Netting In Pittwater

[Kingy]

I was told a net was spotted in Pittwater last week. I've never seen any nets in Pittwater, is this legal???? It was apparently pretty long - approx 100m

rgds,

Kingy

[netic]

Mate unfortunately netting/raping of pittwater has been going on for a few years now....

I have spotted many a boat netting big kings inside of pittwater and there is nothing that can be done..

4 years ago Pittwater was the place to go for big kingys...1 metre specimens were very common as it had a big resident kingfish population, 2 years ago the raping started and god knows how many of these residents were captured and the waterway hasnt recovered since then and probably never wont becuase it happens each year now.

Spewing but hey thats life

[Kingy]

yeah, wow, thanks for the sobering replies! I though it might have been illegal since it seems it would be pretty easy to destroy fish stocks in such a reletively small waterway.

rgds,

kingy

[kbark]

2 years ago this month the pros took 3.5 tons of kingfish out of pittwater over 2 days...and wrecked the season.

[the elk]

So short sighted. Such a shame. Actually, shame that the NSW Govt lets them do it.

Most fish intended for human consumption will be farmed in the future. That is where the trends are heading. Why would the Govt deprive little old fisherman like me the chance to catch the odd king (or other species). I would be lucky to catch enough edible fish per year as there are fingers on your hand.

[pjbink]

The trawlers are after squid and prawns. They are only allowed to operate in 50% of the Hawkesbury system. If it was closed down then this would put a serious dent in the state's supply of squid and school prawns (remember that there are 36 rec havens in the state).

Edited October 28, 2007 by billfisher

[the elk]

The issue is that the trawlers nets can not discriminate between prawns/squid and the rest of the Hawkesbury and Pittwater piscatorial ecosystem. Personally I would rather have less prawns/squid available if I knew the longevity of the system for anglers was protected.

[the1murph]

I there anything that can be done to stop these guys?

Jack

[pelican]

So short sighted. Such a shame. Actually, shame that the NSW Govt lets them do it.

Most fish intended for human consumption will be farmed in the future. That is where the trends are heading. Why would the Govt deprive little old fisherman like me the chance to catch the odd king (or other species). I would be lucky to catch enough edible fish per year as there are fingers on your hand.

Hi Elk,

I don't want to start abunfight ( I don't think there is a real answer today) and it is slightly off topic but if you farm fish what do you feed farmed fish. Quite a few studies on this at the minute showing the smaller baitfish being decimated as they are considered low ecconomic value and then pelletised and fed to high eccononic value table fish. On environmental terms it is like grain fed beef. If the grain was used to feed people it feeds 1000 if used on a cow to produce meat it feed 5 along with thousands of litres of water and other inputs. I don't know of a closed fish farm system where someone grows algae to feed fingerlings to feed salmon to feed us. The salmon industry has nearly wrecked the natural salmon industry with superbreed salmon escaping and breeding with nauural salmon in the Northern hemisphere.

I like fish and want my kids to have them as well. I'd like kids to learn about fishing and the ocean, lakes and take an interest in them so the care and understand where fish come from and feel responsible for their environment.

I would like them to come from a clean natural environment but with international fishing laws etc it seems no country is able to protect their fish stocks so policy tends towards a non scientific answer of fish it while we can. I honestly don't know if fish farming takes the pressure of the ocean or natural fish stocks or will it just change our focus so we care less about what happens to oceans and natural fish stocks as we can't control them.

Nah I don't know the answer-but I hope scientists and politicians start trying to work it out worldwide of just what level of population our oceans can sustainably feed.

Bycatch and quota systems that create more dead bycatch is the thing that really gets me. Whata waste.

Pel

[pageboy]

I think the problem here is not the prawners ,they are unlikely to get Kings as a bi-catch and I rarely see them in Pittwater, they generally work the patonga - lion island stretch and closeby areas and also don't use 100 meter long nets. The last few years alot of people in pittwater have witnessed the kings being netted .I was told 3rd hand that 3 tonnes were taken about 2-3 weeks ago from pittwater .It was probably done legally but it just doesn't make any sense when they are such a key rec. species in pittwater - no-one seems to do the economics of rec. fishing benefits over commercial hauling .This is the ideal buyout scenario for our license fees and hopefully that is what will happen but I'm not holding my breath....

[Laredo]

its obvious that estuary systems are far more vulnerable and sensitive. Its a real disgrace that pro fishing in Pittwater and the Hawkesbury still takes place. I'm a young guy, but even I remember Pittwater being more healthy