mrmoshe

How's this for a turtle tale?? From yesterday's Maitland Mercury: Giant find surprise to Hunter fishermen Wednesday, 1 March 2006 A giant green sea turtle has made its way from Townsville to Maitland surprising both fishermen and animal experts. The 12kg salt water turtle, believed to be about 10 years old, was found in the Hunter River at East Maitland yesterday morning about 1500km from its natural habitat in Townsville. Maitland fishermen David Pitman and Jimmy Hill found the turtle floating at 11am while fishing near Mr Hill's Pitnacree Road home. At first the men thought the turtle was dead. "We thought the turtle was dead and floating around but when he poked his head out we went and rescued him because we knew he was definitely in the wrong spot," Mr Pitman said. "I mean, as fishermen we see a lot of smaller, long legged turtles but this was definitely a sea water creature - we just couldn't believe it. "We even spoke to some older men who have been fishing in the area for more than 50 years and they said they had not seen anything like it." And the experts couldn't agree more. Sea turtle co-ordinator with the National Parks and Wildlife Trust Audrey Koosmen said the creature probably travelled on a warm water current from the ocean. "Green sea turtles have showed up on occasion in Newcastle Harbour but we've never found one this far up," Ms Koosmen said. "I can't believe it travelled this far - thank goodness the men discovered it." But all is not well with the city's newest resident. A vet in Raymond Terrace has diagnosed with turtle with a blood disorder and the creature is gravely ill. "The turtle is quite sick and diseased which is a shame because these guys can live to be 80 or 100 years old," Ms Koosmen said. However, if the turtle does survive it will be sent to Taronga Zoo in Sydney for rehabilitation before being tagged and released. Cheers, Pete.

It seems from reading all the material on Dioxin that is a very dangerous toxin. Having said that, there are still ways to decrease the risk of poisoning in the way you prepare contaminated fish. This was in the link I posted earlier: Quote" How can I reduce my exposure to dioxins? Dioxins accumulate in fish fat, so removing skin and trimming the fat help reduce dioxin intake. People who eat large amounts of locally caught fish, or who regularly eat seafood should trim the fat and skin before cooking. Barbecuing, broiling or baking fish on an elevated rack to allow fat to drip away helps further reduce exposure to dioxins. Unquote" So at the very least, it may be advisable to adopt these methods before eating any fish taken from Sydney Harbour. This Dioxin problem is not going to go away overnight and we may all have to adapt to ways of eliminating the risk from consuming seafood with any high levels of Dioxin. The other, and probably safer way, is to catch and release ALL fish from the Harbour in the short term. That way we can still enjoy the sport of fishing, but with the knowledge that we aren't risking our lives in eating our catch. There are plenty of other fishing grounds around Sydney that are not affected by this pollution and are safe to eat, so let's not get too scared by this relatively small scale toxic menace. As to the imported seafood question, that's another worry. If the Federal and State Health Departments are doing their jobs, we should all feel safe in consuming these imports. But are they? I know from speaking to my local supermarket fishmonger that they (The Govt.) test imports on a regular basis. He told me that only recently, those flavoured prawns you see on skewers for BBQing had been removed from sale after they found an "irregularity" in some samples. I notice they are back in the stores now, so let's all hope it was a minor hiccup and not something worse than that. Cheers, Pete.

Dioxins can be quite harmful to you. As well, you can pass on this harm to your unborn children. It has a cumulative effect in humans. Here is a good site from the U.S. with the facts on dioxin contamination, especially in fish and ways to avoid it. http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/factsheets/dioxin.htm Here's another fact sheet from Greenpeace on Dioxin: http://www.greenpeace.org.au/toxics/pdfs/dioxin_facts.pdf We should all be concerned at this kind of pollution..it aint a good thing!!! Cheers, Pete.

Hi guys, just thought I'd let you all know that Channel Nine News tonight has a story on Dioxin levels in fish taken in Sydney Harbour. Nine have done their own independent testing of fish caught at Goat Island in the harbour and have had them analysed by an independent testing laboratory. They confirm the Government's testing of high Dioxin levels and also another alarming toxic chemical that wasn't know about before. It will be shown (in Sydney on TCN9) at 6pm and probably again on Nightline. This independent test just confirms that fish taken is the harbour are NOT SAFE to eat at the moment and should be a warning to those that think it is all just a Government smoke screen to rid the harbour of commercial fishermen. It's worth watching. Pete.

You got 19 answers right. You got 1 answers wrong. You're a little ripper! Yep.excellent quiz that. Stodge got me too. didn't know it meant a cassarole. Oh well. Pete.

Thanks Ben, I may try that method next time I use pippis. Pete

I bought some pippis from my local fish shop in Dee Why last week ($9.99 a kilo) and gave them a shot at Narrabeen Beach. managed two smallish bream and one whiting. Switched to bloodworms and got lots of bites but couldn't hook whatever was nibbling..probably small stuff. The pippis are Ok as bait but are a bugger to keep on the hook as they seem to be able to suck it off the hook before you feel a good bite. Might give it another shot as I only had an hour or so to try 'em out. Anyone else had much success with pippis? Pete.

Geez, even the Police aren't immune from this madness! From today's Sydney Morning herald: Wave of crime on harbour ON A September night last year, after darkness had fallen on Sydney Harbour, a group of thieves waded quietly into the $12 million lair of the NSW Water Police. While officers manned the heavily-secured Balmain command centre, the robbers calmly climbed aboard a police boat berthed below and helped themselves to high-tech equipment holding potentially sensitive police intelligence. Superintendent Terry Dalton, who runs the NSW Marine Command Centre, has confirmed "thieves did rob a police boat berthed at Balmain" and that "investigations are ongoing". But he declined to comment further "for the sake of the security of my officers". Boat industry sources say police immediately began making inquiries about top-of-the-line laptops worth many thousands of dollars. The computers were reportedly carrying sophisticated radar equipment and may also have stored highly confidential information about harbour security and criminal activity - but police have refused to discuss their contents. The break-in is part of a wider problem on the harbour. Boat-owners complain they are unable to guard their vessels against thieves hunting expensive Global Positioning System equipment and other technology. The marine crime prevention officer for Sydney Water Police, Fran Batten, said there had been almost 70 reports of thefts or attempted thefts in the Sydney area since August last year. She said not enough boat-owners were investing in locks and alarm systems. At Lake Macquarie, police have received reports of almost 50 boat break-ins on water and land in just the last few weeks. On an average day Sydney Water Police patrol 480 kilometres of foreshore with just one or two boats, each usually carrying two or three officers. Superintendent Dalton said there was "always the potential to call in boats from other parts of the state". "There's been no crime wave. It goes up and down but overall it's consistent." The biggest problem, he said, was the fact people left their boats unguarded and unsecured on the water for long periods. Theodore Venardis, a 25-year-old boat-owner, moved his boat to his driveway after he lost $2000 worth of stereo and fishing equipment last year: "I didn't report it - there was no point. Most of my friends have had the same experience." A member of Middle Harbour Marine Watch recently had his boat stripped of about $10,000 worth of sophisticated gear. IN THE DRINK Thefts (and attempted thefts) from vessels between August 2005 and February 2006. - Sydney Harbour 15 (3) - Middle Harbour 23 (1) - Manly Cove 7 - West of Harbour Bridge 16 (3) Total: 68

Thanks guys for making me feel most welcome here. Just great reading all the past posts and tips here. Keep 'em coming. Cheers, Pete.

Hi all..A newbie poster here. I have been reading this forum with glee lately and it has stirred me back into some fishing action. I have been living overseas for the last 8 years have missed my fishing sessions greatly. Now that I'm back and living back on the Northern Beaches and reading all the great posts here, I finally got my old fishing gear dusted off and took a few days off to toss a line into Narrabeen Lagoon, (my old haunt) Had some success with a few nice bream and the odd flattie and the usual for this time of year, some good sized whiting and lots of chopper tailor. BTW, I release everything I catch as I'm not a big fish eater. Tonight I went down again to the area around the cricket nets to see if any flatties were lurking about. I didn't manage to hook any, just the ubiquitous juvenile bream, (had about 70 of them in the last 2 days) and a couple of whiting but 3 blokes fishing 10 metres away from me managed one nice flattie and then one of 'em latched onto this monster lizard. Well, he nearly crapped his pants when this giant leapt out of the water trying to throw his hook. He reeled like an organ grinder on heat and finally got this leviathan to the small beach. Having no net, his mate said 'I'll just grab your line and haul it onto the beach" and you guessed it, PING!! Splash!! and off it went back into the lake. This monster had to weigh over 5 kilos as it's head was well over 20cm across and a body about 80 cm long. It was right on the beach when he snapped him off and sped back into the briny faster than a jackrabbit. It's heartening to know these monsters are still in this lake and I will be a regular back down there when I can to chase one of these lizards. It was probably just as well he got away as these blokes were keeping and cleaning their other flattie and that huge fella (or gal) was most probably a breeder and better off still swimming. Anyway, it's great reading all the posts here and thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in..keep up the insightful postings. Pete.