FAD ethics

stevea · August 22, 2009, 10:45:24 CET

I believe that most of us fishing for lampuki have met up with other boats when fishing on the same FAD or on the same 'line' of FADs. I believe that prudence is key to this sort of sprots however this is not always the case. So you get baots coming staright at you when you are trolling on the FAD, boats coming on your lure, boats speeding up to catch the next FAD, boats hooking up the FAD for pilot fish, boats that keep on going on FADs way out of Malta (ex. > 10 - 20th etc), boats that hit the FADs at sunset (worst thing for the big guys etc etc)
Would like that we all discuss this topic as to maybe make people aware of what the ethical issues are and possibly stick to some unwritten codes..

fisheye · August 22, 2009, 15:19:34 CET

steve I see your point but going on a commercial fishermen FADs is illegal whether is the 1st 2nd 3rd or the 100 and I don't think we should discuss illegal activity. One can go only on those given to fishing clubs called tad-dilettanti after paying the fee (if they still exist). I remember when I was a member in those of MArsa scala they used to give us a sticker to attach some where it can be well seen on the boat. And yes the behavior of some boat owners was more than selfish and "ta min u l-aqwa ihawwel"

Tatanka · August 22, 2009, 16:27:03 CET

To be honest I am a member of the ones in Marsascala & I have only been there once for 30 min & left the area due to same reason as Stevea said. It seems to be the same problem everywhere due to everyone complains about people just looking after themselves & do not think twice to come straight at you & driving over other peoples lures. I think this comes only down to 1 problem which is inexperiance , just a matter of going to the Fishing tackle Shop buy the trolling line & off they go. Without asking anyone how they would need to troll , speed etc....

I will mention it to the organiser in Marsascala of the FAD's due to the sticker system is a good one. This is surley not the case anymore & hopefully he could ask the member a couple of questions & explain the do's & dont's whilst trolling near the FAD's.

shanook · August 22, 2009, 17:38:24 CET

Tatanka, I suggest that u do something which is more visible than a sticker. If Boat A is trolling the fad and Boat B coms along that is a member and doesnt notice the sticker he keeps going and tries to push aside the Boat A as he thinks that boat A does not have a right to be there.
Sae thing happens at St Pauls Fads, At last here they use flags andeven these are sometimes not visibly displayed

Tatanka · August 22, 2009, 18:04:45 CET

Thanks for the suggestion , I will pass it on to the organisers.

stevea · August 22, 2009, 20:42:06 CET

Fisheye.. you are r ight .. we should not do anything illegal.,.... but ,,, A BIG BUT! Who has not visited the professional FAds? How many of us stayed away from these?
My opinion is that when one knows how the profesional fisherman use the FAds then one can somehwat enjoY them without doing any harm. If the owner of the FADs meets you in the morning or afternoon.. am sure he will not bother too much. \his interest is in netting the lampuki at night... the shoals of lampuki that gather under the current from the palm leaves. I do not see why trolling in the morning can effect them!

Anyway.. i find it very irritating that boats come towards you when trolling round a FAD. I believe they should allow you the few minutes to enjoy the fishing. At the end of the day you would have spotted the FAD before the other boat.
Few days ago... a fast speedboat was behind me ( I was on the FADS before sunrise and therefore the first on the line),,,,, after two FADS...the boat speeded up before me. Obviously I was not interested to speed up and end in a speed contest. However I do feel that it is somewhat arrogant,,,,

camkev · August 23, 2009, 00:04:11 CET

I know how it feels cause last year it happened to me as well on st pauls bay fads.This guy passed me by a couple of fads then i passed hm again...then he passed me again and waved to me .........and then qlajtlu il familja and he left...remember bigboy??

Granitu · August 23, 2009, 11:41:56 CET

well, actually when i go to fads i never follow the chronological order, normally i mark the lst good fad and begin 2-3 fads before it, that's how i do it... but always cruise no more than 5 knots

fortunately when i go( during working days, always) never see a lot of boaters around

sat and sun seem to be killers for the abuse

stevea · August 23, 2009, 17:11:26 CET

sometimes it's like the boat formula one..... everyone full throttle for the first FAD.. really not worth going on weekends ..however

shanook · August 23, 2009, 17:17:29 CET

Well for those fortunate enough to go during the week it is a better option and not so crowded.

ed2112 · August 24, 2009, 07:54:45 CET

for the above reasons I simply do not enjoy fishing for lampuki and hardly ever go any more. last i went a professional fisherman friend of mine gave me the coordinates of his cimi and told me that i could go fish on them. the first one was 25miles out so i found no one there.....

ed

Granitu · August 24, 2009, 14:12:37 CET

hehe been out there today how nice going out for lampuki by yourself, with the rest of the crowd in search for puki near fads, crossing and dangling each other lol

really many think that puki is always near fads,,,, lol

morru u hudu gost... u aqbdu kemm imisskhom ghal gurnata..

fisheye · August 24, 2009, 16:05:09 CET

The way I see it is that if there are others on the FADs and they are not catching than it is useless to go around them unless you have some holy water with you. I would rather do as Granitu said and look somewhere else than staying into that swarm of boats.

stevea · August 24, 2009, 17:31:36 CET

Granitu... it is a proven fact that Lampuki will always gather round the FADs at night time. Accordingly on sunset and sunrise these tend to gather round. As the day progresses the shoals will move round in search of their prey. Boats with lures will tend to move the shoals away from the Fads... until they will finally gather again under a different Fad. So basically you are right... and wrong. Early sunrise you will definitely get strikes close to FAds and nowehere else.
I do not find it amusing going round a Fad when another boat is there... it takes away all the fun.
Another point.... I actually had a break from lampuki fishing as I caught all I, my family, extended family, neighbours, freinds etc wanted to eat .. and therefore could not find myself catching more for the fun of it.

mellieha · August 24, 2009, 17:47:33 CET

I cannot understand some of you (yes this is a critisism). How do we accept to discuss on a forum for all fisherman ways to disrupt fishing for others (btw using other peoples fads is illegal).

To those who argue that this post was opened to discuss the possibility of the forum laying our own fads I may say that there are at least 2 topic already discussing or mentioning so. Some have confirmed that when they are on a line of fads and it is to busy they simply find a new line of fads.

I as a fad layer nearly every year find myself outnumbered and utterly disgusted by all those who think that by passing near a fad no harm is done.

I discussed this in detain last week on a post on this forum. Even passing on the ''black spot'' i.e. where lampuki are is enough to scare away the fish.

Notes: Not all fisherman work at nights, so some arguments are nill.

Why not mention all those are so stupid that decide to see you trowing the net and doing the dawra and still approach you even trying to pass between you and the fad. Isint this stupidity.

Yes you people with no MFC or cimi permits should fish for lampuki in areas where no legal fads are present.

Thanks

Mellieha