Friday, April 6, 2012

Pipi fishing in Venus Bay

After returning from an afternoon of pipi fishing in Venus Bay, I decided to check out the rules because I find it silly to restrict people from using a hand tool to dig for pipis. After all, each one is licenced to harvest up to 2 litres of shells, so why is there a need to further restrict people from making the most of the 2 litres? By not allowing hand tools, people looking for pipis will tend to keep everything they find, regardless of size. I surely did.

The Venus Bay rule says:
The daily catch limit for pipis in Venus Bay (in the Cape Liptrap Coastal Park between Point Smythe and Arch Rock) are:
2 litres of shell per person, or
½ litre of shucked pipi meat.
Pipis can only be taken by hand, and equipment such as rakes, spades and nets cannot be used.


In South Australia, the rule is more reasonable. It says:
Recreational fishers may use a cockle rake, bait spade, bait fork or collect by hand. Commercial fishers may use a cockle rake endorsed on their fishery licence or collect by hand. Incidentally, South Australia has a mimnimum size that you are allowed to take home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HI YM, I am doing research on cultural factors surrounding recreational pipi harvesting in Venus Bay. This is research for my PhD in the field of anthropology. If you would like to contact me regarding your opinions and perspectives of pipi regulations please contact me on ljhatfield@students.latrobe.edu.au

Anonymous said...

Ym. The venus bay rules are very reasonable. Pipis are a finite resource in our area. Visitors must respect the rules to ensure there will be a future pipi population. If day visitors opportunistically over fish there will be none left! Our beautiful beaches will be affected. Perhaps you shoild take a longer term community and environmentally view. Or alternatively harvest in south Australia!!!!