Fisheries Hotline?what Hotline?

[Guest Jocool]

All the guys that fished the Chippo social will remember the monkey we seen with 12 lines in the water of the banks of the lake!

JD will recall that I called the Fisheries Hotline to report him. Got a recorded message and did as I was asked and left all the pertinent information including my name and number.

I had totally forgotten about it till I got a call earlier tonight from Fisheries!

HOORAY FOR THE HOTLINE!!!!! NOT

Turns out I was speaking to a fine gentleman by the name of Cameron who was very helpful and apolagetic.

During the course of the conversation I was informed that it would be easier, and a lot quicker if we call the Fisheries Officers directly on their mobiles! And to that end he has furnished 3 mobile numbers direct to individual officers, and the office number which is relevant to the Sydney area, which is based at Sans Souci!

He has told me that these mobiles are on 24/7. But he requested no calls in the middle of the night, unless its a dead set major offence, such as you see a couple of guys hauling a net or some such thing! If you are not sure about illegal net hauling, have at a look at the persons boat. If the rego prefix isn`t LBF then he is not a legal net hauler.

I repeat DO NOT CALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT UNLESS ITS MAJOR!

These are the numbers:

Cameron 0408601951

Paul 0419185518

Backup Phone 0419185521

Office Sans Souci 95296021

The office number is the Sydney South Fisheries Compliance Office.

I have punched these numbers and saved them into my mobile and suggest you guys do likewise! :thumbsup:

[allen glover]

There was a request to have the hotline manned 24/7 with funding from the fishing fee. ACoRF RFSTEC and fisheries knocked it on the head as too expensive( sounds too much like work generation to me ) . But its alright to spend $90,000 on 3 box trailers. BTW anyone ever seen one of these things.

Edited August 15, 2004 by allen glover

[Ken A]

The trailers were beyond comprehension to me. Thats all I will say on that matter.

As far as the hotline goes it should be manned 24 hours a day. If nothing else it would help restore a bit of credabilty to fisheries & demonstrate that they are actually interested in catching people breaking the law.

I tried it once a few years ago & put on hold. I was on my mobile in Pittwater at 3.00am & there was a guy trawling the weed beds off Palmy inside Pittwater. The boat was painted black, no registration numbers. no LFB number, no nav lights etc etc & when I challenged him he left. I was on hold for 30 minutes & gave up when the battery low warning started beeping.

The end result was I followed him to bayview ramp got his car registration etc etc & a photo of his boat ,him , his nets , his illegal catch the whole lot in spite of him threatening me with a dolly. I sent the lot to fisheries & never heard another word. I sent 3 letters & rang a couple times asking was there any follow up & got no answers except we''ll get back to you.

Fisheries or DPI have no credabilty for mine.