yeah what tom said

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Breathing is such a natural and integral part of life that we take it for granted, freedivers cant afford to do this...

A bit of column A, a bit of cloumn B...

I accept that the licensing system is probably necessary, however, I think there should be far more consultation as to WHERE it is spend, and far more accountability to report where the MAJORITY of it actually goes. Does it go into rec fishing project or does it just end up in the pockets of marketing firms to 'say' that it is being spent well?

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That's where I saw the leprechaun. He tells me to burn things...

Pretyt sure they have meetings to discuss where the money goes and no one rocks up.

Yes, they do have public input. South posted up the details but I was the only spearo there in a room full of linos. If you don't get off your arse and go to things like this you can't expect spearos to get much.

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WARNING: CONTAINS CARROT

If your referring to me......... read what i first posted before calling me all that stuff mate I do have a licence now all I asked was if people had a licence because I know alot of people take the risk without one which included myself. Just wanted to get peoples opinions and see if anyone has copped anything for not having one....and by people sharing there expierences on here might make those that dont have one think twice and go get one.

edit......and i dont see how i would be giving everyone a bad name some people need there head checked. If you want to freely say on here that you dont have one go ahead if you dont then dont post not very hard is it!

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I MAKE FISH DISSA-SPEAR!

LOL @ this thread.

I have a fishing licence, actually i have 3. One in my spearing box, one in the glove box of the car and one in the boat ...

yeah i think this is stupid...

think about it.. you said a hell of alot of the funding goes into trout.... but one of the main purposes of that is to benifit rec fishermen. so yes it does go into rec fishing.

also yes i do agree that spearos should benifit coz it would be nice, but you gotta be realistic about it. the government tries to benifit majority groups rather than minority groups. the difference numbers of line fisho's compared to spearo's is huge.
and its not like we dont get any benifit, for example they just put in 3 artificial reefs if you dont remember, so thats just one example of salt water fisho's and spearo's benifiting from the money they gain.

like even if they hire more fishery officers, in my opinion that would be great, because we indirectly benifit from that. the more officers = less people that will be tempted to break the law = bigger and more fish, crays, shellfish etc = happy spearo's

and claymore as for my point before, whether you take your boat out and drive down to the peninsular in your car is your option. all i was saying is that you can get to the beach for around $10 and if its a good day you probably would have caught enough to cover your ticket and your licence.

I'm just in a bad mood cos I got bogged at Rye boat ramp for a good half hour, meanwhile having to help another couple of blokes in/out (then getting stuck on the way out because sand has filled in sections of the boating channel). To get the car out I basically had to dig all the sand from under the car with one of the paddles in the boat. Fisheries wont fix it because its council run, council wont fix it because they dont have to (they earn money whether you launch at rye, sorrento or tootgarook).

Licenses were sold to us as being some sort of 'trust fund' to benefit recreational fishing, the insinuation being; we will catch more fish and have better fishing facilities. First and foremost this would be done by getting rid of pros in our most popular waterways. Quite simply this has not been the case, instead it is just another tax. Granted a it is a fairly small one, but they all add up when you consider the amount of money going to governments as a direct result of fishing; GST on gear and bait, fuel excise, launching fees, rego on boat/trailer, boat license fees, fees to enter the national park if you use the back beaches, etc.

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That's where I saw the leprechaun. He tells me to burn things...

Jeees, get away from the computer for a few days and look what happens!



What facilities do you want? Be specific.



And Lethal and I went tot he Torquay meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to find out what then public wanted to improve recreational fishing. Which of the forums did you go to Claymore?



See above. And if you didn't know, some of the licence money funds VRFish (www.vrfish.com.au) who are Victoria's recreational fishing peak body, and they do all sorts of stuff including trying to improve facilities such as boat ramps. This organisation has a few payed staff, but a lot of the work is done by dedicated volunteers that have jobs, families etc but give up their time to improve recreational fishing in Victoria.



The fishing seems pretty good to me (apart from squid), many would argue that it has been better than the recent past (eg kingies, snapper).



A dead fish is a dead fish. Recreationals catch more snapper in the Bay than commercials!

LOL i thought I'd livin up the site a bit get a few people goin hahah

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I MAKE FISH DISSA-SPEAR!

First and foremost, I would like to see free public boat ramps and fishing channels that you can actually access PPB from without getting bogged or grounded. I would also like to see expanded mooring facilities, ever tried to launch at 7-9am during the school holidays? I would like fish cleaning tables and bin facilities at all public boat ramps (and piers). I would like to see ALL marine parks marked with buoys and signage if they are bound by land. I would like to see more enforcement re abalone poaching and scrapping of this ridiculous 60 days for central waters.

I have very little experience to determine whether the fishing is getting better or worse compared to years ago, however I suggest you take a trip over to Port Albert after the pros have been through. Also I think you will find that the situation in the bay is quite different if you look at captures of whiting and flathead. I would also like to see greater representation for rec fishos opposed to pros in policy making (will become a very big issue soon with regards to SBT). I have been fishing Bermagui for a long time(admittedly in NSW, but also on a license system) and have basically seen fish disappear over the last 12-15 years or so (not just marlin and tuna, but flathead, morwong, snapper and the likes as well). I guess PPB is a different kettle of fish since scallop dredging has been banned so it may be a bad assumption to compare the two.

You will have to excuse me somewhat, I am meant to be studying so am in a generally ranting mood.

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That's where I saw the leprechaun. He tells me to burn things...

You have said that so many times, okay, we get it. You are having pms.

As has already been mentioned, this is a council issue and has nothing to do with rec fishing licence money (see here http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/DPI/nrenfaq.nsf/childdocs/-B43DB2A1BECEB2A04A256812001DD817-2C4C5C64B15F0778CA257163001A3059?open), however VRFish, and other groups/individuals are working at improving these facilities (see here http://www.vrfish.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=43)

[url]I would like to see ALL marine parks marked with buoys and signage if they are bound by land.[/url]

Which parks are you talking about. I agree that they should all be marked, but this is Parks Victoria's problem. Write to Parks, maybe the Southern Freedivers, and/or VRFish could add support. If you could send me some info or draft a letter and email it to me we'll see what we can do. Anyone else know of marine parks that are badly marked or not marked (eg Aireys Inlet).



Part of the 'missing millions' you pointed out does do to fund fisheries officers. People not paying their licence fees does nothing to help their resources. The 60 days for central waters will/should be increased to over 100 days in the 2010/2011 season due to the work of RFL funded VRFish and their volunteers working with Fisheries Victoria.



Which flathead are you talking about? Sand flathead are going down, but it has nothing to do with the pro fishermen.



Another reason to pay licence fees, and/or to put up your hand and do something?