New WA recreational fishing laws.

Timmah · #1 11-10-2009, 07:20 AM

Hi guys,

Just read the new arrangements for recreational fishing in WA, what are peoples thoughts on this i have attached the web link. One of the new things is having a licence to fish from a boat.

http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/pub/R...ange/index.php

Cheers
Tim

brad mcdonald · #2 11-10-2009, 08:24 PM

i'm happy enough with the rules its the fees which have me scratching my head.

i just can't understand why, even with the revised fees, our licence's will still be more than 4 times the price of other states (assuming you get all catagories) ..... but thats better than 10 times like the first draft i guess.

Timmah · #3 12-10-2009, 07:20 AM

Yeah the rules are good but i don't understand the fees myself. What are they trying to achieve? If the money gets used correctly it will be fine. I want to know how are they going to monitor it. They need more people checking peoples catches more than anything.

Cheers
Tim

brad mcdonald · #4 12-10-2009, 09:10 PM

hopefully the licence funds will do that ... & if thats the case i'm happy to pay, got my doubts but, hope i'm wrong.

Brad Y · #5 13-10-2009, 01:26 AM

There was a lady in Mandurah doing a survey of catches after the classic at the mary st ramp on sunday. Sure it was good to actually see someone, but its dissapointing that nobody actually orders you to open the live tank or show you thier days catch. It didnt matter for us as we are catch and release but to measure fish and check bag limits, fishing gear etc would be alot more positive. Just taking numbers doesnt deter people from doing the wrong thing.

Russo · #6 13-10-2009, 05:40 AM

I to don't mind the new rules, but the money grab is what i don't like. When you look at it how much money ended up in the pot after the Rec Skippers Ticket, now we will be hit again with higher fee's.
I think you will find there will be another good polly pay rise next year.

Zac 87 · #7 13-10-2009, 06:28 AM

i don't mind the changes for the recreation anglers but what sucks is that for the next two months i cant go out and catch a good bottom fish but the pros can net jewfish 'dhufish' and sell them back to me. i think if they are going to go for a fishing ban it should be applied to both recreational and commercial fishers.

Mandurah Marine · #8 14-10-2009, 06:06 AM

Yatesy the peoples taking the stats at the ramps down here are local volenteers (spelling) who send the stats in for research so unfortunately cannot enforce anything on the wrong doers but there has been a large amount of data collected. Speaking of which, at a public meeting down here with Fisheries Principal Management officer Nathan Harrison in August (before they changed their liscence fee structure to the current one), he explained that the liscencing was also designed to effect more research data, along with catch reduction. What I still don't understand is why are shore based/non boat based fishers not having to pay to fish? Me and 3 mates can go crabbing on my boat, pay our fees and are limited to 20 crabs. We go scooping/netting from shore and there is no fees, no stats and twice the catch!!! It will inadvertantly influence many people into doing the opposite of what fisheries are trying to achieve.
I'm talking local but with the demersal closure, the extended crab closure and to a lesser extent the crayfishing closure, many thousands of people will still be coming to Mandurah for boating activities and have less to do with their boats. This will put more pressure on other targets (and have a SERIOUS impact on tackle, marine trade and tourism sectors down here but I won't go into that).

"Oh well, lets go up the Murray and get a big feed of Bream". . . . . .

When I raised these points with Nathan, his response was that Fisheries will monitor the results in 1 - 2 years but I think the horse will have bolted and for Bream at least the damage will take many years to recover. . . . . .

It is but just IMHO