no complete ban just a lotta research and discussion with those that are out on the water every week not just those who drop a rope down and go no dhufish here any fish takes a bit of finding what do they think that u go out drop a line and thats a catch why arent they goin out with fisherman not boffins that only thinkl they know!!!

Several people I've talked to say there can be 10 dhuies at one lump, and none 100m away. Come back at a different time, and they could be on the other lump. If you put  a camera on one lump that has fish, then next year do the same thing, if the dhuies have moved lumps then of course you're not going to see many. 

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Always interested in someone to go fishing with

“The thing that is a bit scary about it is we tended to see smaller individuals, so those really big breeders, what they call the big, old fat fecund females, we’re not seeing very many of them.

scares the hell out of me, remebering we are dealing with slow growing fish here, 15kg Jewie is close to 20 years old, when was the last ime anyone saw a Female this big or even a bit smaller, 

Wally 

we see dhues of this size often wally just visit any boat ramp mate

Scientists often dont consider anecdotal (community) information as being very relevant or rather, robust.

The community often consider scientists to be out of touch, or not being able to sample enough to say the things they say.

both have an important role to play in these very important issues.

Scientists find out alot of detail in (usually) small(ish) areas - their research tells us why things are how they are. They research the connections between different species, their habitats, climate change, etc, etc - the mechanics of how the marine environment works, from the cellular level to the broad regional level. But WA is massive, with a small population and a relatively small budget spent on this work - it is impossible to do such fine scale research over such large and remote areas. That is, it is impossible under current funding levels. More is needed - tell your local member.

The community - us, as fishos - have all the information on where things are, and how much. Collectively, we are out there every day - between commercial fishos and recreational fishos, so much information is held about where you find dhuies and other species, when, and how many there are.

The challenge, as I see it, is in marrying the two information sources together. I've seen other posts in other forums here lately, bashing the UWA researchers and the project - let me tell you, this project is vitally important. It is the beginning of new ways to measure the marine environment. However - I have to agree with the principle that some of the conclusions that are being drawn from the research (in the media anyway, which always beats things up) probably need more work to establish properly.

This research - the Securing WA's Marine Futures project - is quite groundbreaking in my opinion - it is mapping habitats and relating them to fish assemblages, which is pretty much a first, at the level of detail they are working, in WA. They also did alot of social research, asking old-timers about the changes they have seen in both the fish stocks and in our usage of them. No surprise that there are less fish and more effort.

It is simple fact, which does not require drop-down cameras to prove, that there are less fish around these days. There are less big fish. Every old person you will talk to will tell you the same. Anybody who has family fishing ties going more than generation back will tell you the same thing. It is wrong to say that because you still see big fish at the boat ramp, that there is not a problem. Of course there are still fish out there, but there are no where near the numbers that naturally occur, without our population and technology to catch them out.

This is simple fact.

Our fish grow slowly, and breed slowly. We catch them faster and faster and more and more with every year and every new bit of technology. With any new research we will find that we are over-fishing them, and that our effort needs to be reigned in. This is not the fault of the researchers making false claims. It is not due to an anti-rec fishing conspiracy. It is because we have taken too many for too long. We just have never known that. Now we are learning it. Better to learn from research than to let the stocks collapse like Shark Bay snapper or Cockburn Sound crab.

If it wasnt for pressure against such changes/restrictions, they would have been instigated in the past and perhaps less drastically. Because people always complain and lobby against them, it comes to a crunch like this, where bans get talked about.

The proposed management changes - the 50% reduction etc - have not come from this one peice of research. They come from many different sources, created by many different people who spend all day every day learning and thinking about this problem.

If you can go fishing and catch your bag of dhuies - good on you, you are in the top 10% of people who go fishing. The shame is that 90% of people used to be able to do that. And they did it from row-boats without GPS or echo sounders.

We should be able to find a way that we can work with the scientists and fisheries managers, tell them what we know, in a way that they can include it in their deliberations. But it is not that there are shltloads of fish out there and there is no problem. It is not that they are full of shlt and we dont believe them. It is that we all have different parts to play in the common problem that we face.

There is a problem, fisheries around the world are collapsing, 90% of the worlds big fish have been caught. WA is a little oasis of biodiversity and fish numbers - we should guard this jealously, and self-regulate so that we can maintain this forever. I think we are on the cusp.

 Ewan

With all the adverse comments being directed against the recreational fishery,and these so called experts making dire warnings about the collapse of v5 and more so Dhu fish,why don't we pressure the minister to impose a period of 4 months December Jan,Feb,March for all fisheries,not just the recreational s but the commercial charter operators and the pros wet line fishers as well,do this for the next 5 years,and then see if the stokes have improved,as it is ,they will blame the recreational s,for having bigger boats,motors, gps and sounders,and the government,being the weekend SOB's they are will fold to the commercial lobby ,just like they did with the Labor ministers proposal,remember first it was a ban ,then the pros were going to be allowed to fish,we are to fragmented to be able to represent our selves,nor can we afford the high cost of paying advisers.so I reckon beat the B--ts and make a public statement but with a total exclusion of all fishing as the base for the period of what seems to be the important breeding time,.this is for 4 months,and for 5 years,we and the fish can only gain,my view including the SOB comment jersey

we see dhues of this size often wally just visit any boat ramp mate

Talking big Females here Fishcrazy not males

Wally

seen plenty of both wally

Why not have a max size limit as with other species ? so u cant take home any duh above what 80cm ? or so ? that would keep the breeders in play ?