Tuggerah Lakes

[Koalaboi]

Hi,

Up here on the Central Coast there's a bit of a theory going down that since the closure of Lake Macquarie to commercail fishing, many displced pros are netting in Tuggerah Lakes. I've noticed myself a drop in the numbers of fish and crabs being taken but was wondering if there is any truth to the theory.

I am interested to do some research on the numbers of professional fisherman fishing in the Tuggerah Lakes system and how much they are taking from the Lakes.

Can anyone suggest where I could begin looking?

Thanks,

KB

[Testlab]

I used to live at Killarney Vale. If you want to watch the pros in the lake then get up around sunrise and take a walk along the path that runs around the southern shoreline. You will see several boats there netting the edge of the drop off for prawns and anything else that comes along.

The other place I used to see them quite a lot is in the main lake off the northern arm of the Ourimbah Creek channel. The side that has the transmission aerials and about 300-500m north. There is a reef (for want of a better description) running north from the cardinal marker and four or five boats fish there together.

I noted a marked increase the number of boats fishing the lake professionally after they closed Lake Macquarie. If I recall correctly it is possible to lend or rent pro licenses between one another. So previously one pro might fish the lake one or two days a week only but now I think they lend/rent the license to others for the days they don't use it. So the lake is being overfished, probably legally and within the license quota but overfished nonetheless. Tuggerah Lake is definitely suffering from a serious decline in recent years.

Some of the lake pros sell from their backyards in the local area and from what I've seen on offer the fish catch is not worth the effort so I guess prawns must be the targeted species.

[Koalaboi]

I used to live at Killarney Vale. If you want to watch the pros in the lake then get up around sunrise and take a walk along the path that runs around the southern shoreline. You will see several boats there netting the edge of the drop off for prawns and anything else that comes along.

The other place I used to see them quite a lot is in the main lake off the northern arm of the Ourimbah Creek channel. The side that has the transmission aerials and about 300-500m north. There is a reef (for want of a better description) running north from the cardinal marker and four or five boats fish there together.

I noted a marked increase the number of boats fishing the lake professionally after they closed Lake Macquarie. If I recall correctly it is possible to lend or rent pro licenses between one another. So previously one pro might fish the lake one or two days a week only but now I think they lend/rent the license to others for the days they don't use it. So the lake is being overfished, probably legally and within the license quota but overfished nonetheless. Tuggerah Lake is definitely suffering from a serious decline in recent years.

Some of the lake pros sell from their backyards in the local area and from what I've seen on offer the fish catch is not worth the effort so I guess prawns must be the targeted species.

Thanks,

I used to ride daily to work from Toowoon bay to berkeley vale along the lake and saw plenty of pros.

I reckon the fishing has seriously declined over just the last few years. Towns like The Entrance and Toukley depend on tourism and nearly everyone who comes here wants to catch a fish. I would really like to see the lakes closed to pros to allow stocks to rejuvenate and get the amateur fishing back on a better footing. I don't think a case can be made without hard facts and I don't know where to go to get the evidence.

KB

[Catchin Jack]

Try local co-op at Gorokan and Tacoma, a bit goes there, the rest goes directly to Sydney Fish Markets.

[Noodles]

My father returned from Qld 2 years ago and bought on the waterfront at Gorokan. He tells me that the pros are netting in front of his home on a very regular and extensive basis. There are several boats who gather in that corner and run their nets all the way from the point down to the Club there and essentially take everything. Thet spend hours sometimes going through the catch and the pelicans know exactly what is going on and follow them around the lake to clean up on bycatch.

No doubt they are maily catching mullet, blackfish and probably some bream and flathead as well. There was also a recent roadside dumping of over 500 kg of Luderick at Cooranbong recently. These fish were probably illegally netted in Lake Macquarie.