Qld freshwater fishstocking

Been a while since anybody's put anything up on here in Qld. 2016 it seems. That was when the additions to the Qld SIP scheme were made in Qld.

Now Qld fishos have a draft fishstocking policy upon which to comment. Closed now I think.

Any thoughts?

Is the proposed policy any different to the way fishstocking management has been handled in the past?

A govt/departmental policy is a formalised set of rules and understandings so that both the Dept and the public have a reference on how "business with each other" is to be handled.

A formal public policy promotes transparency and trust both of which are completely foreign to Qld DAF. The former is foreign to DAF and the latter certainly doesn't exist from a public perspective.

After 22 years and in excess of $1 million spent developing a formal policy, it seems that we're nearly there. So it seems.

This proposed policy is going to be the first fishstocking policy that DAF Qld has ever had since they (and most other fishers) recognized the need for one 22 years ago (1998).

Bit of a surprise that they've never had one previous to this?

Probably would be considering that everybody thought they had one. They claimed they had one. But they didn't. They had THIS mickey mouse little document which they kept quoting as a "policy". It was a "position paper".

2598_Freshwater stocking QLD_v11.pdf

It dictated what DAF's position was about the subject and that was that. No public consultation about it like what's in the interests of the recreational fishing fraternity or businesses supplying it.

The position outlined was simply what was in DAF's interests. These are the rules...."like it or lump it" was the departmental philosophy. You can still see that philosophy in the new draft policy.



Note 2 things about this "position paper" document. Its V11 (they'd had 10 previous attempts to fool around with it) and note the dates particularly the "created" date.......2006. (8 years late).

They've been quoting report extracts and practices, management plans and permits (and particularly the above report) BUT not one single bit of what they've been using for the last 20 odd years has had a legal administrative/policy leg to stand on.

Know how much money DAF has spent in the last 22 years supposedly developing a fishstocking policy?

$1,166,276 ...............for 68 pages of a draft policy.

For a 68 page document, that's a mere $17,151 per page.

Qld taxpayer value for money?

If its a government Dept spending taxpayer money like a drunken sailor, then the sky is the limit. Anything goes, it seems.

DAF had been under pressure about the amount of money spent for no progress on a formal policy following a teleconference with Rockhampton people in early 2018 (representations to Ministerial level eventuated) about what's been going on for years.

A fishstocking workshop to develop a policy was organised and held in Warwick in early November 2018.

In the DAF report for that seminar, the date for production of a policy was the 30th June 2019. (end of 18/19 financial year).

Note that its two years now since that seminar. Anybody seen a policy yet? Maybe the peak body for freshwater stocking in Qld?

The draft they've drawn up is full of "administrative holes" that are most certainly administratively challengeable should a proposal be "knocked back" by DAF.

Once DAF 'locks itself into a policy", it must adhere to it or be challenged outside DAF.

Is this draft policy "so full of holes" that it's not worth $17,151 per page?

2 bob per page (if that).