KEEPING AN EYE ON BAG LIMIT
I HAD a little moral dilemma over last weekend. I was out fishing for Mahi Mahi and I am very happy to announce that I opened my account for the season getting just the one.
I was trolling but another boat that was live baiting was catching one after the other.
The dilemma comes from watching the other boat easily go over their bag limit of five per angler.
Five dolphin fish per angler is way more than enough; I could argue two or three is a better bag limit, but to exceed five is so selfish it makes me angry.
They seemed like good blokes saying gidday to me but if we all exceeded bag limits there would be no sustainable fishing in the future.
My dilemma was do I tell the fisheries about them? Do I do nothing? Or do I say something to them?
We are fairly accustomed to not dob on others in our country and somehow even though I vehemently disagreed with what they were doing and would love to see them taught a lesson, it somehow seemed
like not the right thing to do.
I refused to do nothing as I was too angry so in the end said something to them and they immediately left.
I am, however, doubting myself and questioning if I did the right thing by not informing the authorities.
I did the right thing by the fisherman that were out there (potentially saving them massive fines) but I didn’t do the right thing by the thousands of other fisherman who are also wanting to catch a Dollie this year. I’d love to get the pulse of Gold Coast fisherman on this.
My gut feel is that we all want sustainable fishing and that the vast majority of us abide by bag limits, so maybe it is time those that don’t have their details passed onto authorities.
I’d love your thoughts at lbradnam@nine.com.au.