NEW MULLOWAY BAG LIMIT

[campr]

New rules and bag limits come into force on 1 September 2018 as follows:

The advisory councils provided advice on this important issue, which included:

• The removal of the possession limit of 10 Mulloway between 45 and 70 cm that currently applies to Estuary General meshing net fishers. This will mean that a 70 cm Mulloway minimum size limit will apply to all fishers.

• A reduction in the recreational bag limit from two to one. 
 
The changes come into effect on 1 September 2018 and will be closely monitored by NSW DPI. An advisory campaign will also ensure all fishers are aware of the new rules.  
 
This is a joke, as the rule only applies to Estuary General meshing net fishers which means that beach netters that target spawning Mulloway congregations on northern beaches trawlers etc will still be able to take 10 undersize fish, while we get bag limits reduced yet again.  Undersize Mulloway will continue to be sold with the claim they were non-estuary caught.  All fishers should have the same size limit to avoid this.

Most fishers would rarely catch 2 legal jewies in a day.  I often fish nearly all night without even a run and when we have a good night with up to 9 caught we only keep 1 or 2 depending on the size.  I think the better option would have been a slot limit with only 1 over a meter.

Good luck all, I hope your 1 fish is a good one.   Ron

[Kracka]

It's ridiculous isn't it? Wonder what halfwit is calling the shots for these rules huh?

[frenzyfol]

Keep netting the estuaries, keep netting the schools. 

Go to the fish market and have a look

[Guest Guest123456789]

This is an outrage - not the 1 per person limit but the rule change for the pros. Nothing infuriates me more than to see undersized mulloway on ice at the supermarket- what a joke. 

I fear this will make matters worse - people might just break the rules altogether unfortunately.

[kingfishbig]

On ‎8‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 6:32 PM, campr said:

New rules and bag limits come into force on 1 September 2018 as follows:

The advisory councils provided advice on this important issue, which included:

• The removal of the possession limit of 10 Mulloway between 45 and 70 cm that currently applies to Estuary General meshing net fishers. This will mean that a 70 cm Mulloway minimum size limit will apply to all fishers.

• A reduction in the recreational bag limit from two to one. 
 
The changes come into effect on 1 September 2018 and will be closely monitored by NSW DPI. An advisory campaign will also ensure all fishers are aware of the new rules.  
 
This is a joke, as the rule only applies to Estuary General meshing net fishers which means that beach netters that target spawning Mulloway congregations on northern beaches trawlers etc will still be able to take 10 undersize fish, while we get bag limits reduced yet again.  Undersize Mulloway will continue to be sold with the claim they were non-estuary caught.  All fishers should have the same size limit to avoid this.

Most fishers would rarely catch 2 legal jewies in a day.  I often fish nearly all night without even a run and when we have a good night with up to 9 caught we only keep 1 or 2 depending on the size.  I think the better option would have been a slot limit with only 1 over a meter.

Good luck all, I hope your 1 fish is a good one.   Ron

I think the point is that all fishers now have the same size limit. The exemption only applied to the estuary net fishers and now that is removed.

[PaddyT]

The new rules are a step in the right direction-pros no longer have the excuse of keeping undersized fish and no one needs more than 1 decent jew anyway. Now a slot limit would be excellent but my suspicion is that DPI didnt want to upset the beach netters and estuary general licence holders anymore than they already have in the last few years. Estuaries tend to hold many more undersized jewies than other places such as beaches and offshore so we should see so reasonably good results out of this. Not perfect but OK

[Guest Guest123456789]

37 minutes ago, PaddyT said:

The new rules are a step in the right direction-pros no longer have the excuse of keeping undersized fish and no one needs more than 1 decent jew anyway. Now a slot limit would be excellent but my suspicion is that DPI didnt want to upset the beach netters and estuary general licence holders anymore than they already have in the last few years. Estuaries tend to hold many more undersized jewies than other places such as beaches and offshore so we should see so reasonably good results out of this. Not perfect but OK

So if a pro catches a 45cm Jew in an estuary near a beach do you really think it will get released?

[dirvin21]

From my interpretation the by-catch loophole for commercials catching and selling undersized mulloway is gone regardless of where it is netted....... I personally welcome the changes  molloway get pillaged in my local system by both commercial and recreational 

[Mr Squidy]

End of the day the survival rate for the by-catch mulloway that do get released having been netted is so low that its a pretty meaningless change in terms of its affect. 

Rich

[PaddyT]

15 hours ago, Mr Squidy said:

End of the day the survival rate for the by-catch mulloway that do get released having been netted is so low that its a pretty meaningless change in terms of its affect. 

Rich

You are right but its my understanding that some pro's were actually targetting their 10 undersized jewies- at least that will stop, and you can only imagine that if they were targetting them a lot more were ending up dead back in the river. The new regs are a good step in the right direction 

[Guest Guest123456789]

I respect others views here but I must politely disagree this policy will reduce the commercial take of mulloway at all or that it’s a ‘step in the right direction’.

i can’t see how this restriction of pros is anyway either a deterrent or enforceable, hardly surprising considering the ‘advisory committee’ is stacked with pro’s. To prosecute a pro for catching 45 to 70cm mulloway in an estuary would require video evidence of them and even then it would be hard to prove location or they didn’t intend to release, not to mention there are buggar all fisheries officers patrolling estuaries.

The only thing that would reduce commercial take would be either to make the 70cm size limit applicable to everyone or ban all netting and trapping 2 nautical miles from the mouth of estuaries in urbanised areas. Neither of which any politician will do. So again it’s up to us mug recreational anglers to carry the load.  

Edited August 16, 2018 by Guest123456789
Typo

[PaddyT]

Did you read the legislation- pros are no longer allowed to take undersized fish- previously they were- so now the abilty of pros to take undersized fish is stopped- sheesh!

[Guest Guest123456789]

1 hour ago, PaddyT said:

Did you read the legislation- pros are no longer allowed to take undersized fish- previously they were- so now the abilty of pros to take undersized fish is stopped- sheesh!

I read it - sheesh!

[JonD]

Very sad to see this going on down our way http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/eden-beach-hauler-reportedly-kills-60-broodstock-mulloway