Bag limits for Charter Boats

[Hydroman]

In light of the Calamari bag limit (alleged) offenders at Mornington, I thought I would pose a question which has been on my mind for a few years now and I am interested in hearing others thoughts.

To preface my question, I have personally been fishing in PPB for over 30 years so have seen many changes over that time. I remember getting somewhat annoyed every time a flathead too the bait intended for a Snapper as the flathead were so prevalent you could almost catch them without bait, well at least that it what it felt like!! Things are very different now for various reasons. (scallop fishing etc)

I think it was 3 seasons ago now when the Snapper were going nuts (the year it was almost impossible to launch as places like at Patto where a queue was back to Thompson's Rd at 4am and carpark full at 6am). I saw things that concerned me that year, which was the amount of good sized Snapper the charter boats were taking. At the time they were running 3 charters a day and I lost count of the amount of charters operating out of Carrum. I used to see the showcase they would put on after coming back slapping the takings on the ground for everyone to see. To me, it was disheartening to see so many fish taken from the water and then seeing the boat go back out for another taking with another boat full of people.

After that season, the Snapper stocks have certainly not been there. I personally thought at the time what the charter blokes were taking is not sustainable. It's been a couple of years now and still no rebound. I feel the charter blokes should have a different bag limit to recreational fisherman. We cant go out, come in with a catch, drop it off and go back on the same day to the same mark so why should they? I understand the 2nd or 3rd trip is with different people which is how they get around this but the rational is the same.......a boat going back to the same place and depleting the stocks.

I am not out to harm anyone's business. I just wanted to hear others thoughts on whether or not the amount of fish the charter boats take on a good season is causing harm for subsequent seasons.

[rb85]

Hydroman the bag limit's are per person as you would understand the majority of paying customers most likely don't own their own boat so go with a charter instead so to me theres no reason to punish these individuals as they are required to have a rec fishing license like the rest of us.

The operators and deckhands would have to follow these same rules.

[cobby]

Hydroman the bag limit's are per person as you would understand the majority of paying customers most likely don't own their own boat so go with a charter instead so to me theres no reason to punish these individuals as they are required to have a rec fishing license like the rest of us.

The operators and deckhands would have to follow these same rules.

And to follow on, the biggest reason why you've found the last couple of years average is the natural recruitment. Poor spawn years especially consecutively create what feels like a void in the size and numbers of fish.

The charter boats are no different to those people on board having boats of their own and bagging out on them instead. The same number and size of fish will be removed

[fishin]

Over the years I have been out on charter boats quite a few times, and on every occasion the skipper and deck hand have never fished, but there quota was always included in the bag limit

[Wolly Bugger]

In light of the Calamari bag limit (alleged) offenders at Mornington, I thought I would pose a question which has been on my mind for a few years now and I am interested in hearing others thoughts.

To preface my question, I have personally been fishing in PPB for over 30 years so have seen many changes over that time. I remember getting somewhat annoyed every time a flathead too the bait intended for a Snapper as the flathead were so prevalent you could almost catch them without bait, well at least that it what it felt like!! Things are very different now for various reasons. (scallop fishing etc)

I think it was 3 seasons ago now when the Snapper were going nuts (the year it was almost impossible to launch as places like at Patto where a queue was back to Thompson's Rd at 4am and carpark full at 6am). I saw things that concerned me that year, which was the amount of good sized Snapper the charter boats were taking. At the time they were running 3 charters a day and I lost count of the amount of charters operating out of Carrum. I used to see the showcase they would put on after coming back slapping the takings on the ground for everyone to see. To me, it was disheartening to see so many fish taken from the water and then seeing the boat go back out for another taking with another boat full of people.

After that season, the Snapper stocks have certainly not been there. I personally thought at the time what the charter blokes were taking is not sustainable. It's been a couple of years now and still no rebound. I feel the charter blokes should have a different bag limit to recreational fisherman. We cant go out, come in with a catch, drop it off and go back on the same day to the same mark so why should they? I understand the 2nd or 3rd trip is with different people which is how they get around this but the rational is the same.......a boat going back to the same place and depleting the stocks.

I am not out to harm anyone's business. I just wanted to hear others thoughts on whether or not the amount of fish the charter boats take on a good season is causing harm for subsequent seasons.

I understand the point you are making, however netting has only just finished in the bay and professionals are still allowed to use long lines.

Fishing stocks are dependant on a number of factors, of which the influence of charters boats and amateur anglers would be the some where near the bottom.

The biggest factors are environmental, eg rainfall and pollution. Amateur bag limits have introduced all though I think for snapper they are too high. In some states there is a boat limit as well.

I have been on a fair few charters and trust me, there have been plenty of times I have come home bagless, or with maybe two or three snapper.

Sure there are some unscrupulous operators, but there are also unscrupulous amateur anglers as well, some are caught going over their bag limit, and during peak seasons, amateur boat anglers have been caught unloading their catch and then going out the same day to catch their bag limit again.

I think that maybe the amateur boat angler fishing bags, may well and truly exceed that of the charter operators.

[rb85]

Hydroman the bag limit's are per person as you would understand the majority of paying customers most likely don't own their own boat so go with a charter instead so to me theres no reason to punish these individuals as they are required to have a rec fishing license like the rest of us.

The operators and deckhands would have to follow these same rules.

And to follow on, the biggest reason why you've found the last couple of years average is the natural recruitment. Poor spawn years especially consecutively create what feels like a void in the size and numbers of fish.

The charter boats are no different to those people on board having boats of their own and bagging out on them instead. The same number and size of fish will be removed

Good point haven't followed the science with natural recruitment.

[rb85]

Over the years I have been out on charter boats quite a few times, and on every occasion the skipper and deck hand have never fished, but there quota was always included in the bag limit

Who were the charter operators? Were you happy with them taking their quota?

[Kadmium]

Over the years I have been out on charter boats quite a few times, and on every occasion the skipper and deck hand have never fished, but there quota was always included in the bag limit

Who were the charter operators? Were you happy with them taking their quota?

Wonder if they include their bag for each trip?

[Wolly Bugger]

Over the years I have been out on charter boats quite a few times, and on every occasion the skipper and deck hand have never fished, but there quota was always included in the bag limit

Who were the charter operators? Were you happy with them taking their quota?

This line says; the skipper and deck hand have never fished.

It my understanding that never fished means they did not fish and on all the charters I have been on, neither the skipper or the deck hand fished, they may have given a customer a hand, but they did not have their own fishing rods.

On a tuna charter, once the bag limit was reached for the customers, no more fish were taken, so for 5 customers it was 10 fish, if you included the skipper and deck hand, we could have had 14 fish, but this did not happen.

[smile0784]

Dont they have a boat limit also?