# Reporting Illegal Fishing in QLD



## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Ive just returned from a ride out to the bay. On the way out we spotted eight or nine chaps on the banks spreading out a large gill net. The spillway at that point is only 30-40m wide. Believing it was their intention to swim the net across and catch whatever swam by I stopped a little further on and rang the Illegal Fishing Hotline number I put in my phone after the last blatant flouting of the regulations I saw, but was helpless to do anything about.

After going through a short menu system I spoke to someone that took down the detail and my phone number. He said he had crews working today and would send someone to take a look. ABout 20mins later we reached the Bay and my phone rang with the office on duty asking for further directions. ABout an hour later we passed by the spot again and saw two jetskis and two men in uniform talking to the one chap on the other bank. They were measuring the net and speaking with the fisherman. We continued ridin and came across the rest of the crew hiding under a tree about 500m upstream. They had two large buckets with more nets in them. I stopped again and made the officer aware of their location. 
I realised then that their intention was not to swim across but rather they had crew on each bank and were going to toss a rope across to haul the net into position.

We left it at that and rode home.
Firstly Id like to say what an excellent service it was to use, from answering my call to dispatching a crew to investigate. They indicated they would let me know the outcome of their investigation.
The spot they were about to net is a well known spot for mulloway. Given recent rains and the phase of the moon my guess is they would have been successful at removing a few from the system, along with anything else that happened to swim through. They didnt look the type to practice catch and release.

I am not used to reporting things to authorities. If they were not doing anything illegal then they would have just had a chat. If they were ignorant of the rules then at worst they will be fined or perhaps just educated. Id be happy if they were sufficiently chastised so as to convince them not to do it again.

Though it would be naive to think I made any real impact on the problem, I hope I gave the local fish stocks a slight reprieve for the day anyway.

Here's the number. Stick it in your phone and use it the next time you are shocked by other people's blatant flouting of the fishing regulations.

*1800 017116*


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Good one you for doing that. Surprising, while we think of fisheries officers as having super powers and being able to act at a moments notice in all circumstances, they are sometimes limited in what they can do and any help from the public is much appreciated. Eg. They sometimes need search warrants from the local magistrate who may be a little reluctant to issue one if there is a history of them being false alarms. Te address on a persons rego/licence may not correspond with where they actually live and everyone is red faced when they either raid the wrong place or the paperwork isn't right. Can't beat accurate info from people in the ground. The more accurate intel they have from the public the better able they are to do their jobs.

It gives me the shots too when I try do the right thing, only to see someone else abuse the system.


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## WhipperSnapper (Jun 2, 2012)

Scares the daylights out of me! 
that news really makes me mad... good on ya though for doing that hopefully one day news like this can be stopped for good! I'm yet to catch a jewie so hopefully these people wake up to the damage they're doing


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Thanks Paul.

Reckon I could call that a few times a week from Scarby alone (mainly more than 2 rods per person).


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## Foxxy (May 12, 2008)

Nice work! I reckon recreational fishing must bring in so much economic benefit compared to any commercial per unit removed from the sea.. and can be regulated and made sustainable. But only if we as fishos police our stomping grounds.. Onya!


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

I've had mixed results with this service. If somebody is around to help, then they're all over it and keen to help, if they have nobody available then they don't like delivering the bad news that they can't help and as Steven notes you are unlikely to even receive a return phone call.

When I was up at Fraser last September I reported people for taking undersized jew to the main number and they ended up giving me the mobile number of an officer they knew was on the island. I called him direct and gave him exact details of the persons in question including vehicle make and rego and where they were fishing. The island grapevine was buzzing the next day about fisheries busting someone, so I assume my info helped in this instance.

Sadly, the fisheries department are underfunded and under resourced, the government kicks more politcal goals by closing areas to fishing rather than trying to police them.

Kev


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

BIGKEV said:


> Sadly, the fisheries department are underfunded and under resourced, the government kicks more politcal goals by closing areas to fishing rather than trying to police them.
> 
> Kev


x 2

Well said Kev


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## scorpio (Dec 15, 2009)

Good onya Paulo. Hope they threw the book at them. They seemed to be well set up so have probably been doing that for a while. Have the number in my phone also.


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## bigalex (Mar 16, 2008)

Well done Paulo. The staff at the QBFP are excellent but there are too few at each office for the amount of water they have to cover. I prosecuted for them for four years and the tip offs were never wasted. If an inspector could not get there immediately they would record it and include areas in working out future patrols. Many of the illegal crabbers were eventually caught because people would report seeing the same car at the same boat ramps night after night, so every bit of info does help.


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