# This is hardcore - *Important Update*



## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Whether you're a conservationist or a recreational angler, on 24th January (4 days) the Australian Fisheries Management Authority will be signing off on one of the most completely idiotic TACC (Total Allowable Commercial Catch) schemes ever.

http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/fed ... -slaughter

To preserve our East Coat Bill Fisher and Tuna Fishery we MUST send Senator Ludwig an protest email IMMEDIATELY:

Send your protest to:

[email protected]


----------



## john316 (Jan 15, 2009)

email sent

cheers

John


----------



## 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.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWQT0H38AAAffgAAQQAOAEAUAEAAnydSAIAAiKaeiMyJ5TbSFGjIGjTI0rR1tYHLGmB6qn3ly/dsxtaFgS8BNVkFHBdyRThQkAT0H38A=


----------



## sarod420 (Sep 25, 2009)

ASSHOLES !!


----------



## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Email sent...

Dear Sir, 
I wish to lodge a formal complaint about the short sighted & unjustifiable Total Allowable Commercial Catch system. Why would such a system be proposed when it violates your own guidelines regarding sustainable commercial harvesting?

It's time the Australian Government developed an understanding of the rape & pillage of the oceans by commercial operators, and an appreciation of the value of this resource to the recreational sector and the businesses supported by the recreational sector. Stop senseless commercial slaughter and the fisheries will remain sustainable for now and the future. We don't need more marine parks, we need less commercial operators clear felling the oceans for their own profits, destroying huge numbers of fish and vast areas of habitat with no view toward sustainability, conservation or common sense.

Rest assured that my next vote will be solely determined by this issue. You can bet your re-election that I am not alone in this view.

Yours disgustedly,
David Tindale


----------



## Evoids (Jan 10, 2009)

E-mail sent. Thanks for brining this to my notice. Its disgusting.


----------



## anton70 (Jan 10, 2008)

Have sent mail.


----------



## Chamelion (Jan 14, 2011)

Email sent, not that I would expect it to do much good. Us recreational anglers are so often portrayed in a negative light that our voices count for little, especially when faced against the almighty dollar.


----------



## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

Mail sent. Thanks for the heads up. Disgusting hypocrisy.


----------



## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

email sent :shock: :? :twisted:


----------



## southcoastmatty (Jan 21, 2009)

Done

Dear Senator Ludwig,

I wish to register my disgust at the proposed changes to the Total Allowable Commercial Catch system being introduced into the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery.

In a world slowly and thankfully being changed to an evidence based system it seems illogical that your government would decide in the face of scientific opinion to increase allowable catch size. Is it a case of take as much now as possible as it will all soon be gone?

As a parent I attempt to teach my children that sharing is important. To allow a minority to take the vast amount is deplorable.

I implore you and your government to reconsider now before your grandchildren pay the price. Please think beyond your next election term to include those that may benefit from this resource in decades and hopefully centuries to come.

We are watching you and the way you act.

Regards

Matthew Tay


----------



## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

email sent


----------



## Cid (Nov 14, 2005)

Email sent.

Quick reply, too. :roll:

*This is an automatically generated response.

Thank you for your email to Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig, Senator for Queensland, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Manager of Government Business in the Senate.

Due to the large volume of emails received, I am unable to acknowledge receipt of each email personally.

Your email is important and will be dealt with as soon as possible. Response times will vary depending on the complexity of the issues raised. However, if you require any further information please contact my office 02 6277 7520. For electorate and constituent matters, please contact the office on 07 3229 4477 or toll free 1300 301 944 (outside metro area only).

If your email relates to an invitation or media enquiry it will be forwarded to the relevant staff member.

Thank you again for your email.

Regards
Joe Ludwig *

cheers,
Cid


----------



## Scott (Aug 29, 2005)

I had the same reply. Only hope someone is taking notice of them and not deleting them without reading them.


----------



## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Hypocracy to the max.........

Or maybe Idiocracy............

I'm sure somehow that the rec fishermen will then be blamed by for the depletion of the tunas and billfish stocks and the bamboozled public will go along with it and then try and out right ban rec fishing all together


----------



## Lachy (Nov 22, 2010)

E-Mail sent...

That is absolutely ridiculous.... 
God i hope it's called off prior to the stated date for the slaughter...


----------



## mustrumr (Feb 27, 2009)

Emails sent to the PM, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Example:



> Dear Minister,
> 
> As Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, I implore you to use your position to stop the proposed implementation to the Total Allowable Commercial Catch (TACC) program for yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, striped marlin, swordfish and albacore.
> 
> ...


I've also sent equivalent emails to the relevant Shadow ministers and Tony Abbott, to all the independent MPs, and to all the Greens. Not that I need to with the Greens - the will be all over this; that's one of the reasons I vote for them. I've also sent one to my local MP, Julie Bishop vomit.

If anybody else wants to do similar, here are lists of Members of the House of Representatives by party http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/mi-party.asp , and Senators by party http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/senators/h ... sort=party , and PDFs of the Ministry http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/minlist.pdf , and of the Shadow Ministry http://www.aph.gov.au/house/members/shadmin.pdf

Let's all do our best to stop this insane proposal.


----------



## HAWKEYE3 (Jan 8, 2009)

To All,

Suggest emails also be sent to Senator Ian McDonald and Bob Katter in particular. It may be useful sending them to all MHRs and Senators.

Just a thought.

Regards

Hawkeye3


----------



## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

" Not that I need to with the Greens - the will be all over this"

LOL. No they won't !

Watch them let this slide (they already have) to so their real agendas can be driven through. Anything gay, including marriages and adoption. Sorry to be a cynic. ;-)


----------



## geecee (Mar 5, 2010)

This is an unconscionable proposal. Just found this thread and have sent an email. With a copy to our local member.


----------



## odgers (Sep 30, 2010)

hate rapists so much, its crap


----------



## mustrumr (Feb 27, 2009)

I've had a personal reply from my local Greens Senator, Rachel Siewert, and she has said she will be definitely following it up with the Minister and also possibly at Senate Estimates in February. I gave her all the info I've been able to find on the issue and she said she has one of her staff on the case.

I've also received a reply from Bob Oakeshott, one of the independents, and he says he is investigating the issue, though he gave no details of what that meant.

The rest of them, all I've had is pro forma automated replies. I'm not holding my breath ...

I had assumed that the push for bigger TACC's was coming from the fishing industry, and while I'm sure that is the case it appears that the Federal government is also strongly in favour of higher limits. Quoting from the most recent PDF from the AFMA, on Bigeye Tuna:


> Setting a TACC lower than 2,000t would not be consistent with the Commonwealth Harvest Strategy, as the Australian Government position is that Australia's catch limit should be 2,000t.


That's a bit of a worry from a government that tries to portray itself as environmentally-conscious.


----------



## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

This news just in:
http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/fed ... -slaughter

It looks like pollies took notice of the good people that submitted a protest. Presently there is a delay to the AFMA decision until February 11. Those with concerns who haven't yet done so can still make thier feelings known in the interim to keep up the momentum.


----------



## mustrumr (Feb 27, 2009)

spooled1 said:


> This news just in:
> http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/fed ... -slaughter
> 
> It looks like pollies took notice of the good people that submitted a protest. Presently there is a delay to the AFMA decision until February 11. Those with concerns who haven't yet done so can still make thier feelings known in the interim to keep up the momentum.


That is very good news. Lets hope it results in the proposed increases being quashed, not just delayed.


----------



## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Occy, the trouble with long liners is that it is indiscriminate.
They are allowed to take say striped marlin but they lines will catch as many blues and blacks which they may not be allow. I have seen huge dead marlin floating out wide that have been dumped by the long liners.
A very high proportion of marlin caught by rec fishers are tagged and released.
The charter boat industry has really been suffering for the last year and this would not help their situation.

Not sure on the sustainability but i find it very hypocritical for them to impose marine parks close to shore to appease the masses and this is just a token so no one notices that they are concerned or doing anything about water quality which is a bigger issue, and then they make it open slather to liner the pockets of a few in areas where the general public wont notice.

All a bit 3rd world for my liking.

I have found it interesting that forwarding this information on to just about everyone I know has gained as much support from people that don't fish as from those that do.

These are just my observations.


----------



## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Dan check your PMs mate...re this thread


----------



## jawjerker (Nov 19, 2010)

Does any one know of any organization that is lobbying against this idiocy that we can as rec anglers can support. (besides the e-mail)


----------



## GregL (Jul 27, 2008)

Alright, that sucks.
Those photos are taken at Ulladulla harbour - the boat is the Sensation - been here forever.
Its the one thing that sucks about living here - seeing things like that. I've seen that stuff dozens and dozens of times - quite often when we're back in the harbour after a day out on the shelf chasing the same fish  (from proper gameboats).
I've seen some mad shit down there - one night there was this _thing_ on the back of a truck - it looked like a massive tree trunk - like a serioulsy massive ironbark - it was the cleaned carcass of a broadbill, and I shit you not, the thing would have weighed at least 1500lb. Absolutely at least. It was something else.
And the tuna they've unloaded would simply blow your socks off - not so many of the monsters these days like there were, but they still rock up and there's plenty in the 40-80kg and big numbers in the 5-50kg range.

Anyway, I read on through the article and checked out the pdf, which has the full report. And if you've not read it, here's the nuts and bolts of what they're doing

A focus of the discussion at the TTMAC meeting was the fact that the ETBF harvest
strategy had not been applied to a previously set TACC for each species and whether
the decision by the RAG to use the average catch over the period 2006-09 was the
most appropriate. The decision on the "starting TACC" is important as once it is
chosen application of the harvest strategy will identify RBCCs for the following year.
The operational constraints included in the HS, in particular, a maximum TACC
change of 10% between years, means that the TACC for any species will change
gradually over time in response to signals from the data. This was considered a
desirable behavioural characteristic by Industry, as it provides some level stability and
certainty for planning. The related attribute, however, is that this build a certain
amount of inertia into the HS, i.e. it is less responsive. Hence, if the starting TACC is
lower than the long-term catch that can actually be taken in the fishery then it may
take several years for the TACC to increase to this level. Alternatively, if the starting
TACC is substantially higher than the sustainable catch it may take several years for
the TACC to be decreased to a level consistent with the long-term productivity of the
stock and, depending on how much higher the fishing mortality was above the
sustainable level for how long, it may take some time to rebuild the stock to a level
where the long-term sustainable catches can be taken again. In the former situation the
fishery foregoes a profit but the resource is not overfished and there is likely to be
greater total flexibility among target species in the fishery. In the latter situation, the
fishery is perhaps more profitable in the short term but at the cost of over-fishing and
depletion of the resource and impact on future catch levels and and profits.

So, what I got from that (and from other parts of the pdf), is that they reckon that the current fish stock is healthy enough to take a fairly substantial smack from the pro's, for one year, and from the data they collect afterwards, they will be able to work out a sustainable harvest plan for the future.

There's an important table on page 3 of the pdf. It shows the average tonnage that they've already been taking in recent years and what they actually plan on targetting.
Now, this is where I take of my kayak hat, and whack on the big stink boat game fisher hat.
Generally, the fishing, over the last 8 years, has got progressively better, and better - the main thing that stuff us is the El Nino/ La Nina patterns.
I never even saw a yellowfin for my first two marlin seasons, now the buggers are almost a pest! And don't get me started on albies - again, I never saw them for years, and now theres bloody millions of them. Blokes are going out and smashing 50 or 60 in a day. And thats just what I know - there's hundreds of other game fishers who'll tell you the same thing.
Oh, I guess at this point I should point out that I'm happy to state that my knowledge comes only from the South Coast (where I am pretty well connected throughout the game fishing scene down here, so its not just me and a couple of mates in town) - but, as this is a hub of long lining, it is also a hub of game fishing, so I think its a fair place to get an idea of whats actually happening out there.

Anyway, stripes, they're taking 396 tonnes already - they want to take 400 - thats 40 or 50 fish. No probs. That many get taken by rec anglers every two weeks during the summer.
Swords - 1322 tonnes already - they want 1550 - 100kgs is a small broadbill - but for worst case scenario, thats 178 fish. I'd expect that number to be just over half that based on what I've seen at the harbour. The whole ETBF, yeah, I reckon it could spare that.
Albies, big eye and yellowfin...
Hmmm, big numbers there, but do I reckon they could handle it? Well, put it this way - I don't think they'll be wiping anything out forever. Far from it. Putting a ding it for a few years, yeah, maybe...but from the figures they show, the catch rate for all those species has levelled out for over the last 5 years or so. This one year proposal does appear do-able.

I can hear dudes losing their shit with me at the moment, but I've certainly got a different view of it all since I actually read the report, rather than just the magazine article.

The planet is getting fuller dudes, and there's going to be millions of more mouths to feed. I'd much rather they did something to plan for that now, rather than one day, when everyone is going nuts cause there's nothing left, we don't go 'oh......shit.....yeah, we probably should have thought about this when we had the chance...'

Well, I hope thats what they are doing it all for.
Would be real easy to freak out now and launch into a whole load of conspiracy theories about fudged numbers and how its just 'the pro's flogging it - the bastards', but there are times when one hopes that we can trust our fellow man to actually be doing us all a favour, despite how it looks on the surface. If those figures are actually correct, and everyone sticks to the plan, there _could_ be significant long term benefits for our future generations.
_If_ every one sticks to the plan though.....

One thing that doesn't quite add up for me though, is what will happen to the market price of the fish? The bill fish market collapsed a couple of summers ago because they caught so many. Fish were getting dumped because the market price was too low to pay fuel, wages or anything - and they were even getting dumped at the tip because it was cheaper to run them up there in a truck than take the boat back out to the 4nm mark to dump them.
So go figure what will happen when the tuna price drops when they bring in another 3000 tonnes and flood the market? 
Fishermen are dumb sometimes, but not always stupid.

Anyway, I am now expecting a spray.....probably deserve it.......think I'll just put in the last few bricks in this bomb shelter I've been building.....knew it would come in handy one day.
The Smeg shall be safe in here.
Nervously saying "good night...." and yes, I shall be sleeping with one eye open.... ;-)

Greg


----------



## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

Great synopsis Greg. Thanks for the 'heads up' from the other side. I hope you're right. 
Cheers
Hally


----------



## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Greg, i think the currents have been favourable in your neck of the woods and as such a lot of sydney based anglers have been heading down that way.
But for us the yellow fin and albies never even happened last year.
The charter guys around sydney have really suffered, some have move up or down the coast and others have gone out of business.
The problems I see is the by catch and as far as trusting these guys HA, have you fished next to a pro ? I presume they are above the law as size limits don't even apply to them.

Are you saying that you think it is great that they are planning for the future but just getting a few more hits in before they start ?
It sounds a lot like the principle my kids take to saving money.
Better to spend what I have and start from scratch.

If we are ahead now then let's bank it.

These are just my views and I haven't done as much research as you by the sound of it.


----------



## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

.....it's not all about the fish. The Greens are here for us.

Forgive me fish gods, for I know not what I do


----------



## GregL (Jul 27, 2008)

Kez,
In general last year was a shocker on the whole coast for rec game anglers, compared to the 5 or so preceeding years - it wasn't just Sydney. If the currents are wrong, the fish won't be there (in reach of the day trippers) - and thats nothing to do with what the pro's are up to another 100 miles out. I'd also certainly avoid relating the success of local charter operations to the activities of pro's (NB - when I refer to 'pro's', I am refering to long liners - not netters) . Again, I know several guys who are, or who have run a charter operation (targetting tuna and billfish), and with the overheads of running a gig like that, unless you own the boat completely outright and you have a great run of fish, making decent money can at times be a real struggle - from what I've seen, it doens't take much to send a charter under - especially ones that don't have serious amounts of cash behind them to see them through the bad times. A dodgy cold current in your local area, or a big eddie further up the coast, spinning 'your' fish way out to sea is going to stuff you for a season, unless you can move your operation to a better area where you can get to the fish. Hence the influx of Sydney boats heading down this way to get in on the action. It happened down here season before last - a big eddie sat of North JB canyons, and it spun the fish out to sea and they came back in to the shelf down at Bermi. The JB boats had a good season, Bermi had a cracker, whilst Ulladulla and Batemans Bay really struggled.
If you then take a look at the tables of what the domestic fleet took during the same period, although the yearly tonnage is slightly down, the average remains unchanged - therefore, Old Mate Charters who went out of business last year can't really blame the pro's for taking all the fish - the fish were still there - just somewhere else where he didn't get to.

Have I fished next to a pro? Well, guess what, I am very good friends with the ex-owner and also the ex-skipper of the Sea Angel out of Ulladulla (longliner) so as neither of them has anything to loose or gain by the Harvest Proposal, I have reputable and impartial information regarding typical activities of a longliner.
If anyone thinks that pro's just have to put fuel in the boat and are then free to go out and flog the guts out of the ocean, they are massively mistaken. Big Brother sits in Canberra and watches those guys every single movements, and everything they do is documented and recorded. Every boat is fitted with a tracker which shows their positioning at all times, and there have been boats fitted with video monitoring systems on the deck, to replace the observers that are mandatory governmental guests on particular voyages. All fish returned to port are weighed and documented, and of course, the Quotas are strictly enforced - and yeah, that does mean that 'good fish' are wasted at times - but unfortuantly that is the only way that a quota system can work and be policed. If all by, or overcatch were to be available for sale, then that is when fish stocks will be at the greatest risk.
In the case of long lines though, and this information comes straight from the guys I know, unsaleable bycatch is made up predominantly of oceanic whalers. The taking of 'undersized fish' is generally a moot point when it comes to long lines - as there aren't many species that will eat a live or dead bait such as a slimey/yellowtail/pilchard etc that are going to be undersized - especially out wide beyond the shelf. Sure, blacks and blues are also common victims and I've heard heartbreaking stories of some huge blues that have ended up on a longline - but it is folly to think that every other hook on the shot has an unsaleable bycatch species on it. Long lines can actually be used to target particular species. Deep setting will target the Big Eye and swords, shallow setting along the shelf will target stripes, wide setting targets the albies and yellowfin. There is enough computer modelling and satellite information available to the longline fleet these days that they really can head to a certain area with confidence that they will come across particular species. There will always be bycatch though, but again it is an issue that definately gets blown out by certain groups who only make reference to small amounts of data, rather than the whole picture.
The bycatch issue does relate strongly though to the trawlers - and I am greatly opposed to the current practices of the netters, as they are generally indiscriminate on what gets brought to the surface, and deep running trawlers do untold damage to the ecosystem.

I'm definately not saying that they are getting a few more hits in before they start. I'd emplore anyone who has any opinion of this whole program to take the time and read the 57 pages of the report - and then read them again, because some of the figures will blow your mind, and as a rec fisherman, you'll probably need to calm down a bit to really process them and all the other relating information.
There is a lot more science behind this than it seems if one just relies on a fishing magazine article - and its science based on a great deal of captured data.
A really important point to remember are that although the TACC figures are set, it does not mean that those figures will actually be met. There is particular mention of this in regard to Big Eye - the proposed TACC is 2000t, however the maximum tonnage the domestic fleet has ever caught during a year is 1341t - so a lot will depend on the domestic fleets' ability to actually shoot their lines in the most productive areas - and again, that will always depend on weather patterns and currents.
It is also very clear that up until 1991, the Japanese fleet were also harvesting huge numbers of fish from the AFZ, and it is clear that fish stocks took a massive hit in the late 80's - and although they appear to have not fully recovered to original levels, the levels that they are at now, appear to be comfortably sustainable, and are likely to gradually increase. The restrictions that were imposed on the Japanese fleet in the early 90's have made a very big difference to the longevity of the AFZ.
Also, look at the RBCC figures, and compare them to what has been taken on average over the last 3 years - except for swords and albies, the average catch has been greater than the RBCC - indicating that the RBCC is possibly set too low anyway.
Another big point to remember is that the TACC can only be increased by 10% each year anyway.The whole point of the ETFB Harvest Strategy is to update and revise the TACC levels. Even if the findings of the proposal indicate that there is a resource that has been under exploited, no one is going to be going out there and taking even twice as much as they already have been. Any changes will be incremental over time.

This issue is one where my arse is placed firmly on the fence. I've attended NSWGFA meetings as a delegate in the past, and I've sat there listening to Graham Thomas and others like him who are 'on our side'. Its great having those people dedicating their lives to supporting the sport they love - but a reoccuring theme is always the lack of further information that is passed on to the average fisherman, who only hears that 'the pollies are allowing the pros to go out and slaughter millions of fish that we should be catching from our trailerboat or 40 footers". There is often way, way more to these issues than most people are told about.

The AFZ is a food source that also is our play ground, and it is important that that distinction does not get too blurred, no matter how much we want to play.

Time to scuttle back to the bomb shelter and lock the door.....

Cheers for now,
Greg


----------



## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Thanks for your fresh insights Greg. You've certainly cleared up a lot of stuff and added balance.

If we didn't ship so much of our premium seafood resource offshore, I'd probably be a whole lot more supportive of the way our commercial industry is managed. In the end my dilemma is leaning more toward the ethical than technical. It's a very basic and immature view but I really don't think the people of our country are profiting from the export mechanisms that have been created. Here's why: If we did profit from the industry, our population would be provided access to locally available premium seafood at prices that were cheaper than the 2nd rate imported product. Obviously this visible benefit would be appended to the unseen financial profit from export that supposedly filters back into the country.

By reading your posts on this topic you have done a lot more research on this topic than me but 8-12 million longline hooks will still be deployed in 2011/12 creating the potential for 8-12m by-catch attracting long line hooks (I agree though, still better than a big, fat net). In addition, the inevitable roll out of Commonwealth Marine Parks will put more pressure on legal fishing areas and force rec and pro anglers to share smaller spaces and far fewer fishable habitats because the prime habitats will certainly be lost to Sanctuary zones.

(Consider this as a hypothetical Government scenario: TACCs in 2011/12 were consistent, let's raise the 2014 TACC to pretend to keep the pro fleet happy in the midsts of all the Commonwealth marine parks that were created from 2013-16. That will solve the overfishing issue, appease the Greens, annoy the rec anglers and totally screw the entire planned TACC roll out that was initially scheduled for implementation on January 24, 2011. True or False? Either way it really doesn't matter because there's a hundred chefs all doing the cooking)


----------



## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Thanks for all the info Greg, I can't dispute any of it as I just don' t have the facts and tend to judge the issue from my gut.
My gut tells me that the fish stocks aren't what they should be and it seems to me that rec fishers take the flack for it in the public eye.
Commercial fishing is worth $$$ to the government so it carries weight but rec fishing doesn't. In the past rec fishers have sided with commercial guys to fight for fishing rights but I think the time has come for rec fishers to stand on their own and go against the commercials.
Most commercial fishing quoters seem to be based on a level that means the stocks can survive but I think they should be at a level where the stocks can flourish.
Fish should just be a lot more expensive to buy.
My comments on the etiquette of the pro boats was based purely on my observations of the guys fishing for king fish so probably not relevant to the long liners (hopefully).

cheers


----------



## Iseered (Oct 25, 2010)

Have sent my email. Hope those silent members do their bit as well. Fingers crossed. 8)


----------



## diver72 (Jan 2, 2010)

I have sent my email and I think we just need to keep these sort of issues in the spotlight to stop them dropping off the radar!!! Keep the fight going Yakkers. Remember some of you may think " I'm never going to catch a tuna/marlin out of my yak" so I am not overly worried. But it could be a ruling on estuarine netting, beach hauling or a new marine park, at some stage something like this will effect all of us and what we love to do FISH!!!! So lets all stick together.


----------

