Sunfish & Qld Govt. Media release.

[Lucky_Phill]

Representing the interests of Recreational Fishing
Queensland Anglers meet to Decide on Support for Newman Government

The Annual General Meeting of state-wide recreational fishing organizations representing 45,000 individual anglers will meet this weekend under a threat of non-support from the Newman Government and the Minister responsible for recreational fishing.

Mr. John Crone OAM Chairman of Sunfish said that he was disappointed in the Government’s stance to deliberately reduce recreational fishing support. Announcements and verbal discussions prior to the election seem to be just electioneering to enlist angler support especially in coastal seats.

In the past week Sunfish has been advised by Fisheries Queensland that the $4.6m of the monies levied on boat owners for special purpose recreational initiatives would be cut by $2m and reallocated to employ fisheries staff and fund government business.

Among these current fisheries activities being axed are fish stocking, research, tagging programs, Fishcare volunteers and kids fishing days. All were previously funded by the recreational levy and “money before community benefits” seems to be the Newman government new policy he said.

Minor funding to ensure that anglers had a voice through their independent body Sunfish has been withdrawn and we can only assume it is an attempt to silence any criticism of poorly devised legislation affecting recreational fishing.

The Minister was invited to address our AGM at the weekend to answer our Members questions and allay fears of a total government rejection of recreational fishing but has suddenly declined due to other business commitments. From comments made yesterday by the Minister’s office, it would appear that the Government and the Minister are “more interested in food production”. Promises of private support for Sunfish have been very encouraging and will ensure the future of Sunfish. One topic for the meeting will be whether we maintain our apolitical stance on government decisions.

The Government would be well advised to consider why the “IFISH and I VOTE” logo is so popular with anglers. The anti-government uprising by anglers that stopped the Federal Government allowing the “super trawler” into Australian waters should be a warning as 1 in 3 Queenslanders fish.

Mr. Crone said that the meeting will proceed and the delegates will decide on what future involvement and support Sunfish will give to the Government, the Minister and his Fisheries Department. A further media release will be issued after the meeting.

Contact points -

Judy Lynne Executive Officer 07 3882 4518 0409 056 437

David Bateman AM Deputy Chair 07 3880 4261 0413 584 975

27 September, 2012
PO BOX 3013 Warner QLD 4500 Phone (07) 3882 4518
www.sunfishqld.com.au (http://www.sunfishqld.com.au) ABN 26 590 693 754

Fishing for the Future
MEDIA RELEASE


Despite your personal opinions of Sunfish, they do great work with kids and rec fishing in general and over the last couple of years have been pro-active in trying to get a better deal for us.

For the numbers of Sunfish admin, members, support and contributing staff, only one is a paid employee. A decison by the current Government to discontinue funding for this group via RUF fees, disturbes me greatly.

With the work of ECOFishers, AFTA, Sunfish, MBAA, TFPQ and more, Queensland had been on track to have a vibrant and sustainable recreational fishery, but needed more work to assist Government to formulate plans to achieve a vision that we all have.

The RUF funds have always and should always be allocated to support the recreatinal Fishing / Boating industry it collects it's money from and never, ever be used for " general revenue ". Should this happen, there will be a severe backlash aimed at the people responsible. Tread carefully............... :-X


LP

[Cheech]

And people still think that fishing licences would be a good idea. Just more money we pay that we do not see again.

[tropicrows]

Have to agree with you Cheech, those funds would just vanish into the abis never to be see again.

[nigelr]

Hmmm, is this a good move for Qld rec anglers?

[charleville]

I am often puzzled by the desire of some people to get more people into the fishing hobby.


For the existing numbers of recreational fishers, this makes no more sense than those people who seem to want to post news about online auctions. Don't they get it? The less people who participate in online auctions, the less likely that the auction will be a seller's market and the cheaper that the prices will be.


Likewise, the less people who are encouraged to take up fishing means that there will be more stocks of wild fish for those of us who currently like to go fishing for them.

The only people who will benefit from activities that encourage more people to go fishing are the people who make money from growing the "industry." Viz, retailers of boats and tackle and related industries. Is it no wonder that industry "leaders", ie people who sell stuff to fishers and industry hangers-on who are sponsored by people who sell stuff to fishers, will try to grow the "industry" through committess and Qangoes?

There is no way that it is in my interest as a recreational fisho to have self appointed do-gooders on committees such as Sunfish doing anything that will encourage kids or anyone else to take up fishing as a pastime.


For some weird reason, the same people who want to reduce the number of professional fishing licences also want to see more recreational fishers. What the???? How does that work????


I am quite happy for all government funding to groups that do not actually do anything to improve the stocks of fish to disappear. That would appear to include Sunfish.



.

[Lucky_Phill]

If Sunfish ....... SAVE....... one kid from a lifetime of having their faces planted firmly into a PC, Game Boy or PS3, then that is worth the membership fee alone.

Improving fish stocks come in all forms and the most important is " Education ", something that Sunfish, and others address as their mission statement.

No one forces people to BUY fishing gear...........

Having said that, the Retail industry employes over 1.2 million Aussies, so buying fishing gear, just links part of the circle of life...

FWIW,

The Socio-Economic benefits of Recreational Fishing are well documented, but the Health and Well-Being benefits are just starting to be realised. Add to that the Social Interaction between ALL age groups in this activity is by far its best attribute. I know of no other " outdoor " activity that allows participation from new-borns to Centenarians as well as Mentally and Physically dis-advantaged Australians.

Passionate............ maybe............. pesimistic.........nope.

LP

[charleville]

There is no way that anyone could suggest that fishing is any more healthy an activity than any other, including playing with computers. I see an awful lot of very obese fishermen at the ramp.

How does sitting stationary on a boat under a burning sun offer a better health outcome than sitting stationary at a computer in the shade?


Whilst the retail industry might employ 1.2M Aussies, the fishing industry subset of that would be very small.


.

[petelaska]

Without relying on government funding, Sunfish may be able to criticize government decisions in the future.
Pete

[Lucky_Phill]

There is no way that anyone could suggest that fishing is any more healthy an activity than any other, including playing with computers.

I am not only suggesting that, but endorsing it as fact.


How does sitting stationary on a boat under a burning sun offer a better health outcome than sitting stationary at a computer in the shade?

If you are " sitting " in a boat, then you are BOATING and NOT fishing. Try fishing the deep water ( 50 -80 mtrs ) with 250gms lead and bait, pulling up 3kg Pearlies ( two at a time ), one after another, or maybe getting your arms stretched by Cobes or having a stupidly hot Snapper bite. Also, I will suggest that walking the beach with waders and all gear pegging baits or slugs at Tailor IS in fact better than sittin behind a puter screen, munching on Milky Ways and guzzling Coke.

Burning sun, ? 99% of fishos that I know that fish during the day are fully aware of the Sun and utilize protection at all times. Recent studies, that you WILL be aware of have blamed various health issues caused from a lack of Vitiman D, the Sun, as we know, is our best source of this necessary item and the Slip, Slop , Slap campaign has worked too well. Sun exposure is NOT a bad thing, like everything in life, all things in moderation.

Further, the kids in the boat are conversing ( not texting, SMS's or Skyping ) with real people, face to face, all the time sensing the detailed expressions of interest or not. Asking questions, learning about life from HUMANS , not Hard Drives or BS internet gossip. To even hint at the suggestion that the computer lizards are on a par with outdoor activities, reeks of an agrophobic life more atune to " Animated PC Games " than indulging in Human Contact. Nothing personal, but I cannot let your statements go unanswered. I have this sneaky feeling that you are baiting me !!!! As you couldn't possibly believe what you just posted ?? :-?




.


My response in Red,

cheers LP

[Lucky_Phill]

Without relying on government funding, Sunfish may be able to criticize government decisions in the future.
Pete

Pete,

I have been in committee meetings, workshops, management groups etc with Sunfish, and with various Govt departments, in the last couple of years Sunfish has indeed rebutted and argued with the Govt and in particular( Sunfish's ) Dr Barry Pollock, who is more qualified to argue scientific points than some / most FQ types. IT seems, on some ocassions, that even the best science does not sit well with FQ and they still do their own thing. Having said that, they can only work with what they have.... including limited funding.

LP

[nigelr]

Personally the more rec fishers the better IMHO. Get us a powerful lobby group like them green bu$$ers.
Takes a lot of time and effort (and some expenditure) to become an 'effective' amatuer fisher ie one who can if they wish catch a feed when they want one.
What's that line about 10% catching 90% of the fish? Thankfully to a lot of fishers, it isn't all about catching a feed though.....

[charleville]

I have this sneaky feeling that you are baiting me !!!!

cheers LP



;D;D;D

Only half, Phill.


Intuitively, it may seem that you are right in suggesting that outdoors activity may be better for kids than their playing with computers for hours on end.

Yet there are merits in the latter. Which would the Navy want to hire in 2012? Some kid who spent his weekends fishing or some kid who has developed pretty fast computer skills and reflexes from online gaming? Likewise, which kid, on average, is better to have the better income during his life?

My younger thirties-something son spent an awful lot of time in front of a computer when growing up and developed awesome skills in the technology. He has just become part of Australia's brain drain to the USA after having sold his second successful software development company to a USA firm in a deal that made the Sydney Morning Herald describe him as a software mogul. His previous successful venture saw his software installed in 15 million Apple Macs.


Sooooo, naturally - I don't automatically subscribe to the conventional wisdom held by older people that spending a lot of recreational time in front of a computer is a bad thing.

Where we might agree is that some balance is necessary between some physical activity and computer obsession.


.

[Mike Delisser]

The more people (esp young people) that fish.....the less chance the greenies and animal libers have of placing bans and restrictions on our pastime.

[PinHead]

;D;D;D

Only half, Phill.


Intuitively, it may seem that you are right in suggesting that outdoors activity may be better for kids than their playing with computers for hours on end.

Yet there are merits in the latter. Which would the Navy want to hire in 2012? Some kid who spent his weekends fishing or some kid who has developed pretty fast computer skills and reflexes from online gaming? Likewise, which kid, on average, is better to have the better income during his life?

My younger thirties-something son spent an awful lot of time in front of a computer when growing up and developed awesome skills in the technology. He has just become part of Australia's brain drain to the USA after having sold his second successful software development company to a USA firm in a deal that made the Sydney Morning Herald describe him as a software mogul. His previous successful venture saw his software installed in 15 million Apple Macs.


Sooooo, naturally - I don't automatically subscribe to the conventional wisdom held by older people that spending a lot of recreational time in front of a computer is a bad thing.

Where we might agree is that some balance is necessary between some physical activity and computer obsession.


.

hence your use of "skitch"?

what would I rather be doing..outdoors or on the computer...simple answer to that one
what would my 11 year old grandson rather be doing...computer or fishing or riding his chook chaser..simple answer to that one also. It is all about balance and any obsession is not a good thing.

[finga]

what would I rather be doing..outdoors or on the computer...simple answer to that one
what would my 11 year old grandson rather be doing...computer or fishing or riding his chook chaser..simple answer to that one also. It is all about balance and any obsession is not a good thing.
Putting crap on me....that's what he'd rather be doing.

And it's all about balance. Too much of anything is bad for the soul. The trick is to realise just how much is too much of any of life's great pleasures.

But back to the thread..........

[finga]

If we (QLD) are so broke as to have the need to get rid of a great chunk of the public service and we (QLD) have to cut public amenities and services to less then the bare minimum then why are we having the Commonwealth Games in 2018??
Or is the Gold Coast not part of QLD??
Are all recreational user groups going to lose their state funded representation as well??
What other groups are there??

Sorry. I only have questions.....and no answers.....

[charleville]

hence your use of "skitch"?


Yup.



.

[NAGG]

Regardless of what everyone thinks about Sunfish - it still boils down to a weakening of a fishoes voice here in qld ..... add to that all the other fish based programs / research that have had funding cuts along with the cuts to fisheries (not to mention the RFU) and we end up with a clear picture of how this government views recreational fishing.

Not good !!!

Chris

[Lucky_Phill]

Yes Chris, exactly.

No matter personal thoughts on Sunfish or any other representative group, any group of people that are willing to put in many hours of un-paid work, time and effort to try to assist their mates, friends, fellow fishers, kids and community etc deserve better than to have any small funding cut. Funds from RUF are less than a pin hole in the V-Sheet of the qualified economic input from Rec Fishos.

I suppose we could go down the " blame " path, but is that necessary ? The ALP left the deficet, but still managed to have funding for Sunfish.......... the LNP need to reign in the $'s and have a balanced budget .

Have they gone too hard too fast ? IMO..........yes.

Do we point the finger at Noddy ? I suggest not.......... Yes by proxy, of course as it is the Razor gang giving advice to Noddy and his team. What is the agenda of the razor gang ? Are these " managers " closet Greenies ?........ Who Knows. !!

Does anyone really believe that every detail of every program, group etc that has funding slashed or removed is known by our Premier.

I envisage things like ... fisheries guy.. " Noddy, I can save you $2.8mill with a bit of trimming up in funding expenditure to non-core Govt business expenses "... Noddy... "OK, that;s good, get on to it." !!!!

The Commonwealth Games, should be a huge investment and should produce economic pluses for the State... I did say " should ".

It all boils down to economics and the stratergies in place or the fundamental logic behind running a Government.

One hand we have the Socialists and the Other, The Capitalists.

hand-outs VS hand-ups

Some have to make the hard decisions, others will make popular ones.

Common-ground is a hard place to find, despite all the Google Earth, Near-Maps and Whereis's available. !!!!!!!!!!

I am still awating a response from the DG, over the RUF funds and where it is going.


LP

[Mike Delisser]

I envisage things like ... fisheries guy.. " Noddy, I can save you $2.8mill with a bit of trimming up in funding expenditure to non-core Govt business expenses "... Noddy... "OK, that;s good, get on to it." !!!!

LP

You got to be kidding Phill. If that were even close to true then we've just elected the worst leader in the history of Government in Australia.

[NAGG]

Yes Chris, exactly.

No matter personal thoughts on Sunfish or any other representative group, any group of people that are willing to put in many hours of un-paid work, time and effort to try to assist their mates, friends, fellow fishers, kids and community etc deserve better than to have any small funding cut. Funds from RUF are less than a pin hole in the V-Sheet of the qualified economic input from Rec Fishos.

I suppose we could go down the " blame " path, but is that necessary ? The ALP left the deficet, but still managed to have funding for Sunfish.......... the LNP need to reign in the $'s and have a balanced budget .
That is exactly what you have done Phil ..... gone down the blame path - These existed under Labor & have now been removed or altered..... without admitting it- you are alluding to justification ...... just in a nicer manner

Have they gone too hard too fast ? IMO..........yes.

Do we point the finger at Noddy ? I suggest not.......... Yes by proxy, of course as it is the Razor gang giving advice to Noddy and his team. What is the agenda of the razor gang ? Are these " managers " closet Greenies ?........ Who Knows. !! As I said above

Does anyone really believe that every detail of every program, group etc that has funding slashed or removed is known by our Premier. Is that the get out of goal card for government decisions - like the payroll issues with Qld health under Bligh? ...... the reality is that you are correct as the bureaucracy does make most of the decisions envisage things like ... fisheries guy.. " Noddy, I can save you $2.8mill with a bit of trimming up in funding expenditure to non-core Govt business expenses "... Noddy... "OK, that;s good, get on to it." !!!! and take a bonus out of petty cash

The Commonwealth Games, should be a huge investment and should produce economic pluses for the State... I did say " should ". It will - it is the reason why countries bid for it !!! - specially if they have more to offer like Qld does

It all boils down to economics and the stratergies in place or the fundamental logic behind running a Government.

One hand we have the Socialists and the Other, The Capitalists.

hand-outs VS hand-ups ..... Conservatives also hand out - Our current position of middle class welfare comes straight from the conservative side of politics ...... hand outs not a hand up

Some have to make the hard decisions, others will make popular ones. A cop out ..... hard as long as it doesn't affect them -

Common-ground is a hard place to find, despite all the Google Earth, Near-Maps and Whereis's available. !!!!!!!!!!

I am still awating a response from the DG, over the RUF funds and where it is going.


LP


You are trying hard Phil ..... but you know as well as I do that Rec fishing is off the radar for this government ...... & the outcomes for us are looking bleak

chris