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By Product Of Large Trawlers


OWZAT

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G`day Fellas ,

Found this on another site , and I have say that although I have known about this practice for Yonks , I think its about time the BI Catch from these large vessels was put to some sort of use.

I remember some time ago , there was a story on the same subject where the BI catch trail was 4 kilometers long , and 1/2 Kilm wide .

Surely this is a gross waste of precious resources.

Mick

http://media.seven.net.au/asxgen/video/060..._fish_h.wmv.asx

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Guest bluecod

Problem is Mick that once they are allowed to profit from catch outside what their licences allow, they will target those species to the detriment of the fishery as a whole. But I agree, it is a total waste to leave them rotting.

I can see two obvious solutions - either ban the commercial fishery as a whole, or

let them sell the bycatch to the Australian fresh seafood market only - this will force local prices down and will either force the commercial fishery to develop new equipment that reduces the bycatch and/or streamline the industry by removing unprofitable practises/fishers.

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G`day Felllas ,

Hi Bluey , as I see it , when you multiply this incident by the thousands of Trawlers ( River and Sea ) plugging away 24/7 , the bycatch becomes enormous , so I belive something just has to be done.

Most trawlers are set up to target a specific species , and as they don`t always catch their quota , why can`t they keep and sell the bycatch , rather than dumping it overboard .

Of course , if a trawler set up for prawning , began turning up with unrealistic catches of different species claimed as being bycatch , then the punishment should be severe.

Now obviously , because the gauge of their nets are much smaller , it`s the prawn trawlers that do most of the damage .

Surely in this day and age , they can make a better mose trap than the current one.

And I`m also sure the commercial sea food market would love to have the buisness as well .

Mick

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Some time back I was watching a show on professional trawling and in that show they stated that since the early 60’s the Russians have had a square mesh net that allows small fish to escape; where as a triangular mesh captures every thing. I know that using a square mesh wont stop all the waste but it would be a help.

Edited by kikila
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It would be interesting for some one to test the fish on the beach to see if they all died within a few hours of each other, I'm guessing they didnt. That's a lot of by catch for just one occassion, I'm guessing most of it was frozen and thawed prior to being dumped.

They are out there every day but you dont see tons of dead fish every day of the week, but just now with all the public interest on imported polluted catfish, all this top grade fish ends up dead on a very popular beach. Just a bit too coincidental for me.

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G`day Fellas ,

Yeah Hi Tweakie ,

I Cant see a Trawler skipper double handling bycatch ( Freezing then Storing ) , especially when most of them have a minimum staff.

I think this event mainly happened because they were close in , and as such , the bycatch washed up quickly , whereas out wide , pelagics, birds, sharks , and all types of predators feed off the Bycatch when shovelled over the side.

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Freezing/ thawing/ dumping bycatch would be very little effort when considering the big $$$ that would be gained by selling all the bycatch. Six months ago it wouldnt have been worth the effort as there was no publicity surrounding imported fish. But the polluted metung catfish have been prominent in all forms of media over the past few weeks, so this is the prime time to cash in on it. You get public outrage at wasted local fish and the pollies will sit up and listen and the pros know this. There is no better way to get the regulations changed.

The publicity gained from every kg of fish on that beach is worth 10 times that of every kg they keep for sale.

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