NOW THEY WANT TRINITY INLET AND HINCHINBROOK

[SNELLY]

They have taken 30+% of the GBR and now I hear that the EPA wants to close parts of Trinity Inlet and Hinchinbrook Channel.

KC can you shead some light on this for us please ?

Where is this going ?????

Snelly

[cHiCo]

Why dont they just make us live in egg cartons!

[kc]

Hi Snelly,

I heard this too but have not been able to establish if it is true. I placed calls (as the party) to environment ministers and fisheries ministers office on Monday. Fisheries basically said...nothing to do with them and environment ministers office is not returning calls.

Personally I think it is a bit of a red herring but I really don't know. From my understanding of the "complimentary legislation" plan is that waters which flow from an estuary/creek/river (state marine park) into the GBR will reflect the same zoning as the waters into which they flow. I had a look at cairns and Cairns Inlet is flowing into a blue zone so it should?????? be OK

Once I have the answer I will post it.

REgards

KC

[northsboy]

Yeah ive heard that they were talking about shutting down fishing in the whooooole cairns inlet!!! For a couple of years to let the fish stocks build up again,which i rekon is stupid for two reasons...one is that well lol its just everyone fish's there and yeah i wanna still be able to fish there ::) ::) hahaha and second is that if that happens everybody will start pissing off to the reef......so all those boats that would usually be fishing the estuaries,creeks etc may start going out to the reef which means in turn that alot MORE reefs around the cairns area will be fished out!!!! Soon we will have to go half way to NZ to fish!!
Thats just what ive heard from a couple of people that have spoken to some fisheries authorities! But hey never know
Cheers
Liam

[SNELLY]

Hey Jockey,

If they close the inlet then will we be catching heaps in the Baron with the great sipll over then ?????

[Dr_Dan]

It depends on how they approach this. personally, i wouldn't mind seeing some estury areas around cairns closed off. Cairns doesn't really have any GREAT nursery areas in the estury. I mean, look at hinchinbrook. There are Km's of floodplains that the little tackers can get up in, grow, and then enter the main system. The inlet is doesnt' really have many of these areas. ALso, as it's the biggest system in cairns, get a lot of attention from rec fisho's. I would give the authorities my full support to close off some of the areas ONLY if they do it smartly. Not like the bloody reef, close half the place! ALso, why not just kick the netters out of teh inlet! I know it's a lot easier said than done, after all, it is their bread and butter.

Interestingly (off the topic a bit), had a professor that i know catch some crabs in the inlet. Took them down to brissy, just for interest sake to look at what goodies where in them in the way of heavy metals, chemicals etc. He reackons now he wouldn't touch the things in a biohazard suit! Makes sense, as the inlet doesn't flow, and all the drains in cairns lead into it. Just think, all those interesting goodies that any city produces ending up in the water around there! YUCK!

As for closing off some of hinchinbrook, well, it's a pretty big bloody place! Surely they could close off a small amount of the area, and all the reco's out there will still be happy!

Well that's what i think anyhow ;D ;D

[SNELLY]

Dan,

I'm not against closurers as such . But as you can see from the current reef situation it's not going to be done smartly that I can be sure of !!!!!

Snelly

[kc]

Hey Snelly,

I'm getting a bit of feedback from our "insider" & so far it's not pretty. I will post when I have the facts.

Just wanted you to know that I'm not ignoring your request.

Regards

KC

[kc]

Hi again Snelly,

Just thought you would like to know I got a "please explain" email from the EPA today...like who the F%$@# are you?? What is your mission statement, constitution and policies etc.

I think they are startng to notice we are here!! Might even be getting a bit nervous, god forbid fishos could actually get organised and threaten their nice cosy relationship with the greens.

We have enough numbers to make a real difference and atually demonstrate the power of democracy at work, and I have got to say that scares the shit out of them.

KC

[nonibbles]

Under the same guidelines (ie. continuity zoning outside the marine park where zones meets inland waterways) then, Cattle Ck, Bohle River, all Cleveland bay creeks and the Haughton River would become yellow zoned up stream too?

[kc]

That is my understanding of it Yes! 1 hook 1 line.

But I will get it confirmed

KC

[jockey]

Snelly sorry I'm not that familiar with the area. But in a general sense the green zones should be set up so you can catch the spillover without having to stray too far from home. I know that's probably not what is happening which is why fishermen need to lead the way, not the greens.

[SNELLY]

KC,

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

As you said good to see the Fishing Party starting to get noticed.

The comment re yellow zones is not what I'm on about here. If it was all yellow I would not be concerned.

What the EPA is proposing is total closure to most of the Inlet and Hinchinbrook channel.

Snelly

[kc]

Hi Snelly,

A bit of an update. I have to hand a somewhat dated but none the less written conformation from the chief of staff of the premiers department which says in part

"While the complimentary planning means having the same rules applying to the use of entry zones, it does not necessarily mean mirroring boudries of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) into Queensland's coastal waters.".................It also says, in part "Whe considering future zoning for state marine park waters, the Queensland government will consult with all relavent stake holders".


From my reading of this they are not just suddenly going to drop a bomb on us over the inlet & Hinchinbrook..........they will soften us up first with a round or 2 of public submisions at the very least.

Hopefully this is "the drum". I am still waiting for a call back from the Minister for Enviroments ofice but personally, no matter what he has planned, Premier Pete will stand by his word and go thorough a public comment phase rather than just blindside us.

While I don't think much of pollies in general I have a fair bit of time for "Pete". Once he has put something in writting I think he will stand by his word, regardless of what the pointy end of the green movement is baying for.


I will update you further as info comes to hand.

Regards

KC

[Daintreeboy]

A similar situation nearly happened with the Daintree. They wanted to shut the local beaches down to fishing (even though very few people fish it and take much either). My dad pointed out that according to the proposed boundary wouldn't this mean the zone would extend past the Daintree mouth which, according to the rules would then mean the whole tidal section of the Daintree would be closed?
They said yes in a rather red faced fashion as this was not taken very well and thankfully sanity prevailed and the plan was scrapped, for now at least.
While I'd agree with a total shutdown for a year in theory, in practice rec fishos would lose valuable fishing grounds, tackle stores would suffer etc. Fixing bag limits is a better option to solve these issues in my book.
Cheers, Mark.

[SNELLY]

KC,

I just hope that with the public meetings we can get a say and more importantly get listened to and some action not like the RAP.


Snelly

[kc]

Absolutely!!!!!!! We do not have predetermined agendas. The Fishing Party absolutely NEEDS input from rec fishers, (nearly as much as we need actual membership). We can not even pretend to speak on behalf of the rec fishing community at a political level if we don't have a decent membership base AND have policies which rec fishers actually agree with!

& back to the issue of the inlet & Hinchinbrook, I managed to have a conversation today with a guy called David Briggs, the "Team Leader, Policy Division EPA". He has told me catagorically and confirmed in writting (by way of a ministerial press release dated June 1st) That no complimentary legislation will be put before cabinet without a public consultation phase.
We live and breath!! I might add he knew all about The Fishing Party (Qld)...yes we are being noticed!

REgards

KC