60 Minutes

[Vern_Veitch]

Go to the 60 Minutes site at http://news.ninemsn.com.au/sixtyminutes/ and vote now or we will be done again. And don't foget to tell all you mates that it is time to get off their bums and support us too.
Vern

[Fitzy]

Done. Not looking that crask hot for the good guys tho. #:-/
Dunno if Charles Wooley is a cupboard pro supporter. He did a one hour thing on fishing the Murray a few years ago & painted the pros as the embattled underdogs. Showed gill netting & drum nets in use. I near cried to see some big fish get thumped on the head. :'(
Drect link is http://news.ninemsn.com.au/sixtyminutes/stories/2002_05_05/story_572.asp

Fitzy..

[Wesley_Pang]

Fitzy,

I doubt Charles is a pro-supporter, he's a flyfisherman.

He was in a "Wildfish" program on Tassie. He has place down in there and has a pond stocked with trout.

Wes

[Fitzy]

Hi Wes,
I'm well aware that Charles is an avid angler. There is always 2 sides to a story & he has a job to do. Being contivertial makes for good ratings too. There's also the producers pushing a certain line.

Cheers,

Fitzy..

[The_Walrus]

Definitely touch & Go. http://www.ausfish.com.au/chat/images/smilies/cwm1.gif

To the average public, the amateur foshos have been painted as the baddies.

The voting shows w'ere not ahead. Mind you, the line "they've succeeded in closing down much of Australia's waterways to commercial fishermen" manages to convey misleading impression. http://www.ausfish.com.au/chat/images/smilies/cwm23.gif

Luc

[Harro]

Thanks for the "heads up", Vern.
Looks like numbers are needed on this one...hope this has gone out to other sites.
Much more could have been done with the material but Woolley is a closet pro-supporter...he lost me on that Murray cod story that Fitzy alludes to. Rex was too busy grandstanding, shame he didn't focus on the issues instead of his personalised theatrics...
The story lacked any real imput from the rec sector...the jobs being lost in the boating/tackle/tourist sectors as fish stocks dry up...those that can be created when the inshore resource is re-allocated to the rec sector....the excellent job NSW Fisheries has done since the introduction of a general (saltwater and freshwater) license; 29 rec only areas as from today and more planned.
Our side of the argument wasn't represented and prosecuted strongly enough, 60 Minutes boiled the issue down to that of pastimes versus jobs. On that slate the
former will always win.
On another note Vern, there's word around about a breakdown in communications between the Sunfish leadership and the minister, Mr. P. Any comment there?
We recently lost badly on the tailor. Any connection?

[Vern_Veitch]

Harro,
I sent an email to 60 Minutes outlining most of your comments before I put up the original posting. Thanks for your support.
The Minister seems a bit reluctant to talk to either the QSIA or ourselves at present. Perhaps he is tired of the ongoing conflict. We are having our AGM in Townsville this weekend and I'm sure it will be discussed.
I still cannot understand the logic behind the tailor decision but I can see a lot of ex-Queensland holidays being taken in NSW. I believe the Minister and the Department still do not recognise the full economic benefits from resource allocation to the recreational sector.
All we can do is keep trying.
None of these issues will go away. Unfortunately, there is a lot of Not My Job attitude in the recreational sector and unless a few others get off their bums and follow the lead of JayBee by visiting ther local member and putting forward their perspective then change will be slow.
With one paid employee based in Brisbane, SUNFISH cannot do it all.
Vern

[jaybee]

I sent an email off as well and voted, nothing was covered on how much damage the nets do to the seagrass or how heaps of smaller fish are caught up with the bigger fish and crushed. Just a tad too much grandstanding from both sides of the fence and not enough truth covered.

[Vern_Veitch]

They are fighting back again fellas. Get all your mates to vote as well.
Vern

[Jason_L]

Though i am one to dislike commercial fisherman, if they are to do it i think they should move to different areas atleast each year.

I"ve seen nets down here when i was about to go fishing and had to call the day off because of where the nets were placed.

The #######s were after the barramundi a few days before the season closed.

Also, don't you find it strange that barramundi are on the restaurant menu between november and february. even commercial dam'd fish shouldn't be served in this time. instead they should be released into the fishing system.

[Fozz]

I live in the South West of WA & have seen the white bait schools depleat from , big schools forming a black mass cruising the foreshore, to the odd sea through schools & they still chase them down & encircle the lot with the net & it's another school gone. Small tailor & mulloway also taken.
It has to be afecting the whole of the fish chain.A lot of unwanted fish are left behind & I have seen rows of seagulls a km or so up the shore line, that are that full they could'nt eat any more. Something has to be done !
I'm of to vote !

[saundy]

One pro stated that he "drinks more than $34,000 a year". If that is so, he either is not paying all the bills or making a lot more than I am. Hardly what I would classify as "an underdog" ::)

[Kerry]

One pro stated that he "drinks more than $34,000 a year". If that is so, he either is not paying all the bills or making a lot more than I am. Hardly what I would classify as "an underdog" ::)

No that's not what was said at all, the figure was $17,000 but even that sounds a bit over done ::)

Cheers, Kerry.

[Cando]

Hmmm...... $17000.00..... Is that before tax ?????

[Fitzy]

No that's not what was said at all, the figure was $17,000 but even that sounds a bit over done #::)

Cheers, Kerry.


Hi Kerry,
Either way, it is pretty silly comment. If true, I'd hate to be his liver. :P

Fitz

[webby]

The 60mins vote at 8.00pm was 71% yes to 29% no
keep up the votes fellas. at least its a minor step in the right
direction. We''ll see if they have a follow up on the story
after there poll is finished.
regards

[Maxg]

I'm np expert on NSW Pro fishing, but I do know that the pro's reckon, in their magazine, that there are 4.5 million rec anglers and they catch 45 million kgs of fish per year. Thats a lot, so they say, but it 10kg for each rec angler. Just a piddling 10kgs.
There are 6000 pro's in the Oz scene and god alone knows how much they catch. I think we all miss the essential message, which is that inshore estuary netters catch so little in real terms that their input to the total value of the industry is about zilch, and in the interests of the environment they are expendable. They have no Gos given right to catch and sell fish. The wider community owns the resource and they, through their Govs, and Giv Fishery Dept hand out licences to people to catch fish withing stigg guidelines.
If there comes a time that this system becomes not viable the right of the people is to withdraw those licenses with whatever compensation the Gov detirmines. No-one has a god given right to anything. Period.
There are many other people who have been in business for 40 years and have been done by recessions, bad decisions etc, Pro fishermen are just another causalty of progress, and maybe a wake up call.
The problem with the pro system is that it catches more than is necessary to feed us, so they flog it over seas, and we, who really own the stuff have to import cheap stuff from NZ and South Africa because the pro's arent out there to feed us the produce from our resource, they flog it off somewhere else and the price to us, if we get it, rises because the overseas customers pay high prices.
If you want to change things, just vote in support for the environment. And make a point of being noticed. We all know the power of the Web, give the pollies the news about how you feel by floggong the Gov web site to death, 24 hours a day. Just blot it out, and bob onto any pro web site and beat the crap out of that too. Contact them continuously. Have fun, make it a game be constant Max

[jaybee]

Well Put Max, BTW I still have 3 vacancies next thursday (16th) (3 pm.) to attend a meeting in at parliament house over the tailor RIS / pilchards, which will probably lead to all of this, if anyone is interested send me a message.