008-04-19 09:18

Commercial Netting for fin fish cat one.

Is the most indescrimnate way of taking undersize fish and in big numbers.

Giving them no chance of releasing them back into the wild stock.

At the moment i cant bring myself to understand why we are not

banning this way of fishing!!!!!!

You say alot have things have changed since 15 years ago well really.

If Recfish are dikum why are there still commercial netters raping and pillaging

fish stocks.

 

 

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Sat, 2008-04-19 09:41

Quote:
If Recfish are dikum why are there still commercial netters




Covered in my earlier reply



Quote:
The Recfishwest draft says:-



Quote:
Recfishwest recognizes that there have been significant reforms of most sectors of the commercial fishing industry through the Wetfish Review, although concerns still remain over the potential impact of demersal gill net fishing in the West Coast bioregion.



Many recreational fishers are extremely concerned that the commercial fishing industry will not be subject to closures. While we accept the management reforms that were undertaken for commercial wetliners will have an impact when controls actually come into force in 2009, there is nothing to stop commercial operators from moving onto inshore reefs near population centres during the closed season. This would mean that the benefits to recreational fishing from accepting the conservative management would be offset. This will, require careful monitoring.




Recfishwest doesn't make the commercial rules. Department of Fisheries and the Minister for Fisheries make those rules.





If enough people will support what Recfishwest says by putting in their own comments and complaining a lot about the problems with commercial fishing management, then the Minister and Fisheries Dept might take notice.



Commercial netting IS covered in that RFW draft, has been discussed a lot between the Minister and Recfishwest and the Department and they all know what those paragraphs mean and how important it is to recreational fishermen.



If anyone wants to criticise Recfishwest for not getting this changed, then reread all the above.



Commercial fishing has already been covered elsewhere and so is NOT part of these RECREATIONAL proposals.



And a reminder:- this thread is meant to be about the RFW draft response to these Recreational fishing proposals.



TerryF

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Answering Quotes

Sat, 2008-04-19 11:14

Commercial netting IS covered in that RFW draft, has been discussed a lot between the Minister and Recfishwest and the Department and they all know what those paragraphs mean and how important it is to recreational fishermen.

It should be how important it is to having any bloody fish left!!!!!!

 

 

If anyone wants to criticise Recfishwest for not getting this changed, then reread all the above.

I am not criticising your establishment, my father was on the committee and has heaps of praise for Frank.

Until you reign in the Commercial sectors greed in all regards to preserving everyones natural resource.The bottom line is that the stocks are being destroyed by Commercial Netters.

Once again we are looking after the greedy commercial sector that fund the fisheries department.

It will be very interesting to see the collapse of the rock lobster industry,

and listen to them all crying for compensation for the so called best managed fishery in the world.

Unfortunately GREED overcomes all.

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Recfishwest response to recreational fishing proposals

Thu, 2008-04-24 17:26

The final version of the Recfishwest submission has been posted on the RFW website at http://www.recfishwest.org.au/SubDemersalFishingFMP228.htm



As forecast in a previous post, this final version has very few changes from the draft.



The changes between the final and draft submission (ignoring punctuation and formatting) are listed in that page.



Submissions to the Minister and Dept of Fisheries close 5pm Wednesday 30 April.



Please have your say.



TerryF

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Comments on Rec fishing proposals

Tue, 2008-04-29 10:30

Deadline for submissions to the Minister and Dept of Fisheries is 5pm Wednesday 30 April 2008.



If you are in an inner suburb and lucky, Australia Post will deliver a letter posted before 6pm Tuesday....



But that is NOT GUARANTEED (the APO target is the high 90%'s will be delivered by next working day) .



If you have left it till today (Tuesday) or tomorrow (Wednesday), your OTHER options would seem to be:-



1. Deliver it by hand to 3rd Floor, The Atrium, 168 St George's Terrace, PERTH



2. Fax to Dept of Fisheries 08 9482 7389



3. Use the electonic submission form http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/WestCoastDemersal/form.php



You could try emailing it to the Dept of Fisheries general email address:-



TerryF

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Comments on Rec fishing proposals

Wed, 2008-04-30 07:21

Deadline extended.



The closing date for submissions to the Minister and Dept of Fisheries is now 5pm Wednesday 7 May 2008.



http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/Results.aspx?ItemID=130073



Quote:
Fisheries Minister Jon Ford has today announced a one-week extension for public submissions .



More than 200 public submissions have been received since the release of Mr Ford’s recommended changes, as well as the Fisheries Management Paper No.228:



The Minister said the submissions had provided valuable feedback from fishers and other community members.



“Given the interest in these proposed changes, I’m keen to ensure everyone who is interested has the chance to make sure their views are considered in the process of determining the final changes to recreational fishing,” he said.



“I welcome a healthy and constructive debate about the recommended changes and reiterate that everyone has to play their part to save our fish so that the recreational fishing experience endures for existing generations and for many generations to come.”


TerryF

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