Beach Hauling

Wombat 280 · Guru

Beach Hauling

Radar · Guru

I would of expected that the fish they are netting is mullet for the roe and there is not much evident left behind after they have gone, most times they clean the beaches up so no one catches any fish at all for a few days.

I was involved wiith carting the catches away for about 7 years mainly though the 90's with refrigerated transport from Tea Garden though to Cresent Heads and Coffs Harbour, 16 to 18 tonnes at a time to Brisbane markets.

Bryan · Guru

It happens here in WA as well, at least the wasteful by catch. I'm referring to the Peel Estuary. Unfortunately the people who protest vehemently and loudly about the perceived poor state of animal transportation don't seem to worry too much about fish. Maybe not enough publicity in it for them.

Wombat 280 · Guru

I'm not saying you are to blame but I do recall a number of incidents reported in the local papers where council had to send over to the north beach a work team and two front end loaders to clean up the tons of mullet left on the beach to rot or be claimed by the tide .
After filling their box order for the co-op's then the females were gutted for the roe and the flesh thrown up on the beaches

Not sure of the rules now but the NSW fisho's couldn't use jet boats and had restrictions of the outboards they could use to run the nets out not so the Qld crews they could run a net out at max speed right around the entire school and run back to the beach at the speed of light. It got to the stage that even fisheries inspector were not game to go to the beach during the haul sessions.

Anyone who has seen beach hauling in progress will agree it's a wasteful practice and very little in the way of return

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

I was completely unaware of what "beach hauling" was - so I visited my good friend Mr Google, shared a cuppa and he gave me this info.

I now know what "beach hauling" is ... and also that I have seen it performed but never knew it by its name.

How is hauling done?

When a school of fish is spotted the net boat starts out from shore deploying the hauling lines and net behind. Once beyond the fish, the boat heads for shore and the beach crew takes hold of the hauling lines or net.

The net is then pulled towards the shore, either by hand, winch or vehicle, with the fish that dont escape being concentrated in the central part of the net.

The net is then landed and the fish removed as soon as possible. The catch is placed in boxes with ice to ensure the fish are kept fresh.

less by-catch with beach hauling

Since beach hauling usually targets specific schools of adult fish there is little by-catch of unwanted fish. Those caught are returned to the water as soon as possible. Hauling nets have little effect on coastal habitats as they are generally used over bare sand.

Beach hauling was one of the first methods of fishing carried out along ocean beaches by European settlers in Australia and is part of the history of many communities along the coast.

This was taken from this site -

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/commercial/fisheries/ocean-hauling/beach-hauling

Cheers - John