Southern Gharfish ban
Local beach fishers in southern Western Australia are still banned from catching the Southern Gharfish (SG). I support bans when needed and this one is needed, but continue to reiterate that the SG is difficult to release when caught as a by catch to our usual Herring fishing forays.
I was told by a Fisheries Dept person that if I caught an SG and had to kill it to get the deeply embedded hook out that I should have just cut the line as close to the hook as possible and released the fish back into the water. In my view the fish would soon have died with the hook in its throat, apart from the fact that in handling the SG it releases all its scales. On this occasion I did not put the dead fish into the water as people sometimes swim in that section of the beach and I am not in the business of encouraging dangerous predators to come into swimming areas for dead whole fish. I placed the dead SG deep into the sandhill vegetation which is far from the waterline. I would not leave the beach with the dead fish as this would be in contravention of the ban which by the way is in place until around 2022.
I must use longer shanked hooks so that it is easier to get the hook out of the SG's throat. However that might or might not work as SG's regularly take the hook deep into their throaty before they let you know they are on your line. Also descaled SG's are possibly more susceptible to disease once released back into the ocean.
I still think the best solution is to allow we Herring beach fishers to keep the two or three SG'S that we might catch as by catch. Under this policy it would be our responsibility to stop fishing if there SG's were regularly getting to the hook before the Herring as I experienced not so long ago. I managed to release the 7 large SG's that I had caught and at that point stopped fishing as the Herring could not get a look in.
May the Force be with us in continuing to provide the fruits of the sea. I feel that Force each time I fish off the beach specially around dawn.
GD
I was told by a Fisheries Dept person that if I caught an SG and had to kill it to get the deeply embedded hook out that I should have just cut the line as close to the hook as possible and released the fish back into the water. In my view the fish would soon have died with the hook in its throat, apart from the fact that in handling the SG it releases all its scales. On this occasion I did not put the dead fish into the water as people sometimes swim in that section of the beach and I am not in the business of encouraging dangerous predators to come into swimming areas for dead whole fish. I placed the dead SG deep into the sandhill vegetation which is far from the waterline. I would not leave the beach with the dead fish as this would be in contravention of the ban which by the way is in place until around 2022.
I must use longer shanked hooks so that it is easier to get the hook out of the SG's throat. However that might or might not work as SG's regularly take the hook deep into their throaty before they let you know they are on your line. Also descaled SG's are possibly more susceptible to disease once released back into the ocean.
I still think the best solution is to allow we Herring beach fishers to keep the two or three SG'S that we might catch as by catch. Under this policy it would be our responsibility to stop fishing if there SG's were regularly getting to the hook before the Herring as I experienced not so long ago. I managed to release the 7 large SG's that I had caught and at that point stopped fishing as the Herring could not get a look in.
May the Force be with us in continuing to provide the fruits of the sea. I feel that Force each time I fish off the beach specially around dawn.
GD
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