Enforcement, what Enforcement?
UPDATE: Something positive to come out of the 2019 Fisheries Reforms is that the enforcement powers under the Fisheries Act are being significantly stiffened. This can only be a good thing, as long as funding comes with the enhancements and the officers on the ground are willing and able to utilize their new powers. Time will tell of course.
If you are the sort of undesirable fisher who does the wrong thing, the chance of you being caught right now is next to zero. Never in the history of formal fisheries management in Queensland, has the state of enforcement been worse.
Qld Boating & Fisheries Patrol personnel numbers were cut back and redirected during the now infamous LNP Public Service cull in 2012 and budgets continue to be the target of huge reductions, meaning the QB&FP have few effective boats available and no money to put fuel in them anyway. Overtime budgets have been axed, so don't expect to see too many officers on the water or even on duty outside 9-5 hours. But at least the bad guys only play up in daylight - NOT!
This is in no way a criticism of officers employed by the QB&FP, as they are as disillusioned as the rest of us about not being about to do their job effectively.
With fish stocks on a slippery slide down, the temptation to do the wrong thing in order to catch fish is very real, and those so disposed are out there now fishing in Green Zones, using illegal apparatus, exceeding bag limits, ignoring size limits and generally raping the resource with immunity.
In society where there is little or no effective police presence, the result is usually anarchy and the total break down of law and order. Unless something is urgently done to re-establish fisheries enforcement capability and effectiveness, we rick lawlessness on the water and further depletion of our already threatened fish stocks.
If you understand the dire situation we are in, in respect to enforcement and compliance, you should contact your local elected member and demand he/she takes your concerns to government before it's too late.
If you are the sort of undesirable fisher who does the wrong thing, the chance of you being caught right now is next to zero. Never in the history of formal fisheries management in Queensland, has the state of enforcement been worse.
Qld Boating & Fisheries Patrol personnel numbers were cut back and redirected during the now infamous LNP Public Service cull in 2012 and budgets continue to be the target of huge reductions, meaning the QB&FP have few effective boats available and no money to put fuel in them anyway. Overtime budgets have been axed, so don't expect to see too many officers on the water or even on duty outside 9-5 hours. But at least the bad guys only play up in daylight - NOT!
This is in no way a criticism of officers employed by the QB&FP, as they are as disillusioned as the rest of us about not being about to do their job effectively.
With fish stocks on a slippery slide down, the temptation to do the wrong thing in order to catch fish is very real, and those so disposed are out there now fishing in Green Zones, using illegal apparatus, exceeding bag limits, ignoring size limits and generally raping the resource with immunity.
In society where there is little or no effective police presence, the result is usually anarchy and the total break down of law and order. Unless something is urgently done to re-establish fisheries enforcement capability and effectiveness, we rick lawlessness on the water and further depletion of our already threatened fish stocks.
If you understand the dire situation we are in, in respect to enforcement and compliance, you should contact your local elected member and demand he/she takes your concerns to government before it's too late.
