Steering clear of fishing trawlers while game fishing

Each year, more first-timers are heading offshore in the region to try their luck at deep-dropping off the edge of the continental shelf to haul in a big trophy fish from depths of up to 500 metres.

Browse the fishing pages for Mallacoota and Lakes Entrance, and they are packed with images of impressive catches hauled in from the deep.

Recreational fishing boats generally head out at night to reach the canyons that make up the rich fishing grounds that are anywhere up to 80km – around 43 nautical miles – offshore.

However, the region is also home to one of the state’s biggest commercial trawler fleets. These boats head out to the continents shelf to fish, setting up to 1500 metres of wire behind them to pull in their catch.

That means recreational and commercial boats can sometimes get in each other’s way.

So, what do you do when you look up and see a commercial fishing trawler heading your way? Here are a few tips courtesy of the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association, which has noticed a big increase in the number of recreational fishing boats that trawlers are encountering

The first trick is to identify what sort of boat is heading towards you.

Boats use a complex system of lights and visual cues that help to identify what they are. What the trawlers use will differ from day to night.

During the day, a trawler with its nets set behind it will display two black cones, with the lower one inverted so their pointed tips meet in the middle.

At night an ordinary boat will have three lights – a forward-and-side facing red port and green starboard light, and an all-around white light. 

However, a trawler’s light display will be different from a recreational boat, and you’ll need to look up to see it. A trawler will show a forward-and-side facing red port and green starboard light and white stern light, but above it, the trawler will also show an all-around green light on top of an all-around white light, with the green light indicating it is actively trawling.

The boat may also show another lower all-around white light that indicates the direction in which its net is set.

Other fishing boats that are not trawlers will show an all-around red light on top of the all-around white light. 

Another trick is to try and make contact with the trawler heading in your direction as soon as you see it.

When two small boats come near each other on the water, certain rules apply as to which boats need to give way to the other. Generally speaking, at night, if you can see the other boat’s green light you have right of way.

However, the rules also state that under some conditions, smaller boats have to keep clear of larger boats even if the green starboard running light is visible to them.

The reason why is pretty simple. A boat trawling a net that can be up to 1500 metres long and potentially full of tonnes of fish has very limited maneuverability when underway. In short, it’s going to be difficult for a trawler to safely stop or change course.

Under the international collision regulations that aim to avoid collisions at sea, also called ColRegs, skippers need to keep clear of other boats that have lower mobility.

That definition of “lower mobility” can be anything ranging from the depth of water they can travel in, their size, and as simple as their ability to turn or even stop – just like a fishing trawler.

In short, if a fishing trawler is headed your way and you’re in a recreational fishing boat, it’s up to you to move. But do you need to move?

That’s why it is smart to give the trawler’s skipper a call via VHF Ch16. Trawlers follow contours, so if the seabed drops and the trawler needs to jag, it could easily avoid a stationary boat ahead of it.

But a courtesy call over the radio has other benefits. The first is that it could save you from spending close to 10 minutes pulling up 600 metres of line on each rod in the water to move unnecessarily, but it also alerts the trawler’s skipper that there is a boat ahead of them.

Trawlers have automated identification systems and radar to help them see in the night, but a small boat that reflects a poor radar signal may be almost invisible to the trawler’s skipper.

The other big plus of making a radio call is that trawlers are often ablaze with deck lights that can make it difficult to make out the boat’s navigation lights. A quick call to the skipper can determine if he is on a collision course with your boat.

Early and clear communication is key.

Depending on the size of your boat, it also may be useful to carry and show a radar reflector that helps a trawler see you more easily via its radar system.