DIOXIN: A DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR FISHERS

[Derek_Bullock]

NSW Fishing Clubs Association

MEDIA RELEASE

Wednesday 25-1-2005

“DIOXIN: A DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR FISHERS”


Fishers in NSW are outraged by the revelation that fish and prawns in Sydney harbour have been contaminated by dioxins.

“The government has been aware of this potential for an ecological disaster for decades” Robert Smith, the President of the NSW Fishing Clubs Association, said today. “Yet they have hardly lifted a finger to fix the problem or even warn people of the impending crisis.”

Anglers who fish Sydney Harbour have been exposed to the risk because most of them eat their catch. This is especially true for bottom dwelling species such as bream which reported the highest levels of contamination.

“Last year Bob Carr diverted tens of millions of dollars from the garbage levy to the acquisition of the Birggalow National Park but this money was meant to be spent on cleanups like this” Smith said “Then his successor committed even more to establish the Port Stephens and Batemans Bay marine parks.”

The declaration of national and marine parks has cost thousands of jobs and has resulted in significant disruption to the freedoms and lifestyles of outdoor and country Australians.

“The community has been conned again. We were led to believe that the levy would be used to clean up the environment” Rod Burston, spokesman for the Association said. “Instead the money has been diverted to acquire massive marine and national parks designed purely to secure Green preferences for the upcoming state elections.”

“The curious thing is that the Greens have been silent on the dioxin issue for years. Apparently they prefer to use their influence to bludgeon government into establishing these parks and running them in strict accord with the tenets of their ideology.” Mr Burston added.

“The misappropriation of the environment levy has seen Sydney fishers locked out from pristine fishing grounds when they are on holidays and now they are banned from eating fish caught in their own back yards.”

Rod Burston
Spokesman for the NSW Fishing Clubs Association

[Derek_Bullock]

Fishing ban prompts compo calls

PM - Wednesday, 25 January , 2006 18:41:00

Reporter: Helen Tzarimas

MARK COLVIN: Sydney's Harbour fishermen say they're afraid they won't be compensated for a three-month ban on their livelihood.

The New South Wales Government imposed the ban yesterday, because of unsafe levels of dioxins in fish.

The fishermen have no guarantee of compensation and they fear that the harbour fishing ban could extend indefinitely.

Helen Tzarimas reports.

HELEN TZARIMAS: The New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma won't commit to compensating the commercial fishermen, who say their livelihoods are at risk, now that Sydney Harbour has been declared off-limits for three months.

MORRIS IEMMA: Not ruling anything in or out. These are matters where we have to do further testing. And as you're also aware of the massive investment in remediation, there's some half a billion dollars in remediation.

HELEN TZARIMAS: But the fishermen affected by the ban say without compensation they'll be left with virtually nothing.

Mark Forrester is one of the fishermen who's licensed to operate on Sydney Harbour.

MARK FORRESTER: At the moment it's taken 95 per cent of my income away from me and also my fishing partner. So the impact is quite severe. We have, under our license we can also work the Pittwater and Hawkesbury region which we'll have to go to, to try to make a living but it's like starting from scratch because we haven't worked up there a great deal so we only know a few grounds.

And then it does put more pressure on the other estuaries because there'll be an influx of say about 20-25 fishermen moving up there within the next week.

So we've got no choice.

HELEN TZARIMAS: But financial issues are not Mr Forrester's only concern.

He says while he's not particularly worried after regularly eating his catch for decades, he wants himself and his family tested to see if they have dioxins in their systems.

MARK FORRESTER: If anyone's going to have it, it's the people that are eating it all the time, not someone who only eats it once every blue moon.

HELEN TZARIMAS: When will you undergo this testing?

MARK FORRESTER: Up till now, I made enquiries through my local doctor, and he came back to me and said we haven't got the facilities here in Australia.

HELEN TZARIMAS: There are concerns the contamination is so severe, that the three-month fishing ban will have to be extended.

Opposition Environment Spokesman Michael Richardson believes the evidence shows the problem is bigger than the Government will admit.

MICHAEL RICHARDSON: The Government themselves have been self-contradictory. The Minister for Primary Industries has banned commercial fishing for three months but the Minister for the Environment says that the clean-up of Homebush Bay is going to take 12 months, and he's not even talking about the full clean-up of Homebush Bay, he's talking about a partial clean-up.

There are massive dioxin hotspots in the centre of Homebush Bay that are just going to be left there. So I think the problem's going to continue.

HELEN TZARIMAS: And Mr Richardson says the fishermen must be compensated right now.

MICHAEL RICHARDSON: The problem is entirely one of the Government's making. They've licensed these fishermen to take fish and of course the fish are polluted because of the Government's inaction essentially.

HELEN TZARIMAS: Greenpeace has been campaigning over the high concentration of dioxins at Homebush for more than 10 years.

Campaign Manager Danny Kennedy says that's why yesterday's decision to ban fishing from Parramatta to the Heads came as no surprise.

DANNY KENNEDY: Because Greenpeace has been alerting the authorities to this for over a decade. We have actually caught a three-eyed fish out there at Homebush Bay, and been very clear that the dioxin's sources on Rhodes Peninsula are contaminating Sydney's waterways. So it's well past time that the Government needed to act in such a way.

HELEN TZARIMAS: The Department of Primary Industries will meet with affected fishermen on Monday.