Fishing licence equals pro buy out

[Member]

This is more salt that sweetwater, but relevant just the same.
We pay a de fracto license in the form of self-funding via the SIP scheme.
Qld is overdue to follow the NSW lead and introduce a general fishing licence -
and use the funds to buy out inshore commercial netters and proceed with general inshore
netting closures.
IMO, anyway, now's a good time to raise the issue.
The results in NSW can't be ignored. Lake Macquarie and Lake Illawarra are two bodies surrounded by
massive population and industrial centres. They are fishing like never before now that the nets are gone.
How good would it be if nets were removed from Hervey Bay, The Gladstone region and the Fitzroy.
Sunfish should be making a noise instead of walking backwards.
Of course they'd be a hue and cry and all sort of clamour from the Fourex Creta - but truck 'em.

PS  I'm going to have to give that little dude on the left a flycasting lesson...all that false casting.....one or two should be
enough for a normal length flyline.

[Member]

I'd pay a licence for salt if they used the loot for stocking or something similar. Not for buying out pro's etc. They can do that out of the Tax money they already have gouged me for! After all they sold the pro licence in the first place!

Call me old fashioned but I believe Govt exists to spend my tax money on worthwhile services and infrastructure, not to tax me then charge me commercial rates for the service or infrastructure my taxes have just paid for anyway!

[Member]

Sunfish should be making a noise instead of walking backwards.
Of course they'd be a hue and cry and all sort of clamour from the Fourex Creta - but truck 'em.

Harro - Sunfish has reviewed this over the last 12 months at some length - the general opinion from the "grass roots" anglers is that they don't trust the government to manage it along the same lines as NSW - and with good cause from past track records  There also appears to be some issues with the establishment of designated trust accounts - Oh & the governement is mostly broke ..........

There was a lengthy debate on the topic last year - over three months from memory which I will refrain from visiting again, where a number of polls where run on this topic across three Qld focused fishing forums - the actual final result was with the majority in-favour if implemented along the same model as NSW - go figure 

Regards Scotto

[Member]

PS  I'm going to have to give that little dude on the left a flycasting lesson...all that false casting.....one or two should be
enough for a normal length flyline.

I've figured it out for you Harro.  He's casting left handed, and everybody knows cack handers cast cast as well as "right" handers.

[Member]

Duh........

Now I know why I switched to right.

Nothing to so with broken arms and legs in a head-on, mind you.

[Member]

I am inclined to agree with Harro on this one.I have a few ways of looking at it.
Firstly if the general population of anglers is licensed then there is a measurement on how many people actually fish within Queensland.With the green movement having as much tow as it does at the moment knowing the actual number of anglers may be very useful in so far as political parties are less willing to hang us rec fishers out to dry if they think there will be a political backlash.
Secondly as Harro said it gives a fund to draw from initally to buy out pros and then later to restock areas and possibly improve facilities that boaties and rec fishers use.Policing may also be included.
I know its an unpopular subject in some sectors but I see many positives and not many negatives that could come from licensing.
Just my opinion.

[Member]

If a government can raise revenue through bullshit speed camera operations - and the public cops - no pun - it in the arse,
they can lift their game and work this through. Or are pollies that dumb and incompuss.
The log jam is us. Between catch and release and killit and fillet we can't agree on what day it is.
Meantime anti-fishing forces pollute the political waters. 
A money pool raised through licence revenue can, and has, been done. With great success.
I'm not holding breath though, the government will not do anything unless dragooned into acting.
The pros would hate to see a general licence and activly campaign against.
A licence quantifies rec angler numbers and makes them more pro-active stake holders in the resource.
It also makes governments think of a tangible voter bloc , not some procession of boat trailers around
the town hall.
It'd be a better world were we rid of those rag-tag, arse outa the pants inshore netters.
They'd break arms taking the money.
The departmental arse shiners do not have much alacrity for the concept. In publc-service-think fewer pros
means lesser jobs. Theirs.

[Member]

I'm all for it, buying out commercial licenses can only be good for fish stocks and recreational fishing.  I grew up Victoria and had no problems whatsoever shelling out money when a general license was implemented knowing that at a minimum more funds were supposedly available to police our waterways.  Pro buyback schemes were also introduced down there after the license was introduced to great benefit of some local fishing areas.   

Shaun

[Member]

* not to upset any apple carts or to eat any of the apples- but guess who produced a good portion of the saltwater broodstock to help kick the Awoonga fishery off well over a decade ago. And guess who got outta bed at all hours and produced more males and female brood stock fish for the hatchery to keep on keeping on in the years to follow. Jacks, oh, yea, them too.
A commercial fisherman did that, mostly for free!
Just something to mull over.
Johnny Mitchell

[Member]

consumer driven industry.  i could safely say that well over 90% of us guys are eating some form of seafood over the next fortnight, but where from?   i know it contradicts my previous comment re: protection of our fisheries resource below impoundments, but i guess that is another matter in itself.  i dont believe in sanctioned green zones, and i dont beleive in small estuary commercial activities (ie the boyne river).  people are under the beleif that aquaculture is the saving grace for our seafood industry.  i dont want to burst the bubble, but it wont.  i can name and list many reasons and operations to support this but this forum will be bored with it after about 100 dot points.  the marketing of the product is the major issue.

anyways, i catch all my own broodstock now in the habrour (by line only), and i suppose i should have the same reputation as the commercial guys.  dunno i will sit on the fence for a while on this one.

cheers
kurt

[Member]

* not to upset any apple carts or to eat any of the apples- but guess who produced a good portion of the saltwater broodstock to help kick the Awoonga fishery off well over a decade ago. And guess who got outta bed at all hours and produced more males and female brood stock fish for the hatchery to keep on keeping on in the years to follow. Jacks, oh, yea, them too.
A commercial fisherman did that, mostly for free!
Just something to mull over.
Johnny Mitchell

If they were all Johnny Mitchells' it'd be a better world.
My beef is net techniques that take an entire bio-mass of spawning/migrating fish - bream/permit/whiting.
Lots of lines in the water fragment schools and not have the same impact on natural proporgation.
At least barra get the respite of a closed season.
My motives are ultruistic - kids should have the same chance as us older generations. The social arguments are compelling.
Under current management regimes and fishing practices, it won't happen. 

[Member]

Increasing human population and decreasing fish stocks inshore and offshore.  What we had a short time ago is not there now because more people are eating more seafood.  There is a trend there and it ain't a good one IMHO.  I'm not qualified to offer great input here as my experience is limited when it comes to this area of science.  What I hope for, is that someone or everyone can get together and figure it out because my kids aren't gonna live in a world that has the bounty and diversity that exists now. 

Am I on the fence abit .... probably, only because of my lack of scientific knowledge, but I sure as hell wouldn't mind spending a bit of money if it means saving what precious little reserves we have left and help them grow.

my 2cents

[Member]

Having seen the benefits of the introduction of a general fishing licence in NSW ......   I'm all for it
Most of the NSW estuary systems have returned to being outstanding fisheries  -  Harro mentions Lake Mac & the Illawarra ....... throw on top of that Botany bay (sydney metro) which is now a fantastic fishery with the fast gaining reputation for the mulloway fishing -  all on the back of commercial closures & stocking made possible via a licence .  The same goes for up and down the NSW coastline
There is a lot to be gained from a well run scheme (like the SIP)  &  the pain is not that great.   

Chris

PS ...... The licence will also attract considerable funds from interstate anglers

[Member]

Great topic Harro,I totally agree with a licience system and have done for a long time.

I've never said just kick the pro's out and have always said give them a good payout so they can retire from monies generated from the rec licience funds.

I believe there are 3 net liciences for the Mary river here in the Bay and a couple in the Burrum,give them a 1/2 mil or so each and the tourism generated from a barra fishery 3 hours from a major city would be far more benificial to the whole region financialy! either that or make them line fish the barra like rec anglers have too.
Then there's the flats fishery on a big slice of the Queensland coast for sight casting to Goldens,Permit,Giant Herring,Queenfish and many more that would bring tourists from all over the world.
Images like the ones below shold never happen again in my view,no ice and in the back of a ute is not a good way to treat fish especially a permit one of the most sought after species on this planet some would say the HOLY GRAIL to fly anglers.
Just my 2 bobs worth on it.

Paul

[Member]

Without some firm reasoning as to why & some guarantees where the fees collected will go, I'll be doing my absolute best to hamstring any attempts at a general fishing licence system in Qld.

If pro fishing is non-profitable, then that aint my fault, nor the fault of recreational mum n dad anglers. Why the heck should I pay out some guy because he's either hopeless or incompetent? Pigs @rse I will. Let me harken back to the good ole QFMA days where fishing licences were bought out in the gulf. Sounds great on the surface but all they did was divide that same quota among those pros remaining. The total catch stayed the same s0 there was no improvement to recreational fishing; our money payed for that. I tangent off to some other QFMA pearlers but we're not talking about dead dolphins here..... 

IT IS the charter of our fisheries management department to ensure any commercial fishery is managed in a sustainable manner. If any fish stocks are in decline as a result of fish caught under fishing licences / quotas issued, then heads should roll, but rec anglers should not need to pay through the nose for bad management.

If our waterways are managed correctly, there is no need for restocking in our rivers / reefs as fish will breed on their own & therefore no need for money to be spent. So where would the dosh go? To keep more arses polishing seats up in Tank St Brisbane. phhhhttt

Boat ramps were mentioned as a possible benefactor of licence fees. We already pay for this via boat registration fees in the form of the Private Pleasure Vessel Levy (PPV). Why pay for something twice? Now I clearly recall documents that promised 17% of PPV money would go to improving Sweetwater access / ramps etc. What a load of cr@p that was, and the gullible ones swallowed the hook when the bait was set.

So where will the moolah from a licence go?

Sorry folks, I'm anti fishing licence for a reason & I'm happy to hear arguments / persuasions to the contrary, but I'm going to be a nay sayer till the cows come home on this one.

In a society that is as highly regulated as any on this rock, I'm astounded that we have anyone asking for yet another tax, a tax on something we've been doing as a part of our existence since we stepped down from the trees and our tails fell off.

So what left for licence money to be spent on? Restocking our dams / lakes (that through their very construction ruin a perfectly good wild river) is the stand out left standing. We have the Stocked Impoundment Permit (SIP) scheme in Qld. It is the envy of many other states & countries. It works & is an acceptable user pays system to govt & recreeational anglers; it fair & transparent. I can gurantee that a whole of state fishing licence will see the SIP scheme abandoned. Why the hell would we want to ruin one of the best user pays systems going for little obvious gains to our fishery & throw our own hard earned out for the privelege..... Not this black duck, sorry.

Fitzy..