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HAVE THEIR OWN CONTROLS AUSSIE STATES BY ALAIN JORION O ur family decided to catch up with my brother-in-law John this winter and camp and fish around the Whitsundays in northern Queensland. John, a former commercial crayfisherman who is originally from Gisborne, likes to get away from it all and trek from the Gold Coast to the tropical north. He has a brilliant set-up with his mobile home, a tinny on the top as well as a dismantled home-made tinny trailer, and a four- wheel-drive Suzuki hooked to the mobile home's towbar. Over the years we have camped at Dingo Beach in the Whitsundays and in the Daintree National Park area north of Cairns. Crocodiles and snakes, splendid weather and warm water of around 24 degrees made this a great change from the New Zealand winter. Oysters off the rocks were fun to gather and eat. However, the fishing was a great disappointment. Using two surfcasting rods and the tinny, we trolled bibbed minnows for Spanish mackerel and coral trout, then changed to some bottom fishing using prawns, garfish, pilchards, squid and mullet. But we never caught one legal-sized fish to eat. We did catch a couple of broad squid on an illuminated squid jig and some mud crabs, but that's all. Quite amazing. For us the fishing was extremely poor inshore and over the years it has got worse. What was the problem? The locals told us the fishing was still good out wide, 40 miles out on the Great Barrier Reef, but that was beyond our range. At night we saw the gill-netters move in with huge nets that encircled the very bay and ramp the public was using. The horizon was lit up at night and a smaller boat worked the bait closer to be encircled by the purse seiner. Locals told us New Zealanders are doing this for a company called Tweed Bait. We checked out other boats at the ramp for their success rates and they also said it was bad unless they went for an overnight trip right out to the Great Barrier Reef. Because the bait was gone, the bigger fish had moved away. Others said there was immense local depletion because every fisho owned a small, cheap tinny and the good weather took its toll on the resident reef species. However, some good fish were still up the rivers, where there was less commercial harvesting. I was interested in comparing Australia with New Zealand's conditions and success rates. I am presently on the board of the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council and am focused on the advocacy of fishing for recreational fishers in New Zealand. Let's evaluate and compare the good and the bad on both sides of the Tasman Sea. On an earlier trip we went to New South Wales and discovered the situation there was quite different to Queensland. The New South Wales Recreational Fishing Trust represents all recreational fishers and the fishers own and operate it themselves. All fishers in the state have to belong to the trust and pay a stewardship fee to its managers, who defend the recreational fisher's rights. It sounds daunting but firstly, look at what it does before jumping to conclusions. The money is not paid to any government organisation. In New South Wales they use this money to improve people's fishing in many ways, including buying commercial businesses by way of an A$30 million loan, repayable by the trust, to create recreational only areas. 60 Professional Skipper January/February 2012 Fishing has improved remarkably in these areas, and around artificial reefs built by the trust in desert-like habitats of no previous value, the fishing has been enhanced beyond before any fishing pressure ever began. A local young man told me his father had a commercial boat and his income from fishing was marginal. The family was happy to sell out to the trust for $60,000 and walk away. Today the young chap, who loves to fish for food and fun, says the fishing is remarkably better and he always comes home with a good feed. He told me of a monstrous old, protected cod (like a groper or hapuku), which would have been well over 100 years old, living on this artificial reef. "Who knows where he came from, as there was no reef there before, but the big fish likes it there!" Northern Queensland is a different kettle of fish, as there is no recreational body or trust. Queensland has strict size restrictions and limits for many species of fish. Some species have no bag limits but significant penalties for poachers who exceed size and quantity limits. Queensland does, to its credit, allow recreational fishing in controlled areas within totally protected zones. The Great Barrier Reef has management zones in different identification colours. Briefly, pink denotes a preservation zone, green a marine national park zone and orange a scientific research zone. Olive green is a buffer zone for nearby heavily protected zones, yellow is a conservation park zone, dark blue is a habitat protection zone and light blue is a general use zone. There are also estuarine conservation zones marked in brown. Also of interest is the fact that in many parts of Australia recreational boats must be registered, with a number along the sides for identification. My brother-in-law says it only costs about $100 a year but this ensures the skipper is conversant with maritime rules of the road and carries lifejackets, oars and so on. If fishing out further than close inshore, an EPIRB emergency locator beacon must be carried and probably a radio. Having identifying numbers also helps when a boat has been stolen. Locals tell me fishery officers are very hard on offenders and show no mercy. With New South Wales and Queensland having different policies regarding the sustainability of fish stocks, my pick is the former has the better regime. The results of having an organisation run by the fishers themselves, with teeth and government recognition, speaks for itself. Protecting areas does have merit, as in Queensland, but what counts is the fish. I am personally very disappointed with fishing in the inshore waters of Queensland, but I will still enjoy fishing for big game beyond the Great Barrier Reef for migratory species and pelagics such as black marlin and giant trevally. In New Zealand we can stand back and observe the good and the bad as seen overseas. The highly regarded quota management system does have its faults, such as not addressing localised depletion and trawler deeming of species that are not targeted. New Zealand needs to get its act in order because the fishing is certainly getting worse. Now is the time for recreational fishers, as well as commercial fishers, to "get their house in order" or else it will be too late. After all, we are talking about a sustainable fishery that is well managed.