BENIFITS OF A QUALITY SOUNDER

A SOUNDER THAT DELIVERS A POWER OUTPUT OF 300 WATTS OR BETTER WILL ALLOW YOU NOT ONY TO FIND FISH BUT TO FIND THE STRUCTURE THEY CONGREGATE ON

IT WILL ALSO ALLOW  YOU TO DETERMINE THE TYPE OF BOTTOM YOU ARE FISHING SUCH AS MUD GRAVEL HEAVY CUNJE OR ROCK

THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL A SOUNDER HAS IS THE GUY OR GAL PRESSING THE BUTTONS

PRACTICE AND A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR SOUNDER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL A SOUNDER HAS AND IF YOU ARE UNSURE OF HOW TO USE YOUR SOUNDER PROPERLY JOIN THE FORUMS AND ASK

The protection of mako sharks under the EPBC act as of 29^th January 2010

Is it Justified in Australian waters or an over reaction due to poor policy definition within our EPBC act

Firstly what is the EPBC act (the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999)

The governmental description is as follows

 The Environment Protection and

Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) is the Australian Government’s central piece of environmental legislation. The EPBC Act provides a legal framework to protect and manage nationally and internationally important flora, fauna, ecological communities and heritage places — defined in the Act as matters of national environmental significance. Listed migratory species are one of the matters of national environmental significance.

On the 5^th of December 2008, 4 species of shark were added to the Conservation of migratory species act (CMS) act which is an international treaty act of which Australia is a signatory (also known as the Bonn Convention)

The sharks were the porebeagle the long finned mako the short finned mako and the spiney dogfish

The spiney dogfish application was only for northern hemisphere

All sharks were added to Appendix11 of the treaty

Appendix I of the Convention lists migratory species in danger of extinction, while Appendix II lists species suffering from unfavorable conservation status and would benefit from international cooperation.

In Victorian game fishing circles there are realistically the following species to target

Southern bluefin tuna and albacore (normally only caught from Warrnambool to the west and long range offshore) kingfish and the following sharks Common thresher, Bronze whaler, and Short finned mako with the Mako shark being the most common game fish encountered in the state and the only one realistically within reach of most metropolitan  anglers

It is also in my opinion the best eating of the above species

So now some facts about mako sharks in Australian waters

It is proven using both historical tagging data and pop up satellite data the Mako sharks in and around Australian waters do not migrate to the northern hemisphere and do not migrate east west inter ocean

Whilst makos tagged in Australia and New Zealand have travelled between both countries and up and down the Australian coast they do not fall into the CMS description of migratory species

The CMS description is as follows

Species included in this analysis appear, on the basis of current information, to fall under the definition given in Article I of CMS i.e. “the entire population or any geographically separate part of the population of any species or lower tax on of wild animals, a significant proportion of whose members cyclically and predictably cross one or more national jurisdictional boundaries”.

For the purposes of migratory marine species, national jurisdictional boundaries are taken to include not just national boundaries between States, but also the boundaries between the high seas (those that do not fall under the jurisdiction of any State) and States’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) or territorial waters (where no EEZ as been declared).

Under this definition:

i) The word “cyclically” in the phrase “cyclically and predictably” relates to a cycle of any nature, such as astronomical (circadian, annual etc.), life or climatic, and of any frequency.

ii) The word “predictably” in the phrase “cyclically and predictably” implies that a phenomenon can be anticipated to recur in a given set of circumstances, though not necessarily regularly in time.

iii) National jurisdictional boundaries include national land and territorial sea borders, and the outer 200mile EEZ boundary of each nation where this has been declared.

In excess of 11500 mako sharks have been tagged in Australian waters and currently it is only a rarity that these sharks have ever been recaptured outside Australian waters

The South Australian Research and Development institute have been undertaking a pop up satellite tagging program of mako sharks for just over 2 years now and it clearly shows there is NO set pattern as per the description if migratory listed above (predictable patterns)

Some of these sharks have been transmitting for in excess of 600 days 

Economically figures just released by VR fish show Victorians spend 2.7 billion dollars annually on recreational fishing and a large proportion of this is on Game fishing. This will put a huge dent into the retail tackle trade and charter boat trade in Victoria South Australia Tasmania and New South Wales

4 major sanctioned game fishing tournaments in Victoria alone will be cancelled as the target species will no longer be legal to target

In New South Wales the Geoff Woolley Monster Mako Tournament will also be cancelled and that is approximately 50 research tags in that 1 tournament alone that will not be used

Danny Standing from the Bass Strait Game Fishing Club last year won the prestigious “MOST TAGGED SHARKS AUSTRALIA” trophy with all of his tagged fish coming from Victorian waters

Well Known marine Biologist DR Julian Pepperell was quoted in the Daily Telegraph saying

"There is a fishing competition in Sydney which sees more than 50 makos tagged and released each year," he said. "I suspect they're as common as they ever were off NSW."

So the questions Remain

Because the Australian EPBC act does not differentiate between appendix1 and appendix11 on the CMS list we as a nation are forced to list the species as fully protected in Commonwealth waters.

Is this just and “in Australia’s best interests”

Are mako sharks in Australian Waters Migratory or do they swim randomly following a food source

The Government release says they can still be taken professionally on long lines if they are dead when bought to the boat and fall under section 13 of the act allowing up to 20 per trip as a “BYCATCH” but is a recreational angler accidentally hooks one and it dies or is injured during the fight it must be cut off and allowed to sink

A Recreational angle cannot target them outside 3 NM from the state coastline but inside that area it is still legal

Therefore anglers can start a burley trail inside this 3 NM limit and fish for them????  That might make swimming in ocean beaches interesting

The Biggest question is “Are mako sharks in Australian waters under as bigger threat as they are internationally and will blanket protecting them from Recreational fishing in Australian waters assist in the re stocking of them in the Mediterranean sea and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere

Another feature to be aware of is there are only a select few countries bound by this treaty and it should be noted that the U.S.A. Japan China Indonesia, Malaysia and most of the pacific Island countries are not affected at all by this CMS Decision

In My opinion we should be pressing world wide for a total ban on the practice of finning sharks at sea and in fact this barbaric practice is only banned by 19 countries world wide but recreational fishing for makos will be banned by 96  Only 96 of the world 195 countries are party to the Bonn convention

In My opinion We should have a provision in our EPBC act to allow for appendix 11 listed species

In my opinion short finned mako sharks (the most prolific of the 3 species listed) should be made exempt in Commonwealth waters under Section a303 of the act

The other 2 species are not a common target species for Recreational or Professional fishermen in Australian waters and it would not be detrimental to have those 2 species listed

Has the Hon MR Peter Garret and the Department of Environment Water and The Arts over reacted to be seen as Green internationally

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GETTING YOUR KIDS INTO FISHING

 

 Surprising as it may seem, we (blokes) are not the only ones who seek peace and solitude on the week end. We may find our peace and solitude in the maddening crowds at the ramps and roads and on our waterways, whilst our other halves (or so I am told) crave 5 minutes peace and quiet to themselves.

Imagine sitting down on the couch on a spring or summers morning channel surfing in the peace and quiet or fishing for those adrenalin pumping snapper or the wily whiting or sitting on a riverbank chasing bream

 

A few years back I was packing the boat on a Friday night getting it ready for an early start on Port Phillip Bay chasing the November snapper run. The wife pops out with a coffee and says “hey I wouldn’t mind going shopping tomorrow why don’t you take the kids and I will meet you ant Frankston pier for lunch”

Hang on a minute how the bloody hell am I going to get the kids up at 3 in the morning and bundled into the car, then out of the car and into the boat, ??????

Then again I started fishing at 5 years of age and my girls had fished in rivers and dams and had been in the boat, how hard can it be

So I asked the girls hey wanna come fishin with dear old dad in the morning, you can sleep on the couch tonight and I will get you up bright and early

So My kids packed food and drink for themselves and for me (no fruit at all in case it’s a distant relative of a banana) into the boat and at 3am I got them up and off we went

 

The look on my daughters face when she caught her first snapper was priceless to say the least and even my youngest had a blast getting amongst them too but to me the most rewarding thing was their enthusiasm and the smiles on their faces

Granted it was a perfect day on PPB but many days haven’t been and they still enjoy it

Whether its catching whiting or gummies or sitting on the banks of a high country trout stream they like their fishing

Now they are a bit older maybe they don’t come out as much as they used to or I meet them at lunchtime for a ski or a wakeboard (after I have fished first light with the wife)

 

Now getting your kids involved at first means keeping it simple and fish like pinkies and flatties are a good place to start. Even large snapper are reasonably good to get kids hooked on but remember to keep it interesting

Be prepared for a bit of line twist from reels wound whilst line is peeling and be prepared for tangles etc but most of this goes away after 2 or 3 trips

Most of all let them enjoy it and encourage them constantly

Simple rods and reels (even ones Santa can bring) their own life jackets (a must) and a good healthy lesson on taking only what you need and releasing undersize fish will stand them in good stead and you can bet their children, and their children’s children, will thank you.

And I bet the wife will too