Gibbofisho

couldn't have said it better myself Bob. Now everyone write a letter to the premier....... GO!

Mate, i'm 'in' with anyone who's a keen fisho and who's interests are keeping the waters free.

Mate sounds like a nice weekend, enjoy narooma while you can before the marine park sets in, its one of my fav places to visit, if you get another shout out at the islan, try sending down a couple of live yakkas on the northern point, there should be some fat winter kings lurking now!

Hey Sweep, Its nice to have an informed opinion, its not usually the case when arguing with die hard greens, which is something i have pulled my hair out on, on occaison, the hypocracies alone are enough to cause a coronary! In regards to crayfish, the tasmanian cray (southern rock lobster) is a different species than that that is found on the NSW coast (regulary-i've caught southerns in maroubra!) the North half (narooma north) is the eastern rock lobster (being a marine biologist you prob know this, so don't think i'm patronizing) i was of the impression that the cray's i catch in cronulla have migrated from the far north coast down the shelf and back into the shallows, wouldn't this make them a highly mobile species? I've dived locations and checked regular holes over a large area and found none, and gone back the next day and seen hundreds? In regards to the seal rocks issue, this is a big impact that the "Sanctuary zones" will have, don't get me wrong, i have no beef with a marine park, but these fly by night sanctuary zones are un informed and errected with sketchy research. I mean they've locked up the research documents, and wont allow for them to be cross refernced with independant findings?

Sweep, I urge you to chat with any marine biologist not affiliated with the greens, (i sound like a skeptic i know!) The spillover effect does not work full stop. Larger fish will not move to another area once thet have out grown their current one, they will remain where the food source is. An effective management scheme would be to close fishing in strugling areas, and have moving sactuary zones, or seasonal zones, similar to canada's management of the salmon fishery. Also, in regards to the tourism effects, i for one will never travel to seal rocks again, it has nothing for me when i can travel further to the solitary islands Marine park, Coffs Harbour. A well managed MP. Seal rocks is closed to all fishing, as is Sawtooth, the entire headland, is unfishable. The town will go bust, you can not argue against this. And comparing the $$$'s from the Great Barrier Reef MP, all this advises is how much is at stake, the Queensland State Government is currently being Sued for $90,000,000 in lost revenue due to the park. This is solely from fishing tourism $$$'s. Check the link i posted earlier in this thread, its a study/survey of fishing/toursim $'s spent in batemens bay/narooma and port stephens. I'll check back later and hopefully i can learn to spell once i've had a coffee or two, 8:30 on a monday is to earloy for me.

This photograph is genuine and was taken from a September 2005 Africa Geographic article titled "Shark Detectives," about researchers studying Great White sharks off the coast of South Africa. As the article described the circumstances under which this picture was snapped: Sitting in a 3.8-metre sea kayak and watching a four-metre great white approach you is a fairly tense experience. Although we had extensively tested the sharks' reactions to an empty kayak and had observed no signs of aggression, this gave us little comfort as we eyed a great white heading straight for us, albeit slowly. Just a metre or so from the craft it veered off, circled and slowly approached from behind. It did this several times, occasionally lifting its head out of the water to get a better look. Then it lost interest, and as it continued on its way we were able to follow a short distance behind. Once we'd come to terms with having nothing between ourselves and a four-metre shark except a thin layer of plastic, our kayak made an ideal research platform for observing great white behaviour in shallow water. Its advantages are twofold: it is inconspicuous and appears not to cause the sharks to alter their behaviour for long, and it allows us to watch them in a natural situation, as it is not necessary to attract them to us with food.

Its out of a South African Kayak magazine from memory, i'll try and hunt down the story!

cheers mate!

these conseqences are already taking place, a few YF fisho's i know reckon that because the longliners are hooking into the tuna, the top line predators are being taken out, as a result, there's an abundance of bait, meaning what YF are left swiming around are gorging them selves, makes them a bit trickier to catch, but its not really in keeping with the whole sanctuary belief of no human presence or interaction. in short, its pointless protecting one thing and allowing a free for all in other areas.

I dunno Mondo, i'd be thinking, and call it logical (greens don't often use this method) but if a spot is regarded as a great fishing spot, doesnt that mean it is sustaining itself just nicely on its own? Whereas over fished barren spots would be my prime target of sanctuary zone, in an attempt to urge the fish to return to the area?

Nice work mate, that's a good session in my books! What rig were you using btw?

Awesome stuff mate. Dream fish!

Nice work mate, i hope you got a pic!

Nice work Mick, have you seen the draft plan for the batemens bay marine park? Its grim, let me tell you!

yeah box fosh, highly poisonous

http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/bmp/pdf/high-res-map.pdf check it out, get down to your fav south coast spots asap and enjoy what you wont be able to ever again, unless we act NOW!

Nice work fella's, looks llike a nice fun pelagic day!

nice work mate, i'd love to know what it was that busted you off!

Great catch mate, inspirational stuff!

Hey Pal, i hate to be picky and even think about having a stab at someones catch, so please don't take offence, but is that a snapper?

That is tops news Mick, it also means that now is the time to pounce, people need to become proactive and hammer the ministers with E-mails, letters and petitions, hopefully this is evidence enough to coerce those with their heads in the sand.

Here ya go mate, got this of Bruce himself. www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/aboutus/resources/majorpubs/reports/?a=36305

Mate, that is something you'd have to take up with Bruce i'm afraid, and no condesention noted I'm quietly confident though that Bruce wouldn't be throwing figures into the air, he's very knowledgable.

haha, no drama mate, its just improtant to be informed is all, hopefully you can pass the message onto anyone else who didn't know!

Wettingaline i found those stats i was talking about, it was in the letter to the premier from Bruce Schumacher, Chair, Advisory Council on Recreational Fishing.