jb2 wrote:
ThefishinMagician wrote:
so there is still hope for us mere 4 a day for 26 day season mortals.
We just need somebody big enough to do the shoulder tapping.. I am hoping that the rumour of the Dept. of Sports and Recreation filling that position is true.
The new quota allocation really seems to be the path way to destruction. Ironically it was instituted based on the idea of trying to revive the resource but, when you increase the allocation to the very party suspected of overfishing in the first place, it makes you wonder how serious are they about reviving the resource.
First it was the abalone and now the cray seems to be going the same way.
Why not rather increase the recreational quota, and make it legal to sell your catch, because in all honesty, that is what is happening. Why not just throw the interim relief and the recreational quotas together and monitor the catch better ? Poachers are going to poach. whether there is a quota allocation of 100 T or 1000T... there will always be those that take more than what is allowed.
By changing the numbers we are merely just fooling ourselves. We need better policing and stricter enforcement of laws.
Hi Fishin
Ironically that is more or less what happened.
They did allow people to sell with a post office permit and they allowed a huge number of people into the sector.
The TAC cut means that the overall pie is smaller. There is less kreef allowed to come out of the water.
It is a bit of a bunfight as to who has to shoulder the bulk of the cuts.
Hi guys.
I did not know this bit of information!!!!
It throws a different light on the subject matter and could be part of the reason why the recreational quota was cut?
So what you guys are saying is that in the last few years there were subsistence fisherman that bought the 4 a man Crayfish permit for the sole purpose of making their catch legal and selling it, well at least portion of it, meaning the 4 per day limit was caught over and over until an official either checked it or the sun went down or 16h00 came.
This is quite shocking news to me, Paternoster styled Crayfish industry for the Western Cape on its way, courtesy of DAFF and their political masters.
It also answers a question I did not know and that was the entry permit for Crayfish to the Cape Point Nature Reserve, I assume the permit fee was increased and added on to your entry in an attempt to stop these subsistence fisherman using the Reserve as their resource to plunder. While that is great and stops poaching, it puts everybody into the same boat as any bona fide recreationals are now penalised financially, especially the guys that would normally launch at Buffels, also the families that would normally have gone to the Reserve over the holiday period and taken out a few Crayfish to add to their picnic basket.
So glad I don't eat Crayfish, just alarming at the rapid rate our resource we are all entitled to is being slowly taken away bit by bit.
I expect in a couple of years time for some news release from DAFF that will state that the inshore resource is on the brink of collapse due to some scientific proof bla bla bla and the recreational quota will forthwith be cut completely.
My 2 cents.
BTTB.
