Sunfish. What have they done for those of us in QLD??

[Macks forever]

Finga asked the question - "When the bloody hell is the appropriate time to question a decision then??"
A fair question.

Considering the secret little twists in a lot of these political and bureaucratic announcements, and the orchestrated way they are delivered, I probably would have been a bit hesitant to jump up and down at the time of the announcement, especially if I had no prior knowledge of what was in it. The spin in these things is never "THE TRUTH THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NIOTHING BUT THE TRUTH". As it was, the minister still fool a number of people [myself included] who thought the 1 fish over 70cm applied to commercial fishers as well.

However, most people can usually find out all the relevant info within 24 hrs of announcments like this, and there is an urgency in responding formally and publicly and loudly to some of these things. And if there is something really dirty going on then there does need to be a lot of jumping up and down and screaming from a representative body, whoever that is supposed to be.

I shall try to turn this into something positive and post it on the related thread of what Sunfish should do.

Something like:

Respond to significant issues quickly, strongly and publicly when the best interests of recreational fishers in Qld have been adversly affected.

[Fitzy]

"The Sunfish Management Committee is very reluctant that Sunfish should respond on a social site that is more about entertainment and ego-tripping than responsible fisheries management."



Gee - that is pulling the shutters down, isn't it?


It is hard to have much confidence in an outfit that wants to bury its head in the sand like that.




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I recon it was all a fair enough comment until the generalised insults were tossed in. I think the words around ego-tripping ruined what he was trying to communicate to his club members. Apart from that, if Barry Pollock and/or the Sunfish club don't wish to join in this community & by doing so engage with more recreational anglers, that is up to them. All the while the gap ever widens......

If the sunfish club do however wish to engage in this and/or similar social network sites, I'm prepared to listen to their ideas and offer assistance / advice to them. My number isn't hard to find.

Cheers,

fitzy..

[finga]

Yep, there comes a time when bridges have to be mended for the good of fishing.

Sunfish need to take a big step in building that bridge.
Talking to us would be a big step.
Asking what we see as problems would be a step.
Mack's fella has outlined a few thoughts. Addressing those would be a big step.

I don't think the people on web based forums are that narrow minded as not to be able to see what is a good thing if it happens. And accept it. And work to make it better.

[Gazza]

Fitzy , please don't focus on "ego-tripping" as a Key-Word (by SunFish) to SUPPOSEDLY "tar&feather" Ausfishers ...please.

I do appreciate you "stepping up to the plate" to PROTECT AusFishos...err integrity

We RecFishos R 1 M8 (good,bad&ugly)....I'd venture to State , SunFish is not the Messiah or Useless....and certainly imo on RecFishos "side" 99% of the time.

Commercials & THE CHARTER SECTOR do "fish for profit"..we don't
jmo as always

[Judy SFQ]

More to the point, what have you done for the recreational fishing community, Finga. At least Sunfish is open with what they try to do. What I'd like to know Finga is what have you tried to do recently. I really am interested, I spent 4 very busy days at the boat show in Brisbane recently and most of that time was spent talking to people who were asking me what they could do to help.
Some had actually lodged recent submissions to the government on issues that ticked them off. Most of those I asked to send me copies of what they had submitted because it gives me a greater feel for what their concerns are. I'd like to offer you the same opportunity. Please send me any recent submissions you have made. That is of course unless you just point the Finga and remember there is always one finger pointing back at you.
More than happy to receive comments, just don't bother complaining about what you think everyone else should be doing, I already have two teenagers who do that very well.

Regards

Judy Lynne

[finga]

More to the point, what have you done for the recreational fishing community, Finga. At least Sunfish is open with what they try to do. What I'd like to know Finga is what have you tried to do recently. I really am interested, I spent 4 very busy days at the boat show in Brisbane recently and most of that time was spent talking to people who were asking me what they could do to help.
Some had actually lodged recent submissions to the government on issues that ticked them off. Most of those I asked to send me copies of what they had submitted because it gives me a greater feel for what their concerns are. I'd like to offer you the same opportunity. Please send me any recent submissions you have made. That is of course unless you just point the Finga and remember there is always one finger pointing back at you.
More than happy to receive comments, just don't bother complaining about what you think everyone else should be doing, I already have two teenagers who do that very well.

Regards

Judy Lynne

To be blunt Judy....I don't have to do anything. I'm not charged as the peek body representing recreational angling. Sunfish is.

If you want to know what our concerns are just read. It is not hard.
If Sunfish were open then the minutes of meetings would be available to all through your website. Financial reports would be available to all through your website. The more information that is shared the better it would be for people to understand what Sunfish does and how they do it.

Put the submissions up here so all can read. They may well interest us.

4 busy days at the boat show....good then. That means your doing your job and talking to the general fishing community.

Helping the recreational community is more then submitting submissions. If you want to know what I do to help the fishing community or to help those a bit worse off then most of us then ask people around the traps. Those who know me know what I do. I don't have to tell people and I definitely do not have to brag about it. Do I actually do anything??

Why is it Judy that Sunfish say they're all about education BUT the education page is blank on your website?
Why is it Jusy that Sunfish's events page on their website is blank?
When is Sunfish's website going to work again?

Read all the threads about Sunfish and answer some questions that are asked and that would go a long to informing us what Sunfish does and it would go a long way in appeasing the masses.
Keep us in the loop. Post on the various fishing forums. A paste with the same information onto the various sites will reach a large audience.

As for finger pointing. Well the job I'm charged with isn't been questioned is it? Sunfish's is.
If Sunfish can't handle criticism from a few people (the people they're supposed to represent) on a forum how are they supposed to handle Ministers?

And....when is the appropriate time to jump up and down about the snapper bag limit decision? Could not do it during the announcement so when is the right time?? Has it been questioned yet?

Why not put a thread up here that Sunfish's AGM is on on the week-end so people may be able to attend??
There are lots of people who may well want to go to that but do not know it's on. What are the details for Sunfish's AGM?

[boney-leg]

I recon it was all a fair enough comment until the generalised insults were tossed in.

fitzy..

I agree with that. Ausfish has 100000 members and this thread has comments from about 10 people ... about 0.01% of the forum. For either side of the argument - that is stuff all support. And to really put it into perspective - ETEC bashing gets easily more participants in the threads. So maybe there is a reason for not following social network sites as a true indication of the feelings out there Used properly - they do have a place though. This thread reminds me of Python's 'Life of Brian' - We are all individuals ... I'm not.

[charleville]

So maybe there is a reason for not following social network sites as a true indication of the feelings out there.

Not so sure about that. Was there ever a greater example of the power of the internet than the so called "Arab spring" that saw long standing leaders toppled because of online clarion calls?

Likewise, the recent riots, vandalism and mob looting incidents in Britain were all driven by the use of online media.

Accordingly, it should not be too hard to organise via the internet, the stacking of the AGM of any organisation that loses the confidence of people who it might see as its rightful constituents such that the entire committee is voted out, together with any hostile employees of that organisation.


Not hard at all for anyone who wants to be energetic enough to drive such a campaign. The defence for the organisation under attack may be to engage in what is called "Astro-turfing" in online media, but the officers of that organisation have to be IT literate enough to understand how to do that.


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[finga]

Accordingly, it should not be too hard to organise via the internet, the stacking of the AGM of any organisation
.

That might be why the Sunfish website has been down for a fairly long period of time and we don't seem to get answers to questions.
Sunfish's Annual General Meeting is on this coming week-end apparently.

They seem to find the time to question what others are doing but cannot find the time to answer questions about themselves.

[Captain Incredible]

The whole "peak body" process is a sham. The QCVA purports to be the peak body for charter. Maybe twenty years ago it was. The same ills of old age, loss of focus, using the technology of twenty years ago, (Pollock stated in an email that a Sunfish colleague had described users of online fishing forums as "wankers with computers". Nice one Barry) and a shrinking membership base through maintaining the rage of twenty years ago rather than moving into the current arena of debate & representation.

Fisheries need to conduct a rigid audit of these peak bodies for representativeness, "real" membership not claimed affiliations, due process, cooperative skills with other stakeholders, engagement in Fisheries processes, being able to initiate & drive change in community attitudes through grass roots community engagement, reflect those attitudes to management & adopt a "whole of Government" approach to representation & lobby efforts on issues such as marine safety & MPAs.

This audit should help the ones that want to be saved alter their processes to remain relevant.

Funding & a seat at any Government table should be reliant on stakeholder representatives meeting strict KPIs. Otherwise, as most are currently doing, these "peak bodies" are simply wasting space & time.

[finga]

What's a MPA and a KPI?
Sorry. I just don't know.

[charleville]

KPI = Key Performance Indicators = standard management jargon for what an organisation or worker gets measured on. Often their pay depends on it.


MPA = ???? = Marine Protection Areas?????




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[rayken1938]

Having a winge on a social media site will achieve nothing if you genuinely wish to bring about change.
It wont get you barbecue sauce on your burger when you want chile.
You can get involved with sunfish and agitate from within to bring about change if you can convert existing members to your way of thinking or attract new likeminded members.
An AGM or preferably a general meeting is an ideal meeting to do this providing you give notice of motion.
The notice of motion will go out to all members and affiliates and even if the notice fails it may be enough to make the current leadership to sit up and take notice.
Any member has the right to be heard but if you are not a member you will quite correctly will be ignored.
The other alternative is to start up an opposition organisation but judging by the limited number of people actually posting on this thread compared to the number who are reading it it would appear to me that the silent majority are happy with the job that Sunfish are doing or they could not care less and deserve what they receive.
Cheers
Ray

[finga]

Woohoo. Sunfish website is working again.
AUSFISH
Some Sunfish members may have noted the malicious comments and other dubious posts about Sunfish and its Chairman, and other people on the AUSFISH forum. The Sunfish Management Committee is very reluctant that Sunfish should respond on a social site that is more about entertainment and ego-tripping than responsible fisheries management. All policies of Sunfish, including our submissions on fisheries management reviews are done by an inclusive process whereby all members and regional branches can have an input. Sunfish wishes to continue to be a responsible and reputable representative of recreational fishing in Queensland.

So if one of Sunfish's key components is Education and their education page is blank and has been blank for a bloody long time and Ausfish has many educational aspects such as how to cast a cast net etc etc and other educational features in the hints and tips section and Ausfish even has sticky about recreational fishing regulations.
Which one seems to be more concerned with education??

What are the malicious comments and dubious posts?

What is the organisational structure of Sunfish?

If Sunfish is the peak body that represent all recreational anglers in QLD then why is it the vast majority of recreational anglers cannot have a say?

Why is it Sunfish cannot answer direct questions but can ask questions?

[FNQCairns]

Looks like their charter might now be for viewing by selected eyes only..I couldn't find it on their site, only found 'brochure level' information, the last time i read it was from their website...to not include it would make for a political decision??

Unless they no longer have one???