Fishing Victoria Forum

Hi Smile I did not think you were so no worries. One day we came across a speedboat out on the shelf with 4 very pissed people on board and all of a foot of freeboard . It was a mirror calm day but the weather can change very quickly out there! These guys were having a lucky day.

I'd go out to the shelf on a jet ski lol

Why Not?

Cos they weather can change with no warning

Kimtown wrote:I think the climate is changing fishing everywhere

I dont think Melbourne has ever seen as many king fish as it has in recent years, certainly not tuna hooked and caught in the bays either.

I'm sure that is having an impact but I suspect in the case of kings and tuna it is more to do with the stocks being fished almost to local extinction and now starting to recover.

smile0784 wrote:Cos they weather can change with no warning

Jet skis are as buoyant as any boat and if you do flip them you can easily flip them back over yourself.

It would be a lot quicker zipping back into port on something mobile like a ski too

plus you could do sick jumps over the swell

personally I think jetskis should be restricted to the continental shelf, not from it

I think that the reduction in commercial fishing due to the quota system is the main reason for the return of things like kingfish, Tuna, marlin, coota
A quick history of the NSW and Vic fishery. 1970 Small vessels no quota but weather restricted and catch restricted due to small size. Mostly flathead mowong and Tuna poling fishing. 1980 Larger trawlers started up Tuna Purse Seiners shooting in whole patches. Kingfish traps, purse seining for slimy mackerel for fish meal. No quotas. Very large trawlers started fishing Orange roughy.
Mid 1990's AFMA went into panic mode due to 37,000 tonnes of roughy being landed in 1995. The slimy mackerel fishing was processing thousands of tonnes. Tuna was down to estimated 5% of original mass in the Pacific. 1995-2000 quota system introduced and a massive reduction of all species. Buy back scheme reduced boats to about 30% of original number, Gemfish completely banned. Quotas of Tuna forced purse seiners out and Tuna longlining became the only way to make a living. Since then there has been further reductions of all quota and vessels . Even the "super trawler" was on a much lower quota than the original fleet caught. So now you start to see what the oceans can support. We now starting to see something like what was there originally. There was a pre ww2 flathead fishery that knocked the flathead around but it recovered during ww2 as all the vessels were used by the Navy. Australian fisheries is now world class managed in a sustainable way.

Paulanderson wrote:Smile we fished out of the Quinne for about 6 years within a 20 mile or so radius of Bermi. In those days there were plenty of 5 to 6 metre boats fishing the shelf. We only managed to get our ass seriously kicked twice in the Quinnie but as you can imagine we headed in the correct direction to have the wind behind us heading home and paid attention to weather warnings on the radio. After the Quinnie we bought a 24 ft Swiftcraft - not a good sea boat at all and prone to trying to broach with a steep following sea. Driving back from the KInk with a good North Easterly was not a relaxing experience. The Volvo stern drive was also a pain with the Chev V8 hard to start at times. We always carried a can of Aerostart! Our final Bermi boat was a Haines 19C - a great sea boat if ever there was one and well suited to day trips out of Bermi.

One of the more "interesting" experiences in the Quinnie was when a very green Mako almost came over the side and managed to bite a rod (in a rod holder) in half. Needless to say we were ready to abandon ship at that point! A 90 kg Mako at the Bermi weigh station.

Nice mako :thumbsup:

https://www.wcpfc.int/node/15681
This vessel and its sister ship fished the East coast of Australia in the mid 70s and 80s. It unloaded to the Eden cannery along with all the Pole boats. Once quotas were introduced it was no longer viable.
Along with all the changes in the commercial industry there is a background of long term oscillations in the pacific climate and water temp.
The Pacific Decadal oscillation. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/teleconnections/pdo/
If you look at that you see 1945 thru to early 70s it is more often negative (La Nina) then thru to about 2000 it is more often positive. Sea surface temp, cloud. rain the trade winds and the East Australian current are all effected by this. So there are lots of fish getting pushed down the coast the last few years and less commercial pressure on them. Enjoy it while it lasts.
By the way this year was an exceptional summer for strong east coast warm water getting pushed south all the way to Tassy. Contrary to what the popular press seem to report. El Nina means cooler water and slower current, La Nina is warmer and stronger current.
Oh and the often reported coral bleaching, happens mostly during El Nina events when the water starts the summer cooler on our coast. This causes lack of cloud, humidity ( a desert climate) and wind which leads to a rapid rise in water temp in the lagoons and shallows.

re-tyred wrote:I think that the reduction in commercial fishing due to the quota system is the main reason for the return of things like kingfish, Tuna, marlin, coota
A quick history of the NSW and Vic fishery. 1970 Small vessels no quota but weather restricted and catch restricted due to small size. Mostly flathead mowong and Tuna poling fishing. 1980 Larger trawlers started up Tuna Purse Seiners shooting in whole patches. Kingfish traps, purse seining for slimy mackerel for fish meal. No quotas. Very large trawlers started fishing Orange roughy.
Mid 1990's AFMA went into panic mode due to 37,000 tonnes of roughy being landed in 1995. The slimy mackerel fishing was processing thousands of tonnes. Tuna was down to estimated 5% of original mass in the Pacific. 1995-2000 quota system introduced and a massive reduction of all species. Buy back scheme reduced boats to about 30% of original number, Gemfish completely banned. Quotas of Tuna forced purse seiners out and Tuna longlining became the only way to make a living. Since then there has been further reductions of all quota and vessels . Even the "super trawler" was on a much lower quota than the original fleet caught. So now you start to see what the oceans can support. We now starting to see something like what was there originally. There was a pre ww2 flathead fishery that knocked the flathead around but it recovered during ww2 as all the vessels were used by the Navy. Australian fisheries is now world class managed in a sustainable way.

Great info
Thanks