Sydney harbour ban

[tonyd]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/ban-fishing-in-harbour-experts/2006/01/24/1137864869961.html

An anouncement due today.

[sydfish]

Yep the pros are out of the harbour, catch and release fishing only, recos recommended to to eat fish only once a month. This should improve our catch and release fishing heaps.

[plfishfingers1]

Hi
That article is very disturbing in regards to The Marine Park issue.
When I used to work for a charter operator in Sydney Harbour many years ago it was noted back then that catching bream and taking them home for a feed was a risk. When they placed the ban on taking fish west of The Gadesville Bridge we noted, that fish dont read. The fish that were west of the bridge will travel east of the bridge at some stage of their lives. When caught by anglers and eaten the problem begins. The other problem that was always there was the other traveling species that become affected as well.
Bream are eaten by many other fish and that also passes on the Dioxins to these fish.
It was noted back in the mid 90's that flathead, whiting, flounder, crabs, mullet, luderick and jewfish will all have readings of the unwanted Dioxins. But as government departments dont like to show the public their short comings the whole situation was buried and never to be mentioned again.
Now its been uncovered again the government now wants to ban all fishing in the harbour, what a joke. The only thing this will do is actually let the dioxins be spread up the food chain even quicker.
They will no doubt find that Middle Harbour will have the cleanest fish in the harbour. The fish in Middle Harbour that have Dioxins will be sharks and the resident kingie population. These bigger kingfish are the ones that cruise the harbour in winter and do eat anything that moves. The sharks in question are Bull Sharks. These guys are the ones that attack the canoes up around Drummoyne. These sharks of course prefer dirty water and of course west of The Gladesville Bridge would be their hunting grounds as will Middle Harbour.
The answer to the problem is not to make it a Marine Park but to make the Harbour a catch and release waterway only.
This will mean that fisheries officers would have to be employed and that any fish that are caught in the ocean must be tagged by an officer at the Heads before it can be taken back into the harbour. This would also mean that officers would have to be at the boat ramps almost 24/7 checking all fish.
None of the above ravings will happen in the near future. The government wont take action on something that they are liable for. By banning fishing in the harbour they will be admitting guilt and Pandoras Box will be open to sue the crap out of them. Instead I think they will be saying that everything is alright and anglers will have to be careful of the species that are kept. They will also say this highlights the dangers of keeping of finned fishes west of The Gladesville Bridge.
Within Months I think they will make it west of The Harbour Bridge.
All the best
plfishfingers

[tonyd]

It was just announced on the radio that there will be an intrim 3 month ban on commercial fishing. No mention of rec fishing

[tonyd]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Seafood-consumers-dont-need-testing/2006/01/24/1138066771546.html

[matty]

what are all your thoughts on this?? i reguarly fish the harbour and have eaten a fair few fish from there.. the quality of fishing in the harbour is much better than in the h/bury and bobbin head as i have found (well i havnt been there for a while!) but just wondering what you all think. and also maybe u can prove me wrong about the h/bury and surrounding areas as i havnt had much luck there (yep it has been a while since i was there!)

[neilm]

This sounds like even more pressure could now be put on Pittwater & the Hawkesbury, as I am told by the DPI in response to one of my letters (I got the letter yesterday) that "recently the fishery has been assessed under State and Commonwealth legislation and deemed to be operating in a sustainable manner."

I will post the whole response up soon (I'll have to scan it) but in short my understanding is that they will not be doing anything and I quote again "As such, the NSW Government does not intend to introduce additional recreational fishing havens."

Presumably this is more labour pandering to the greens.