Recreational angler getting caned again
Having just experienced the shortest day of the year yesterday, after-work anglers have to brave the cold and darkness of this time of year if they want to put fresh fish on the table.
Bertram Meyer was out in the week and enjoyed such spoils with a decent bag of a white musselcracker and white steenbras.
It appears there has been some good angling on the wild side of the bay this past period.
The estuaries are producing a lot of juvenile fish on art-lure too, in the upper regions.
I have been privileged to peruse the proposed amendments to the Marine Recreational Activity Information Brochure and we are in for a few changes that will raise many anglers’ ire.
The daily bag limit is proposed to be reduced from 10 to five per person per day.
It is also reasoned that a night fishing ban on our estuaries will have an advantage over a seasonal restriction, as this will inconvenience many tourism-based businesses that rely on anglers.
At least the powers that be acknowledge the importance of anglers.
The reasoning here is that a fishing ban is easier to enforce than a species ban.
It has also been acknowledged that the fishing effort in our estuaries has increased over the last decade due to two specific reasons: Firstly the vehicle ban in the coastal zone and then the development of small-scale fishery.
Current daily bag and size limitations are not sufficient to protect estuarine-dependent stock from over-fishing either and so they are under review – and will be adjusted it seems.
This is most probably not a bad idea but it only touches the law-abiding and without better law enforcement capacity, I believe nothing significant will achieved.
We have seen the decline in stock of linefish but the management thereof needs to be better handled rather than outright prohibitions that shifts accountability away from proper enforcement.
Slipway controls were put in place supposedly to limit access at night, reducing the supposed over-fishing of the estuaries. Now night fishing bans are being implemented as the aforementioned did not have the desired impact.
No keep periods would be a better management tool than closed areas and seasons.
It is easy to pen laws far from where they must be implemented and not having onthe-ground experience does little to make these laws effective.
We have seen ridiculous decisions to open state reserves to anglers and then equally ridiculous night fishing bans being implemented. I question these motives and wonder how public input is being considered.
The recreational angler has to take the cane on the butt again.
Tomorrow, we experience a northerly wind turning fresh south-westerly by the afternoon, with low tide at 6.44am.
On Sunday, a light northerly will turn southeasterly by the afternoon.
The air temperature will remain below 20°C throughout, with the barometer set at slightly above standard air pressure.