Moreton Isl rec-fishing only zone. E Petition to Qld State Parliament

[Mike Delisser]

There's an E petition just been started to try to stop/reduce the beach netting on Moreton and possibly make many of Moreton's beaches a "recreational fishing only area". If you believe this is a good thing for Qld anglers and good for fishing tourism, you can find the petition on this link. It only takes a few seconds to fill out.

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions

Cheers

[Still_Dreamin]

Signed. Thanks

[Bonus]

I was just talking to the secretary of Sunfish and said I would make sure the E-petition was on Ausfish and it is already on here. This makes it easier for people to sign. I have already signed the paper petition. cheers

[Mike Delisser]

Below is the email I received today. If you think making the beaches of Moreton Island a "rec-fishing only zone" would be good for Qld anglers, and a positive step towards building up fishing related tourism, could you forward it to as many people as possible please.
Maybe you could email it to fishing friends or put it on Facebook. Thanks.



Hi everyone

My apologies if you receive this more than once.

I am asking for your assistance please. I would like you to sign this e-petition and circulate the link through your networks and ask them to do the same, whether you live adjacent to Moreton Bay or not. Fishing Moreton Island is a recreational fishing tourist destination that many have traveled to over the years and many will continue to do so in the years to come we hope.

REASON

A group of commercial netters have been actively working the beaches of Moreton Island for several years. This effort over the last year has increased and been the worst. They have been reported to be using illegal nets in yellow zones and netting within the green zone at the southern end of the island in the middle of the night on high tides when the National Park rangers are unable to access them. The Courier Mail reported large amounts of fish that had been dumped over an extended period of time behind the beach at the northern end of the Island and this dumping has been confirmed by Government Officials.

Residents living on the Island and regular visitors are not willing to report incidences or supply information due to threats of physical violence to property and family.

RATIONALE

Marketers have advised that the fish is not all being sold through local markets, with much of it going interstate.

Businesses on the island and those that service the island are suffering from a severe downturn in business as a result of recreational fishing tourists that are choosing either to not come or to not return as local stocks are being depleted.

Government Agencies do not have the resources to effectively patrol Moreton Island and do not have the legislation to deal with localized stock depletions.

So please support this petition instigated by Redcliffe City Amateur Anglers to restore the status of Moreton Island to a recreational fishing tourist destination.

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions

Kind Regards

Judy Lynne

Executive Officer

Sunfish Queensland Inc

[littlemac]

all signed

cheers

brett

[malby]

Good on you Mike. Now we need another one for the Cooloola Coast region to be done as the Teewah beach area is being hammered and things up there are just as shocking. Hopefully Lindsay Dines see's this and follows suit.

[liltuffy]

Been going there since 1985, love the place and have had many special memories about experiences there.

This is not about pro bashing but they've ruined a lot of fun for a lot of people - fishos and island businesses and I for one would like a rec fishing have introduced there.

Petition filled in

[lbger]

Signed, hopefully it gets some more momentum.

[Redspeckle]

Sign it & Mike thought would have put up on Facebook as well

Mitch

[Gazza]

no "likes this post" tick/click from Mark-MP as yet Bonus/mike :'( .... apparently :'(

spose it's , what's NEW ,no guts ,no glory.....no support offerred, no history probably recorded
....BUGGA!! :'(

[Gon Fishun]

Signed. Keep fingers crossed.

[Gazza]

Mike , do you know of any "marine Biologists" inside Guv't that could support this....??
...."attack on Commercial Fishing"....?? :'(

[patrol50]

SIGNED and here's hoping its done at last - about 20 years late but better late than never !!!!

[Avier11]

Signed, thanks!

[bg1000]

Can someone please explain where all the extra fishing tourism money/revenue will come from if morton island is closed to net fishing.

Given that this money/revenue will need to come from ones disposable income, i wonder just how many people really have disposable income that they are not already spending somewhere into the states economy. If the closure simply tranfers ones disposable income from one recreational activity (for example Cricket) to going fishing at Morton Is, where is the economic gain. At the end of the day people only have so much to spend.

I mean how many people here on ausfish have extra money besides what they already spending on fishing that they will put into going to morton to go fishing.

I really wonder whether the people who push these kinds of closures really care about the value of tourism or whether its simply just a good case to push to the decision makers because they do not like commercial fishing.

I for one enjoy fresh local fish, But its seems like there are some recreational fishers who believe that the resource should not be shared with the entire community, including those who don't go fishing.

[patrol50]

Can someone please explain where all the extra fishing tourism money/revenue will come from if morton island is closed to net fishing.

Given that this money/revenue will need to come from ones disposable income, i wonder just how many people really have disposable income that they are not already spending somewhere into the states economy. If the closure simply tranfers ones disposable income from one recreational activity (for example Cricket) to going fishing at Morton Is, where is the economic gain. At the end of the day people only have so much to spend.

I mean how many people here on ausfish have extra money besides what they already spending on fishing that they will put into going to morton to go fishing.

I really wonder whether the people who push these kinds of closures really care about the value of tourism or whether its simply just a good case to push to the decision makers because they do not like commercial fishing.

I for one enjoy fresh local fish, But its seems like there are some recreational fishers who believe that the resource should not be shared with the entire community, including those who don't go fishing.



mate everyones entited to their own opinion and their own choices - if you dont want to support this type of cause then no problem but thats your opinion and so why endeavour to influence others to your own view or perhaps your allegedly a commercial fisher or maybe you know someone who is and thats fine as everyone has the right to make an honest dollar but the commercial fishing activity on moreton island has happened for a very long time to the benefit of just a few and perhaps its time for a change so that the benefit is spread a little more evenly

there are others who may have a differing view to yours and they do choose to support a worthy cause of this nature and that is their choice and i am one of those - but hey i dont feel a need to change your view i just dont support it !!!

[Mike Delisser]

Seems to be gaining some momentum, 500 odd signatures already, plus there's a hard copy partition as well.

[Bonus]

bg1000, I have a business over at Moreton which involves tourism. Nearly all of my customers recreational fish over there while taking a break or on holidays. In the last couple of years the commercial activity has effected recreational catches and many customers have commented that they wont come back because of the poor fishing. We are worried about keeping existing income. There are hundreds of people employed in tourism on Moreton and thousands of tourists visit the Island each year. This income all feeds back into our economy. In comparison, commercial fishing only helps a few commercial fishermen and some processors. Most of the catch from Moreton goes interstate and does not help the Queensland economy to any great extent. Then there is the illegal activity by the commercial fishermen on Moreton as discussed on the first page of this thread. Since the start of this thread, one of the fishing crew on Moreton has made violent threats to a local on the Island. These are some of the reasons that support this petition.

[Bonus]

Another important point that supports this petition is that there is only one ocean beach licence (K4) remaining for Moreton Island. The owner of this licence could not make money out of it as the costs of transporting the fish back outweighed the worth of the fish. He does not commercial fish at all now and he was also a sand crabber. The other ocean beach licences were bought back by the Queensland Government.
To explain the ocean beach licence - it is mainly used to catch mullet and taylor which are caught in the winter in the ocean beach area. The commercial fishermen are also targeting whiting, bream and anything they can sell at other times apart from the winter season as well using N1 and so called bait nets.

[patrol50]

Another important point that supports this petition is that there is only one ocean beach licence (K4) remaining for Moreton Island. The owner of this licence could not make money out of it as the costs of transporting the fish back outweighed the worth of the fish. He does not commercial fish at all now and he was also a sand crabber. The other ocean beach licences were bought back by the Queensland Government.
To explain the ocean beach licence - it is mainly used to catch mullet and taylor which are caught in the winter in the ocean beach area. The commercial fishermen are also targeting whiting, bream and anything they can sell at other times apart from the winter season as well using N1 and so called bait nets.

you know 7000 odd have checked out this post but only 500 or so have signed up so i guess lots of interstate boaties in that 7000 or so viewers -

but can i say "COME ON QUEENSLANDER" if you have ever been to moreton isl or plan to go someday (first trip in 1970) then how about supporting this E- Petition !!!!

cheers rob

[patrol50]

bit of a bump - 540 signatures and still growing - cmon brisbanites get onboard - moreton when the fish are there (like they used to be once) is an amazing place to be - so lets get it back there !!!

[stewlu]

All done here cheers Stew

[Mike Delisser]

Just putting the link on the current page
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions

[barney1979]

petition signed.

tally now is 542!!

[Bonus]

I thought I might bump this thread.

[solemandownunder]

All done Mike....another petitioner added....thanks for bringing this to the fore...

More to come from the rest of the family and now going to post on FB.

Current Tally 551.

Cheers, Ray.

[skipjack]

All done cheers

[Bonus]

This thread needs to be at the top so members can see it. lol

[bowds13]

All done, another name down.

[Dutchtech]

Added my voice this morning.

[bigbrian47]

done
thought there may be many more signatories than that

[Mike Delisser]

done
thought there may be many more signatories than that

Here's the link again
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions
Click on the "Moreton Isl rec-fishing zone" e-petition and if you agree with the proposal click yes, it only takes a couple of mins.

I'd like to see more too Brian but it's not too bad, up to 560 now and it's open to the end of Feb 2014. Certainly a lot more support than most of the other e-partitions (apart from a couple of state wide issues). There are also hard copy versions of this petition going around as well.
Thanks to everybody who have taken the time to sign it too. One of the ways to get the numbers of signatures to grow is to spread the word to as many anglers as possible, that's the way the greenys do it. There's a link on the actual petition to forward it on to your friends so the more that do that the further it will spread.

[Bonus]

Bigbrian, I think there are more than 1000 signatures on the paper petition as well as the 550 or more on the e petition. So we have 1550 all up at least. We are hoping for 10,000 signatures. Give it your support.

[Bonus]

This petition needs our support.

[patrol50]

618 signatures on the e-petition to date - so just a bump to keep it happening !

[rando]

655 as of today,,, keep it going

rando

[phantomphisher]

hope this doesn't affect the less destructive types too much- worming for example

[Johnm]

If you read the petition it calls for a ban on all commercial fishing activity so if it becomes law all commercial activities will be banned so worming will be banned. Fishing guides is a commercial fishing activity so they will go as well. It will the first step to getting recreational fishing banned.

[Mike Delisser]

Not so Johnm.
Both Worming and fishing guides are currently permitted in areas that allow rec fishing but forbid commercial netting. The petition is being promoted by rec fishing organisations to improve rec fishing tourism and opportunities on the island, not to have rec fishing banned there.
Cheers

[Bonus]

We poor little fish need your support

[SCREAMER]

You are right Bonus the little fishies need our help. Just make it a green zone and save the sea kittens!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone can sit up on the headland holding hands and sing kumbaya as we watch the gods creatures swim past.

[PeterKroll]

Screamer, will the Kumbaya M&G be invitation only?

[Darren Mc]

I so wish I was going to Moreton 20 or 30 years ago so I could have experienced the awesome fishing that my father in law used to enjoy.
The netter's we're around then, but hey hadn't had the chance to destroy it yet. Not like the last 10-15 years where they have just wrecked it.
Most times your lucky if you catch a feed over there on the beaches now. I haven't been back for years now as the fishing has been so ordinary that it's not worth the effort or cost to go over any more. I would love to see the fish stocks returned to there former numbers like the old days.

I made dam sure I signed the e petition.

[Bonus]

A little story for all to hear. A little birdie told me that one of the fishing crew that nets the island got booked for drink driving. He went 4 times the legal limit. Then he became abusive to the police so the police impounded his rust bucket. See what we have to put up with over there.

[SCREAMER]

Screamer, will the Kumbaya M&G be invitation only?

Invitation only? no that sounds elitist to me, everyones welcome but just remember it's byo your mood enhancer of choice.

[sharkymark2]

I've signed and its about time.

[Bonus]

The number of signatures is up to 731 now

[Bonus]

I just sent the link to some one else who visits the island

[Mr Squiggles]

A little story for all to hear. A little birdie told me that one of the fishing crew that nets the island got booked for drink driving. He went 4 times the legal limit. Then he became abusive to the police so the police impounded his rust bucket. See what we have to put up with over there.
Geez, I wonder who that would have been??
Let me think...............................Yep Got it!

[patrol50]

835 signatures and still going !!!!

cheers rob

[Fillet`n`Release]

Another important point that supports this petition is that there is only one ocean beach licence (K4) remaining for Moreton Island. The owner of this licence could not make money out of it as the costs of transporting the fish back outweighed the worth of the fish. He does not commercial fish at all now and he was also a sand crabber. The other ocean beach licences were bought back by the Queensland Government.
To explain the ocean beach licence - it is mainly used to catch mullet and taylor which are caught in the winter in the ocean beach area. The commercial fishermen are also targeting whiting, bream and anything they can sell at other times apart from the winter season as well using N1 and so called bait nets.

"IF" this factual, that the only licensed operator isn't operating, then all other land based (on Moreton Island) netters are "presumably" operating illegally ?

And "IF" the comments regarding stand over tactics and threats to locals to intimidate them, that's not the first time we've heard such complaints from numerous locations up and down the QLD coast (several in particular in SE QLD) where netters threaten and intimidate rec fishos openly.

The "right" through licensing to perform an activity has never constituted ownership, and when that kind of responsibility is shunned I don't think the small gains the license holders might make, isn't in the public interest. Particularly "IF" other statements made suggest a majority of fish caught in the Moreton Bay region are going interstate and would thus have limited if no notable impact on people "buying some nice fresh fish" locally.

signed !