Hawkesbury Mulloway overfished?

[Guest Guest123456789]

Hi Raiders,

An old friend who is also a talented local fisho shared his views with me about local Mulloway this morning. He basically said the Hawkesbury Mulloway stocks are almost wiped out because of 24 hour trawling. The Mulloway from Brisbane waters and central coast beaches are also affected and these days if you want a good chance at catching Mulloway in a few sessions you need to head to Newcastle and around the Stockton beach area.

Interested to know other raiders thoughts and if my friend is right or talking out the proverbial.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Guest123456789

[Scratchie]

It depends when your comparing it too? There are a lot more rec fishos these days compared to 20 years ago! The knowledge and skill is widely spread and so are the locations. The increase is size limits will eventually help the population but they are still out there if you put in the time and effort.

The hawksebo is one of those systems that can either be feast or famine! Although, a vast knowledge of the area often reaps rewards! Just my opinion!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[Guest Guest123456789]

Thanks Scratchie, no doubt 20 years ago would be a lot different as you could trawl Sydney harbour then before it was banned.

[sam bros]

The hawkesbury is the main system where i fish

I have still been getting jews but its very hard to target them there,

I prefer targeting them off the beaches around the central coast and have not noticed any decline in size or numbers

Hopefully the trawling stops and the hawkesbury recovers

[marks1984]

I thought that trawling was illegal in the hawksbury/ Brisbane waters

[kingfishbig]

I thought that trawling was illegal in the hawksbury/ Brisbane waters

Walk into a tackle store and ask for Hawkesbury squid or prawns and I'm sure they will know what you are talking about. That's how they are caught (ie trawling). In this case commercial fishing and rec fishing work together (the bait industry).

In the case of mulloway they are a by catch (juveniles) from this activity. Steps have been made by NSW Fisheries to reduce by catch along with restrictions on commercial take and an increase in legal size and a reduced bag limit for anglers.

[Jamestown]

By catch of Mulloway in prawn and squid nets is close to zero.

The co op only has a few boxes of Mulloway going through there weekly.

Beach mesh netting is a major concern for mature Mulloway stock.

DPI catch and release information reveals that Mulloway travel long distances and a good and bad season is more dependant on what enters the system per season.

[Greyfox]

I thought that trawling was illegal in the hawksbury/ Brisbane waters

The state goverment are buying up most of the commercial fishing licenses in the Hawkesbury area over the next couple of years. There was a post about this afew months ago.

Lets hope the jewie will survive

[harold]

There are still Jewies around but it is a bit hard to compare years to each other because there are factors other than trawlers that affect the catch. Still it is an interesting hypothesis that you raise.

[stevefish]

I thought that trawling was illegal in the hawksbury/ Brisbane waters

It gets punished 5 days a week about 50 weeks a year. 1/2 a dozen boats circling the mouth with nets. every. single. morning.

[laddercat]

By catch of Mulloway in prawn and squid nets is close to zero.

The co op only has a few boxes of Mulloway going through there weekly.

Beach mesh netting is a major concern for mature Mulloway stock.

DPI catch and release information reveals that Mulloway travel long distances and a good and bad season is more dependant on what enters the system per season.

It is the collateral damage from prawning and netting that hurt mulloway, rather then actual numbers of mulloway taken.

Prawning destroys one of the main sources of food for nearly every fish the mulloway predate on.

Mulloway stocks wont recover in the hawkesbury until it goes rec only. Time and time again it is proven that estuarine evironments even large bodies of water like the hawkesbury cannot sustain fish stocks under commerical pressure.

As previously mentioned beach hauling mullet and bream can wipe entire schools of mature mulloway in a single morning. This to me is outrageous especially considering the pitiful price for bream and mullet. The value is in mullet roe. Commerical fishos will say "oh well forget fresh seafood if you kill commercial netting". Absolute bullshit response as mullet roe has a basically non existent market in australia and it gets exported straight to the Mediterraneann, And show me an Australian that buys bream from the fish market ??

We only have ourself to blame though, the commercial industry makes up a tiny percentage of the population compared to the rec sector. Our inability to organise and make a united front meas we have basically no lobbying power.

[kingfishbig]

The diet of mulloway is varied and includes a lot of other things besides prawns, The prawn catch on the Hawkesbury has in fact been remarkably stable for the last 17 years. The effort, size and age structure has also been monitored by Fisheries, again no indication of over fishing. It would seem a bit far fetched to think that taking of prawns has effected mulloway nos adversely.