Beach Worming and sustainability

[arpie]

Hi all

Further to my earlier post on Catching Beach Worms http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/index.php?showtopic=53112 .... my brother-in-law sent me a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald article dated 3/1/11, entitled "Quick! Before the worm turns" where Col Buckley laments the over harvesting of Beach Worms on the East Coast Beaches of Australia, particularly Sydney & mid north coast beaches.

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/culture/quick-before-the-worm-turns-20110103-19dj0.html

In the last 7 years, I have seen many 'new' pro wormers on the Forster Beaches & I was reliably told by a 'local pro' that pro wormers from the Newcastle or Sydney areas, were coming up to Forster beaches to get worms, as their own beaches had been over harvested & no longer able to supply the'larger' worms wanted by the tackle shops & frozen worm industry. The rear of their utes are chock full of 40l drums with sea water in them - and who knows how many worms in each bucket? Probably up to 100 or more in each?

It is unbelievable that Professional Beach Wormers do NOT HAVE A LIMIT on the number of worms that they can harvest on any single day. Over Xmas, when hundreds of thousands of Aussies migrate to the beaches for Summer - you can only guess how many more worms would be harvested over this period to satisfy the tourists! Are there greedy Pros out there, raping the beaches? It would appear so. According to the article, one Pro Wormer admitted last year that he pulled 20,000 worms just over the Xmas period alone! I wonder if he told the DPI? I think not. That is just NOT SUSTAINABLE!

Up here at Xmas, you have to get to the "Live Worm' tackle shops pretty early (or straight after low tide) to be able to buy beach worms, as they sell like hot cakes & are usually all gone within an hour or so. The tackle shop would then have to await his next delivery the next day! This is what actually prompted me to learn how to worm - I was sick of missing out on the odd day when I wanted some!

Recreational Fishos can legally take 20 worms a day, tho in all honesty, you probably only really need about 5 worms for a single outing - each worm gives you up to 10 baits & if you haven't caught a feed by the time you've used the 5, you are not likely to anyway! If you are catching worms for a group fishing session, sure, 20 would be good. They DON'T keep very well, so there is no real reason for taking more than you will be using within the next 48hrs. I always emphasise this to beginners, when I show them how to worm.

A search of the DPI site brings up the following document on Beach Worms (dated 2006), and under the heading says ..... [i]No detailed stock assessment available. Composition of the species harvested is unclear. No precise estimate of recreational catch, which might be significant in particular areas.[/i] I hope they are not blaming recreational fishos on the over haravesting - you would be lucky to count 5 recreational wormers on any beach that I have wormed since I started worming.

It says that with approx 50 commercial wormers, it is unlikely that 'over fishing' will occur, as mechanical devices cannot be used - only people can pull worms. It then says that localised depletions have been reported by recreational fishers! It would not surprise me if there are many times that number, supplying outlets illegally!

I've never been approached by a Fisheries Officer to ask if I am a Recreational wormer or a Pro - let alone had the number of worms caught checked by them. Apart from the fact that Pro Wormers are allowed to drive their utes onto the beach to collect worms & the number of buckets or tubs on the utes, there is nothing else to indicate that they are Professionals or not! I am sure there would also be a thriving black market in worms up & down the coast, particularly during school holidays.

According to it's own graph, commercial takings of worms has approximately halved since the period of 1997 to 2006/7!! I would find that hard to believe, when there would seem to be no requirement for wormers to give an accurate record of their catch, and more people are fishing every year! Their records are based only on what the Pro Wormer 'advises' of their catch! With live worms selling for about $2+ each, the pro wormer would be getting about $1-$1.50 for each worm supplied. Any that die would just be processed as frozen worms, so no real loss of market there!

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/research/areas/systems-research/wild-fisheries/outputs/2008/972/status_short/Beachworms.pdf

What should be done about it? Personally, I would like to see realistic specific limits to be set on the gathering of Beach Worms by Professionals and have them actively policed by Fisheries Officers, much the same as the Tuna fisherman have a set limit or 'quota' that they may fill within a 12 month period. I reckon they should have to display their licence number on their vehicles, like Professional Fishermen have to on their boats. They should also have an 'area' allotted to them, also identified on their vehicle, to indicate they are worming the area allotted to them. It could be a broad area, eg Sydney, Newcastle or 'mid north coast' ...... so that they can rotate the beaches that they are worming, to prevent over harvesting. DPI could workout how many Pro Wormers they would allow within each allotment. It is highly unlikely that they could 'cheat' by using another wormer's vehicle, as they would not want to have someone else using up their quota.

From memory, a worming licence cost about $1000 (not sure if that is a 'one off' or 'per year') and currently they can pull as many worms as they can be bothered, or are able to pull. A good wormer could easily pull 1000 worms a day, putting huge stress on the supply in that area. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out that without a limit, the quantity and quality of worms on our beaches will decline rapidly, if not disappear altogether over a matter of time.

Any other recommendations or suggestions towards how to remedy this situation would be gratefully received!! We LITERALLY need to look after our own backyards before it is too late!

I'll jump off my soapbox now ...... and get back to fishing!

cheers

Roberta

Edited February 7, 2011 by Roberta

[Mondo Rock]

I think the key issue here is building pressure for a sustainability study - are our worms currently being sustainably harvested and what is being done to ensure that they are? You can't attack the pros with any credibility unless and until some information about their impact on the ecosystem is obtained.

I would think that the place to start is the local Universities. There must be courses that have students who could do studies on beachworms as part of a thesis or major project: all you need is one vaguely credible study to refer to and you'll have a great platform from which to launch a more effective media campaign. The SMH article is good but without any actual infomration about what role the worms play in the local ecosystem (and therefore what the risks are if populations are permanently damaged) it's value is limited.

[LungFai]

Just out of curiosity,

Has anyone ever farmed these worms?

Would it be feasible?

Edit :

Just read this article. http://www.aquabait.com.au/21.0.0.1.0.0.phtml

/Edit

The demand for these worms are ridiculous during the summer break when the whitings are on the run. I see people muscling other people out of the way just so they secure a bag for a days fishing and when the bait store runs out they put up a sign "Worms will be available after 5pm when the driver comes back from Stocktons". This from a bait store down in Windang, 15 mins from Wollongong, 3.5 hours from Newcastle. Lucky for me i don't mind using the plastics or the frozen prawns as i am only there for the fun but back when i was a kid looking for worms, all i had to do was to go over to the local beach and pull me a few, guess the local beaches have been over wormed. Same goes for the nippers and them other worms (the red ones) that you pump. The spots that i used to gather bait have been depleted except for a few secret spots, there are not many places left to go and it looks more and more likely that plastics will become the norm.

Good investment if farming is feasible.

Edited February 7, 2011 by LungFai

[bennoz]

its sad because i know callala beach in jervis bay has suffered the same fate with pippies. Its been totally farmed out and theres just nothing left !

[arpie]

Hi Mondo

My neighbour's son is doing Marine Science up the North Coast somewhere - I'll have a chat with him next time I see him, to see if he is interested, or knows someone who is interested! I am pretty sure that he is a gun wormer, like his Dad is!! Top idea, that!! I will also check out which universities do Marine Science type courses.

They say that worming occurs throughout the year with Summer being the 'peak', then the quantities collected slowly declines until July and then starts to pick up again in August - ummm, doesn't that mean it goes on for 12 months of the year? If a tackle shop advertises that they have Fresh Beach Worms available - they would rarely have any stock left over at the end of the day, whether in the middle of summer or winter. All Australian saltwater fish will happily take a hook with beach worm on it - from a toad fish thru to a 30kg Jewfish, all year long. Our staple fish, Bream, whiting & flatties love them.

Hi LungFal

I believe they have tried to farm beach worms, but failed. I know they have the Blood Worms farming down to a fine art - not only were they becoming scarce 'in the wild' but fishos are not necessarily allowed to dig up the mud areas that they grown in, by law!!

If YOUR bait/tackle shop from Windang is sourcing his Beach Worms from Stockton Beach, ........ I would assume the Pro Wormer is supplying many other tackle shops all the way down the coast to him & possibly further.

I would expect The Tackle Shop's sign to be hand written, as usually it depends on what time low tide is, + the 3.5hrs from Stockton & his other stops along the way!

Cheers

Roberta

[Catchin Jack]

That aquabait isn't to bad at all, was able to try some and was quite successful with it.

Thanks for the read Roberta, I didn't think it was that bad up there, seems the pro's are cleaning us out of everything.

[arpie]

Hey Mondo

I caught up with my neighbour's son today & he is quite excited about the possibility of doing something on the Beach Worming sustainability! I've put him onto this thread & will suggest that he make contact with Col Buckley (who I believe would be a reliable information source, given his knowledge of fishing & worming in his area.)

Obviously, it will take a reasonably long time to get the information required ........ but, hopefully, this will be a start!!

Cheers

Roberta

[Mondo Rock]

Now that would be a University thesis I would like to read!

Please do keep us all informed of your neighbour's progress in this area. I'd love to know more about my favourite beachside bait and would be more than happy to help him collect some live specimens for study (fingers only, of course).

In particular I'd be fascinated to know if there is any potential for farming the little buggers.