aussiebasser:
Not for me Steve, but there are a hell of a lot of people who tick the SIP boxes that expect to get a feed of fish for their money. That was the idea of the scheme, put and take. If you cut it down to two Bass per trip, and a lifetime of floggings if you kill a Cod or Toga, many of them won't be ticking the boxes or visiting Somerset. Any replacements for the two Murray Darling species need to be reasonable table fish, which Cod are, and have a decent bag limit, which Cod currently don't. Having the bag limit lifted on a specie that is described as "endangered" elsewhere could be a little tricky. For the SIP Scheme to remain viable Yellas have to remain or the limit for Bass has to be lifted to 10 in SIP funded lakes.
elops:
I agree Dale the members who did the poll on this forum would be more inclined to give the result thusfar. Do the same poll amongst the average fisher who pays for a SIPS permit and you would get a different result. The Bass possession limit should be raised for impoundments certainly no shortage of them and may alleviate the massive overpopulation in some streams post flood events but then there is also a substantial number of Golden Perch in streams downstream so how many are actualy taken ? Would be something to see if there were enough stocked Mary's in impoundments to support a greater take though given the number caught currently and taken from stocked impoundments raising it is highly unlikely to have any real effect.
Jason L:
I can't see anything wrong with increasing bag limits and stocking endangered species in a fishery that has been established purely for people take a feed home. If anything you would think it would help in the recovery of the species, not that I think huge numbers go targeting them anyway.
bushwacker:
What would be interesting to see is a poll of who has caught / numbers of Marys caught in stocked impoundments over the last x amount of years.
I know its impossible but are they really worth stocking in impoundment for any other reason to maintain a population of them ?
I think Marys would be better off not stocked in impoundments unless the water upsream is substantial enough and suitable for possible breeding. I would be more inclined to encourage them stocked in waterways not obstructed by a dam, Have any observations been made with how Mary river cod look / recover after going over a wall if they ever do ?
Or am i completely off on another tangent.... :-X
aussiebasser:
SIP funds are given by anglers to maintain a put and take fishery in some impoundments. Using those funds to reestablish a population of Marys in areas where it is illegal to target them would lack a moral reasoning. As did using RFEP funding for the same purpose, which is why SWFSA did not use these funds to put them in the Lockyer.