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Would you report?


Brew

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Hi raiders,

This morning I went for a walk and came across a little old lady probably in her 70s fishing off Avoca lake wharf. 

We had a good chat and she seemed quite nice. 

She was using a handline and clearly knew how to fish. 

First cast she catches a bream at about 22cm and she keeps it. 

I think little old lady I'll let it slide. 

A few casts later she catches a bream about 10cm. She tells me how good the little bream are fried in butter. 

I told her that they need to be 25cm and she says she knows and slides it into her bucket when she thought I wasn't looking. 

Then comes the dilemma. Do I report a little old lady?

I walk for a while to consider. 

I then decide that no doubt she would keep an undersized flathead, founder, jewfish (although I don't think I have ever seen one caught in the lake), etc.

In the end I decided to report however I feel a bit bad. If it was a bunch of blocks I wouldn't think twice so where is the line?

Would you report?

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Hi Brew,

Had similar situation with a family a few days ago catching and bagging two undersized bream (the larger of which would have been 19cm). I pointed it out to them that they were undersized and they responded that they knew they were. There were some slightly heated words but there are advantages to being six foot plus. They angrily threw them back in the water. A short while later they caught a snapper which I would have called at 23cm and certainly not legal. They sneakily bagged it, packed up and left the area I was fishing (silver lining).

I would have reported them as they wouldn't take the hint the first time. The challenge is to whom do you report it? It is not exactly a streamlined process or a number you can call. Have a look at the Fisheries website reporting form.

Short answer is yes I probably would but too much hassle to do so. I believe to retain fishing privileges I think we need to self-regulate behaviour (leaving rubbish, undersized, noise) to a degree but I'm not getting into a fight over it.

Regards,

D.

Edited by DerekD
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Absolutely report her. Better still get a photo of her and her car rego number.

You did the right thing asking her if she knew the rules. 

You can be as sneaky as the crooks are, play dumb, be sneaky with the camera, find out their name and address, pretend like you break the laws as well. Playing the role of enforcement officer is dangerous - even a little old lady could own a gun - you just never know.

I’ve made a few reports now of people keeping undersized Jews, bream and illegal crab trapping. The number is 1800 043 536. I now have the local fisheries compliance officers mobile number and email address (she’s based out of ourimbah campus). 

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a few years ago I had the unfortunate pleasure of watchin a group of fisherman of Asian descent..im not racist just being factual..they had two buckets of undersize bream.reds.tarwhine.off a wharf in front of Swansea rsl..I talked with them about it being illegal..they didn't care..i rang and rang local fisheries..no answer..my mate and I are both bearded tattooed hard cases so we took it upon ourselves to kick their buckets over and release the small fish back into the channel..they kicked up a stink.but when I informed them I had rung fisheries and given descriptions of their cars and regos  and the fact that we could kick their arse they opted to leave..fisheries informed me they booked them later that evening on blacksmiths breakwall with undersize and over the limit of tailer...we were happy...I wouldn't recommend this course of action for the average fisho.but.we had it under control and could handle the consequences.....sik the fisheries on her if shes an habitual offender..if she knows the size limits and defies it.how many times has she done it  how many times will she do it ???????rick

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1 hour ago, rickmarlin62 said:

a few years ago I had the unfortunate pleasure of watchin a group of fisherman of Asian descent..im not racist just being factual..they had two buckets of undersize bream.reds.tarwhine.off a wharf in front of Swansea rsl..I talked with them about it being illegal..they didn't care..i rang and rang local fisheries..no answer..my mate and I are both bearded tattooed hard cases so we took it upon ourselves to kick their buckets over and release the small fish back into the channel..they kicked up a stink.but when I informed them I had rung fisheries and given descriptions of their cars and regos  and the fact that we could kick their arse they opted to leave..fisheries informed me they booked them later that evening on blacksmiths breakwall with undersize and over the limit of tailer...we were happy...I wouldn't recommend this course of action for the average fisho.but.we had it under control and could handle the consequences.....sik the fisheries on her if shes an habitual offender..if she knows the size limits and defies it.how many times has she done it  how many times will she do it ???????rick

It's actually funny you say that I was in exact same spot a couple of years ago and might have seen the same blokes but they were even sneakier they were filling buckets and putting them in their boot maybe they learnt from the whole kicking the buckets over haha... Wonder hey

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I had an experience today on the harbour. A boat pulled in a tiny rat king, 40cm. Didn't put it back. Pretending to be nice I said 'hey what did you catch', they said a king fish and showed me. I said that's undersized needs to be 65. They said a non genuine thanks & finally put it back in the water. I don't believe they didn't know size limits of the fish they were targeting.

 

 

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I hate seeing people keep undersize or excess fish, really annoys me.

ive often though if only fisheries would take on free volunteers.

give the people who actually care a bit of power to do something about it.

is this a pipe dream or would it be possible?

id happily keep an eye out when I’m fishing.

 

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2 hours ago, Hooked-Up said:

So frustrating calling fisheries and having them say, no worries mate it’s been documented.

i answer so is someone going to head over to check it out and every time the response is the same.

theres no one on duty in that area at the moment lol

We can't blame Fisheries officers for being realistic about their inability to catch these people. There aren't enough of them to keep up with the irresponsible element who believe they have the right to do as they please when it comes to rules and regulations. The amount of disregard for rules, where I live, is entrenched in the generational mentality of some people. I'm sure Fisheries are trying to make a difference with the resources that they have. We should report to them and trust that they are doing what they can, when they can. bn

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26 minutes ago, big Neil said:

We can't blame Fisheries officers for being realistic about their inability to catch these people. There aren't enough of them to keep up with the irresponsible element who believe they have the right to do as they please when it comes to rules and regulations. The amount of disregard for rules, where I live, is entrenched in the generational mentality of some people. I'm sure Fisheries are trying to make a difference with the resources that they have. We should report to them and trust that they are doing what they can, when they can. bn

For sure Neil I agree, I respect the officers and they do a great job with the resource they have.

the problem is they almost may aswell not exist as there’s so few of them, that’s why I think we could help as official volunteers.

Not sure on details of how it would work.

 

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14 hours ago, Brew said:

It's easy to report. Download the NSW fishsmart app and under contacts you can report by phone or by the online form. 

Hi Brew,

I have seen the online form but the amount of work to get photos, licence plates, details cuts into fishing time..... :lol:

Realistically, unless you have them on film doing it at the time or get the authorities to catch them red-handed I wouldn't exactly call it solid proof. In the case of the family I mentioned taking the undersized snapper it was on a Sydney wharf in direct view of their CCTV.

Regards,

Derek

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5 hours ago, Hooked-Up said:

For sure Neil I agree, I respect the officers and they do a great job with the resource they have.

the problem is they almost may aswell not exist as there’s so few of them, that’s why I think we could help as official volunteers.

Not sure on details of how it would work.

 

Like any "law enforcement" group Fisheries run the gauntlet every day they are working. Many people who openly choose to break the rules aren't going to be put off by a very slight possibility that they may get caught. I definitely wouldn't want to be given authority to tackle these people as a civilian angler. I take your point though that there are an awful lot of wrongdoers impacting on an already dwindling resource...maybe some people would do the job, if it were an option. Highly unlikely to happen though with the current climate of people requiring employers to be totally responsible for their welfare. It would be an interesting exercise to find out how many Fisheries officers there are in NSW and what their "workload" is, in terms of area they are responsible for. Indirectly we are all "unofficial Fisheries Inspectors" at present with our prerogative to REPORT illegal activity...MAYBE if everybody jumped on board and reported every infraction they witnessed, things could slowly change. Once again though it would be down to the official Fisheries Inspectors to follow it through. Therein lies the problem...how much money does the NSW Government put towards the problem? Cheers, bn

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I was at The Entrance about 2 yrs late in the afternoon waiting to go prawning and the Fisheries came on and a guy was fishing and keeping small fish, I did not say anything as I seen the Fisheries coming along and checking.

When they spoke to and put him on a warning I then ask what had happened did they fine him, he said just a warning, I asked do you know the size limit he said he didn't worrying about it so he told me to P#### Off. I said it was people like him who it hard for genuine people who do the right thing as the Fisheries are only doing their job.

Sometimes you just cant win with people.

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On 31/12/2017 at 5:15 PM, rickmarlin62 said:

a few years ago I had the unfortunate pleasure of watchin a group of fisherman of Asian descent..im not racist just being factual..they had two buckets of undersize bream.reds.tarwhine.off a wharf in front of Swansea rsl..I talked with them about it being illegal..they didn't care..i rang and rang local fisheries..no answer..my mate and I are both bearded tattooed hard cases so we took it upon ourselves to kick their buckets over and release the small fish back into the channel..they kicked up a stink.but when I informed them I had rung fisheries and given descriptions of their cars and regos  and the fact that we could kick their arse they opted to leave..fisheries informed me they booked them later that evening on blacksmiths breakwall with undersize and over the limit of tailer...we were happy...I wouldn't recommend this course of action for the average fisho.but.we had it under control and could handle the consequences.....sik the fisheries on her if shes an habitual offender..if she knows the size limits and defies it.how many times has she done it  how many times will she do it ???????rick

Curious question, you say your not being racist but in the context of relaying your story to others who are reading what purpose does it serve to indicate their race other than to simply let everyone know they were asian? 

good on you for taking a stand sometimes arrogance and ignorance needs to be dealt with that way.

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Interesting topic...... 

i would definitely report her. Lets look at this the other way around. An old lady doesnt stop at a give way sign, she knows she should stop but chooses not to. She causes a car crash which injures or possibly kills someone.

the moral of the story is that rules are in place for a reason,  in this case the sustainability of our fish stocks and environment. Our environment is affected whether it is a young person or a frail old lady. Especially if they knew the rules and chose not to follow them

Edited by GoingFishing
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1 minute ago, Omally said:

No use putting a report up without all the facts but in ricks defence.... 

Wow,ok, In that case, what fishing rods and bait were they using ? How old were they ?

Point...... some facts are useless and do not contribute to the discussion at hand

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