By NOEL MURPHY
RECREATIONAL anglers have hit back at professional fishermen’s concerns about netting bans for Corio and Port Phillip bays.
Friends of Corio Bay Action Group claimed professionals were trying to “fool the public”, accusing them of creating “their own black market” and making up catch figures to “protect a feral commercial industry with no quotas and destructive methods”.
The fiery response followed commercial anglers warning in last week’s Independent their industry faced extinction under the State Government netting bans. Seafood Industry Victoria backed their claims the bans would deny quality fish to consumers, benefit the black market, cost jobs and potentially lead to imports of unsafe products.
But the action group said “other open-water fisheries, long lining and diving” would fill any shortfall.
The group accused the professionals of under-stating their catches and said the bans would provide “far greater benefits socially and economically”.
The netters would also “receive fair payouts”, a spokesman for the group said.
“We the public and the government see straight through this crap.”
