Fishing Victoria Forum

Unless you're a vego the meat you eat has to come from somewhere. From the butcher/fishmonger or out in the wild it doesn't really matter as far as I'm concerned as long as it is done as humanely and sustainably as possible.

Dunno if I'd keep a cod myself because they are an endangered species after all, but there's nothing wrong with keeping a legal size one for a feed.

If people start killing too many of them then I trust Fisheries to introduce more restrictions to make sure the population continues to recover.

I release all cod I catch but that doesn't mean I'm against someone taking a feed legally, cheers davo

Well, listed as vunerable by the Federal Government and listed as a threatened taxon by the State Government under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (although I can't find its Action Statement on their website, so who knows exactly how they are viewing it?). It is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN, but they also have it listed as needing updating as their latest data used comes from 1996.

Given that Fisheries is monitoring cod actively and keep changing limits over the years and that some Murray Cod fisheries (such as Eildon and Nagambie) are stocked fisheries, there is nothing wrong with keeping fish within the bag and size limits. The current slot limit (from all I've read on growth rates) seems to be targetting younger fish, and leaves the older breeders in the water.

My only concern would be if the angler was wearing a tweed vest n bow tie with his fly rod in the photo and somehow made a YouTube clip about the outing

The only issue is that it came from a water way not stocked by fisheries

DougieK wrote:While i'm an advocate of catch and release there is nothing wrong with keeping a fish for a feed. I don't agree with a lot of bag limits or legal lengths but one fish is probably ok. If it was a pic of ten of them of questionable length, then i'd be sharpening the pitchforks.

Agree with dougie.

I personally release all my cod but thats my choice.

If its done within the rules for a fish to eat then thats all good.

sandef wrote:The only issue is that it came from a water way not stocked by fisheries

Where does it say that?

PedroArvy wrote: Do you think such photos are bad for our PR or neutral, after all you can kill Murray Cod if you wish? Would this discourage you from joining a fishing club?

I dont think photo's like that will do you much good. Catch and release is becoming more popular, along with release photos/videos. A club that demonstrates it's modern in it's thinking, and is keen to learn/teach the current trends, will attract more interest than one that doesn't. So if you're doing the P.R. thing, I'd be looking at adding some alternative pics.

Brett wrote:

sandef wrote:The only issue is that it came from a water way not stocked by fisheries

Where does it say that?

on their club web site

greggo wrote:I dont think photo's like that will do you much good. Catch and release is becoming more popular, along with release photos/videos. A club that demonstrates it's modern in it's thinking, and is keen to learn/teach the current trends, will attract more interest than one that doesn't. So if you're doing the P.R. thing, I'd be looking at adding some alternative pics.

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. However most responses seem a little less strict.