Fish bites: SA rec fishers benefit from bumper snapper stocks

As of October 18, the south-east fishery zone has increased its bag limit from one snapper a day up to two, with the boat limit – which applies when three or more people are on a boat – rising from three to six per boat.

Fish must be a minimum of 38cm in length.

However, anyone catching snapper must now report the catch while they are out on the water rather than waiting until they return to shore. Snapper is a mandatory reporting species, meaning anyone catching a snapper must log their catch via the SA Fishing app or report the catch to Fishwatch on 1800 065 522.

The changes only apply to recreational fishers, with charter boat operators needing to stick to the same strict guidelines that remain unchanged.

The rule change also increases the total allowable recreational catch for snapper in the south-east fishery by 10 per cent, the figure by which the previous year's recreational catch fell short of the limit.

According to Recfish SA, which lobbied for the change, the south-east region's snapper stocks arrive in the state's waters via Victoria.

The NSW Police Force’s Marine Area Command has been recognised for a record-setting 2300km rescue mission that faced seas of up to 6.0 metres and almost four days of effort.

The 10-member-strong Nemesis crew answered the distress call in September last year after the Aviva, a 14.2-metre sailboat with two people onboard was disabled in heavy seas east of Lord Howe Island.

Police reached the yacht at night with a 3.0-metre swell making things difficult. The Nemesis, the largest boat in the NSW Police fleet, also had to deal with the yacht’s rigging, which had come loose in the water and was in danger of fouling the rescue vessel’s propellers.

Further complicating rescue efforts was the rigging from the yacht, which had come loose in the water and risked becoming entangled in the propeller of the police vessel.

This week, the crew of Nemesis was awarded the Australian National Search and Rescue Award for the professional category in a ceremony held at Hobart, Tasmania.

Victoria is looking to reduce the daily catch limit for cockles in Corner Inlet from 5.0 litres, or 1.0 litres shucked, to just 2.0 litres, 0.5 litres shucked (removed from the shell), in a better effort to share the shellfish among recreational fishers.

The proposed change will only apply to Corner Inlet, with the rest of the state keeping the higher daily catch limit.

The Victorian Fisheries Authority is inviting people to give feedback on the proposed change by November 1.

Fisheries WA has started rolling out 28 new fish aggregating devices (FADs) into the waters between Geraldton and Albany that will make targeting pelagic species much easier for the state’s fishers.

The new FADs are part of a $1.5 million program to improve recreational fishing in the state. Once the three-year program is completed, up to 40 FADs that act to attract baitfish will be deployed.

The program is part of WA’s support package to help demersal scalefish stocks, such as mahi-mahi, tuna and marlin, recover.

The first 10 FADs have been deployed between Rockingham and Two Rocks. The others will go in regional waters off Albany, Cape Naturaliste, Mandurah, Lancelin, Jurien Bay, the Abrolhos Islands, Geraldton, and Steep Point in November.

FADs that have been deployed along the northern coast off Exmouth, Point Samson, and Dampier earlier this year will be collected next month ahead of the cyclone season.

You can find the GPS coordinates of the FADs here.

Daiwa has released its new 23 TD Black range on the Australian market featuring 36 models aimed at everything from whiting to offshore live bait fishing.

The new third-generation rod range is stiffer and better able to resist twisting during casting and jigging. The rods also adopt Daiwa’s Air Sensor reel seat which the company claims increases sensitivity to the bite.

The rods, priced from $239, are available in spin, baitcast and swimbait configurations and for anywhere between 1.0kg and 24.0kg line weights.