Mackerel plans on the table
QUEENSLAND’S recreational and commercial fishers are being asked to choose between two management strategies to arrest declining stocks of Spanish mackerel.
With mackerel stocks reported to currently sit at an alarming 17 per cent of unfished populations, Fisheries Queensland have stopped short of a blanket closure of the fishery to all user groups.
Instead, the fisheries managers are offering combinations of seasonal closures, reduced recreational possession limits, slashed commercial quotas and the introduction of catch reporting for recreational anglers in an effort to repair the fishery.
In short, Option 1 will hand recreational anglers a new possession limit of just 1 Spanish mackerel per person and a boat limit of 2 fish with 2 or more people on board.
Additionally, applicable to all user groups, 6-weeks of seasonal closures will be divided into two 3- week periods surrounding known spawning times.
Option 2 is slightly more generous with possession limits – 2 fish each angler or 4 per boat (with 2 or more people on board), but harsher with seasonal closures extended to 12weeks or four 3-week periods.
Seasonal closures are set to commence for both recreational and commercial fishers from 22
October this year while new take limits are expected to take affect in July 2023 and catch reporting for recreational anglers introduced from January 2024.
Cast your vote – there’s room for a bit of feedback – at h t t p s : / / d a f . e n g a g e m e n - thub. com. au/ spanish- mackerel-2022
Submissions close 5 August 2022.
HAPPY AS LARRY
A one-fish bag or possession limit on Spanish mackerel wouldn’t have bothered Robyn Iredale, son Marty and daughter Danielle Campbell one little bit when they fished near Salamander Reef last weekend.
The trio each caught Spanish mackerel when trolling baits along with about another dozen hopeful anglers, some pulling lures and others choosing to cast lures close to the popular Cape Cleveland hotspot. Marty, who only days earlier celebrated his 50th birthday, was the first to claim a mackerel when he fooled a fat 12-kilogram specimen, his whoops of delight catching the attention of nearby anglers.
Only a short troll run later, Robyn pounced on the starboard rod as it doubled over and the ratchet or line alarm screamed.
The fight was a short one, the fish a much more modest mackerel of nearly a metre long, but one that the family matriarch was more than happy with.
The visiting anglers must have wondered about all the fuss surrounding Spanish mackerel stocks when Danielle hooked the third mackerel of the morning.
The hook-up and subsequent encounter was very unmackerel-like with the fish swimming to the boat, perhaps before realising it had been hooked.
Only then did the characteristic blistering runs warm the drag and Danielle forced to earn her fish.
The Melbournite was elated when her mackerel was cleanly pinned with a gaff, the fish nestling between her brother’s and mother’s catch at about 20 old-fashioned-pounds. FINE SPECIMEN INDEED