I am the skipper of the fishing vessel, Janet 1, and would like to explain a few FACTS about our operation to clear up the assumptions and untruths put in last week's article (Merimbula News Weekly, "Too close for comfort?" dated May 6, 2015). 

FACT 1: The Janet 1 is NOT a seine trawler. 

This is a completely different operation altogether. 

Our net is not dragged along the bottom but set and pulled back onto the boat with next to no bi-catch, only the occasional couple of stingrays that are released live. 

Our operation is Purse Seining. This is very efficient and environmentally friendly when done right. 90% of the time when Fisheries receive complaints about us we are not working but just steaming past a beach looking for fish. 

Our method of fishing also relies heavily on good weather so our effort is spread out and we pick only good days to work based on moon phases, tides, wind, swell, water clarity, land-based logistics, transport availability, freezer space in our holding rooms, orders etc. So we are not an every single day of the year working vessel going 'Hell for Leather' on our resource. 

Our spotter sees 50 times the fish swim by compared to what we catch and that is just in our small area of coast that we work.

FACT 2: Fishing so close to shore, as you put it, is where large schools of salmon are as they travel up and down the coast. 

They are feeding on your precious recreational juvenile fish stocks up rivers etc. If you stopped to think about how much food a large school of salmon consumes up a river mouth over a few days, including baby flathead, snapper, bream, blackfish and much more, maybe you would realise that the salmon themselves are the only ones who are putting the local fish stocks at risk.

You call yourself a fisher? I don't think you have any credibility whatsoever if you think salmon stocks are in any threat, as we are the only operation in NSW doing what we do apart from a few small beach haul operators up and down the coast who use a small net/row boat to catch small lots of fish for market. 

Salmon are in plague proportions. 

Our spotter plane sees up to 5, 6, 7, 800 tonne of salmon in a single flight from Merimbula to Bermagui, this is only our small stretch of coast. 

This has been documented and shown to Fisheries.

You may wish to buy yourself a pair of Polaroid glasses as the black colours of fish are easily seen along the beaches. 

FACT 3 : The effect we have on the tourism industry is more commonly a positive one as constant streams of tourists come to the wharf to see the boats, ask questions and are generally excited to hear about our way of life and how we make a living. 

They want to be able to buy fresh fish; not everyone wants to catch their own. 

Tourism is not everything in our area. We need to retain our industries, of which fishing is one.

I am also friends with many experienced recreational fishers who know exactly what we catch and do in our operations and have no problem at all with our vessel. 

We also supply bait, mainly pilchards, which are basically the only other species we catch. We supply the wholesaler who in turn supplies the service stations, fish shops and tackle shops around NSW and Vic. 

So you yourself probably buy bait from the Janet 1 without knowing or caring where it came from. 

FACT 4: Concern for the proximity to surfers and swimmers is also a ridiculous statement and we were well within our rights to work in this area. 

I don't know if you have noticed, but runabouts, charter vessels and such, roar in and out of the channel all day long at the bar much closer to swimmers and surfers than we were. 

We operate at under 6 knots when working our net. 

I am also a surfer, and my whole life, including my friends' and family's lives, revolve around the ocean, up and down the coast. 

The surfing community was more than happy to see us catch this school of salmon which has been attracting sharks lately. 

Schools of salmon undoubtedly bring in sharks to feed which are mainly Bronze Whalers but there have also been large white pointers seen by our spotter. They are easily distinguished from the other sharks. 

Pambula Surf Club welcomes the warnings we are able to give. 

A large white pointer was seen the day before they were having a surf carnival not so long ago. 

FACT 5: What provision do we have should a surfer get caught in our net? This is laughable! 

As far as dolphins and seals go... We have a lot of technology on the Janet 1 such as sonar, sounders etc. not to mention the spotter in the aeroplane above us with over 30 years experience. We are kept aware of any dolphins or seals in the area so they can be avoided. 

Fish swim freely in our net until the very last part of our operation then they are lifted aboard with a small scoop of about 600kg at a time. It is at this stage where the 1 or 2 stingray, if any, can be released unharmed.

The only reason we work areas every once in a while is because of all the areas we have been kicked out of because of marine parks, which don't work, as all they achieve is to put more pressure on the areas left. 

They also create unguarded poaching areas for fish, abalone and crayfish etc. as there are no pro fishers in the area to look after our resource. 

If you want to blame someone for us fishing in Merimbula and not "out of sight, out of mind" (to put it one way) then try marine parks. 

Finally now that I have explained a few FACTS about our operation I would like to make a few assumptions of my own. 

I assume that the recreational fisher who wrote this article either didn't do his research or was just trying to cause trouble, or both?

I also assume that you are probably a blow-in from Canberra, Melbourne or wherever who has a cushy government office job and has never done a hard day of manual labour in your life and has no knowledge of our area or its history at all. But that's just my assumption. 

Unlike you, I will put my name to this happily and honestly... 

Grant Isaac Warren

Eden 

32 yrs old, 5th generation fisherman and proud of it.