Thread: Caught this today

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Thanks for the info.

Out of interest - do you ever catch rays, and are you allowed to keep them?

We do , but the TED's generally exclude them...
We have a nil take on all shark, rays ,scats, whales, shells and plenty of other stuff..

We do get our freezers checked when we are boarded by AFMA so we dont keep any of it, plus there is no commercial value in it..

Oh maybe on Whale there is , but I dont have RESEARCH painted on the side and a big harpoon Gun on the foredeck so dont like my chances..

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by Ace

Fair enough, so is the reporting used to survey numbers of certain fish, or to try and promote some honesty in fisherman doing the right thing and throwing stuff back that they arent allowed to keep.

I also agree, i cant see any need for that thing either, having said that it might taste really nice

I think a combination of both, but the rare and endangered stuff is reported as part of the Enviromental protection act where all interactions have to be logged, where or what is done with that info im not sure..
A case where it originally worked in our favour was with Turtles, it was reported somewhere years ago that we caught in excess of 2000 per year ( someone got there reporting seriously wrong), and after years of logging them (pre TED's) it was about 200. now with the introduction of TED's we are at about Less than 10 per year, and we suspect its a case of the same couple being caught more than once..
So as a fishery it has shown that we have addressed the catching of Turtles so when the USA puts bans on imports of seafood from countries that catch turtle's then we can show we have addressed this issue and keep our export accreditation to the USA. Not to mentions groups like WWF and the such who are always lurking..
The Americans were the original pioneers of TED's (turtle excluders) in there fisheries, but they now come to us to see How/what we are doing cause we are far better at it than them,

Hope that makes sense..

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

I think a combination of both, but the rare and endangered stuff is reported as part of the Enviromental protection act where all interactions have to be logged, where or what is done with that info im not sure..
A case where it originally worked in our favour was with Turtles, it was reported somewhere years ago that we caught in excess of 2000 per year ( someone got there reporting seriously wrong), and after years of logging them (pre TED's) it was about 200. now with the introduction of TED's we are at about Less than 10 per year, and we suspect its a case of the same couple being caught more than once..
So as a fishery it has shown that we have addressed the catching of Turtles so when the USA puts bans on imports of seafood from countries that catch turtle's then we can show we have addressed this issue and keep our export accreditation to the USA. Not to mentions groups like WWF and the such who are always lurking..
The Americans were the original pioneers of TED's (turtle excluders) in there fisheries, but they now come to us to see How/what we are doing cause we are far better at it than them,

Hope that makes sense..

Cheers Ean

Yep, makes sense. What the hell can be done to stop you from catching turtles? You cant swim around in the net and usher them away.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Thanks for the info.

Out of interest - do you ever catch rays, and are you allowed to keep them?

Guessing you like eating them Ben???
I do to,quite a challenge to catch on a fishing rod,if the suck to the floor you have no chance,lots of time they spool you/bust your gear.
Best Ray I have tasted was pickled,had an italian girlfriend,her dad pickled both wings,they were cubed and stored in large glass jars,loverly!!!!
Andrew

Originally Posted by Ace

Yep, makes sense. What the hell can be done to stop you from catching turtles? You cant swim around in the net and usher them away.

TED's are very good and they work well, but we do loose a % of our catch also, but its made up for in the less amount of damaged product we have cause by sharks, rays etc in the cod-end that squashes the prawns, so its a trade off I guess..
The turtles that are caught are generally stuck in the net between the mouth (or opening) of the net and the TED, or they bite the bars on the TED and dont let go, so we have to get them out..just because we catch 10, 5 of them may be alive but they get logged, so they are recorded..The mortality rate on turtles is very low even if they are caught, as they generally recover on the boat as they will drown if we throw them back if they haven't fully recovered..

The one I struggle with having to record is sea-snakes,we see 1000's of them swimming on the surface, and when we catch them they get thrown back, so what we have to keep a record of them for is beyond me..I guess someone has a Gov grant to study them..hope we never have to try and design a sea-snake eliminater( dont think a peice of wood will pass)..

Cheers Ean

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Guessing you like eating them Ben???
I do to,quite a challenge to catch on a fishing rod,if the suck to the floor you have no chance,lots of time they spool you/bust your gear.
Best Ray I have tasted was pickled,had an italian girlfriend,her dad pickled both wings,they were cubed and stored in large glass jars,loverly!!!!
Andrew

One like this Andrew/Ben.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This was a couple of years ago.

Cheers Ean

Fortunately you don't have any submarine cables to contend with up there. It was part of my job, as Marine Manager, in OTC then Telstra to deal with commercial fishermen (mainly bottom trawlers), AFMA, cable ship owners, etc. See the website I wrote back about 10 years ago (it's a copy I had at home): http://p38arover.com/INT/

I don't know if you trawl near the out-of-service Darwin-Banjoewangi cables (see International Cable Protection Committee). Whilst they went out of service in 1930 and 1950, they are still on the sea floor and can cause problems.

We were always mindful of the issues of loss of trawl gear, possible foundering (yes, trawlers have been lost with all hands after fouling cables and trying to haul them in - See UKCPC - United Kingdom Cable Protection Committe - Cable Safety) and would always replace any gear that had to be discarded owing to fouling cables. Gear is cheap compared with a cable repair. An armoured cable (used in shallow water under 2000m) is extremely heavy.