chrisawright

Good catch - how do you avoid the sweep? - seem to be plagues of them out there scoffing all the berley! Chris

Oh please!!! There were NO good reasons for the Opposition to oppose the bill apart from the fact that that is ALL the Opposition do - oppose the government on everything - period. People complain about the current federal government but here is an opposition that do nothing but filibuster and block at every opportunity with no policies of their own. All this muttering about commercial uncertainties and risks to investment is rubbish (indeed it didn't stop the Libs promising to repeal the clean energy legislation - ask the energy utilities about that for investment risk!). Seafish knew exactly what they were getting into when they started this process - supertrawlers have been banned and given their marching orders right around the world - US, Africa etc. They knew it would encounter strong public opposition - but they decided to take the risk. What sort of royalties or licence fees were Seafish paying the Government for the right to commercially plunder these natural resources? Indeed I believe the government was actually providing them with subsidies to kick-start this operation. And employment? - 40 jobs! (the same week the Lib premiers are sacking people by the thousands!!). And the product - well the company says they were going to export the mackerel to Africa at $1 a kilo (after these boats had wiped out the west African fishery) well that's a great use of the marine food chain. Frankly, there is no justification for this scale of industrial fishing - the so-called science is coming under increasing question as the biomass estimates are at least 10 years old and AFMA is clearly too close to industry players like Seafish. It's been a huge victory driven by environmental and rec fishing groups and a great outcome. Farewell Margiris!

BUT WAIT - LIBS and some independents are now saying they will oppose the Government's legislation TODAY to ban the Supertrawler and are defending it!!! Unbelievable - if Tony Abbott has any brains he'll back off this right now - so much for those who want to vote this mob in at the next Federal election - if the Libs end up allowing the Supertrawler it will be a very dark day for recreational fishing and won't be forgotten - email and tweet your local Liberal members and let them know.

Just an update -the Federal Labor Caucus will be considering a private members bill from Fremantle Labor backbencher Melissa Parkes to ban the super-trawler Margiris TODAY (Tues 11 Sept) - it sounds like it has majority support and would get up with Greens support in the Parliament. Details here: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/super-trawler-plans-torpedoed-by-cabinet-20120910-25oib.html Great news if it happens and the result of a massive social media campaign by Greenpeace, GetUp and rec fishing groups: www.stopthetrawler.net BTW for all those who keep moaning about the Greens and Labor - the Liberals position is in FAVOUR of the Supertrawler. The Opposition spokesman on fisheries is Senator Richard Colbeck and he was just on the radio saying we shouldn't get in the way of developing natural resources - so that would be the party not to vote for at the next election!!

There has been a massive public campaign against the supertrawler led by Greenpeace, rec fishing groups in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. Check out the website: http://stopthetrawler.net/ They have petitioned the Federal Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig. The pressure has led to Environment Minister Tony Burke implementing a number of restrictions on the supertrawler's operation (but not enough to stop it - yet!). Labor backbencher Melissa Parke is putting up a private member's bill this week to ban the supertrawler with support from the Greens. The Libs are basically supporting the supertrawler, although at least Wilson Tuckey has questioned the logic of this ship strip-mining our pelagic fishery. Get onto Twitter, Facebook and join the protest against the supertrawler - the more voices the more chance of getting the powers that be to ban the thing (don't hold out on the Libs doing anything - it's been the Greens who've pushed to get this bloody thing banned against Labor and Liberal support for the venture!).

Looks like the campaign against the Super Trawler Margiris is gaining momentum - Sea Shepherd have now announced they will be involved in opposition against it!: http://www.themercury.com.au/article/2012/08/03/351051_tasmania-news.html Only political party opposing this at the moment are the Greens. How about the Libs and the Nats outline their position on this!

There's now an organised campaign against the Super Trawler - full page ad in The Australian today - visit the website and mail the link to your fishing mates. If there is enough of a community outcry about this I think the government will be forced to reconsider: http://stopthetrawler.net/ BTW this is what happened to mackerel stocks in Chile when the super trawlers came through, not good: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/where-have-all-the-fish-gone-20120129-1qntz.html

Congrats - nice red, and good on you for trying to release it. A couple of years back I had the same experience and decided to hunt around and see if I could find a way to release these big fish. The best thing I've found that works is to rig up a release weight. The snapper tend to blow up when they come up through the water column - so I borrowed an idea they use in WA which is the biggest snapper lead I could find at the local tackle store (about 1/2 a pound in weight) rigged with some 200lb mono to an upside down s/s 10/0 hook (barb is filed off). This is held in place with some heat shrink (see attached photo). When I have a snapper I want to release, I clip this release weight to a big handline with some 40lb mono on it, stick the hook through the skin in the top jaw of the fish and then lower him down with the weight of the snapper lead overcoming the buoyancy in the fish's guts. I usually lower them down 10-15 metres and you can then feel them come to life and start kicking pretty hard. Take the tension on the handline and usually a short pull and they come free and swim off. It's a bit of work but you then can release the fish and be pretty confident they will be fine to fight another day. I like to eat snapper, but those big fish need to breed if we want to keep catching them!

Yep I launched at Tunks this morning - only space for one boat given the work they are doing and the water was filthy! There seemed to be oil in the water - took me an hour to clean the muck off my hull!

Many thanks for all the great advice!

I've got some small chips in the hull of my fibreglass boat. I'm up for repairing these myself - but haven't done this before. Does anyone have any advice on what to do? Alternatively, is there a good repair service (preferably mobile) in Sydney that anyone has used and can recommend?

There's been a couple of good articles on snapper on SPs in Modern Fishing and Fishing World over the last few years. From memory Scott Amon did a good piece some time back which goes through the technique, tackle etc. Basically look for shallow reef (5-30m) and areas where the reef hits gravel patches. Fish th SPs much like you would for flatties except allow time for the jig to get down and I've found you don't need to work the jigs too hard. You'll also get plenty of by-catch (trevally, kings, amberjack, sergeant baker).

Went out for fish early today off Sydney targetting snapper on the soft plastics. Caught two good ones - 8 & 7kgs plus a few smaller fish and some big trevally. Tackle - Daiwa Sol rod 10-17lb, Daiwa Certate 4000, Nitron 14lb braid and Gulp Jerk Shad in Lime Tiger.