The ethos here is all well and good, but I have noticed that many Ski boaters sell their fish? On occasion when we have been at Dbn Ski Boat Club there are guys asking if we have any fish to sell. I am not sure if they are just taking a chance, or they are used to getting fish?
I have fairly fundamental objections to guys with 1M+ rigs selling fish, but am probably slightly more tolerant of the guy battling to make ends meet, that sells a few fish or bait fish to enable them to live. I have a friend that used to have a commercial fishing license, but various BEE requirements made it so onerous, that he eventually sold everything and gave up on it. Based on this, I can understand why some guys get pissed and take advantage as the ANC have made it very difficult for such a person to make a viable venture of it.
Having said that, I am a hobbyist and this is one of my hobbies. As such I don’t expect anyone else to pay for my other hobbies, and so there is no reason to sell fish to pay for this hobby. We are probably not much of a danger to fish stocks anyway as we are only at the coast 2-3 times a year and when we are there, we regard it as a successful day if we boat one fish. We did manage to bag a couple of Darado and to be honest I don’t feel bad taking a small cool box of Fish up to JHB, but so far this tends to be unusual as we never seem to bag loads in a day and what we catch is usually scoffed quick smart by family and mates.
Based on what I see at the launch register, I am not convinced that Ski boaters represent a major problem. I know there was an article in this months ski boat magazine where a fellow that has been both a serious trawler grade fisherman as well as a recreational ski boater for many years opined that, recreational fisherman are responsible for the decline in the fish stocks?
I would like to see data supporting any contentions either way.
I think most of all, I would like to see some consistent enforcement efforts that would make me feel better about paying an annual fishing license fee that seems to achieve exactly nothing. We should have boat owning agencies enforcing fishing rules both near shore and further out, day and night, and credible data being used to make decisions on what should be allowed when.
