Sorry Chris, I can't agree with you, although in a perfect world I would. As it is I would rather have our current setup than again pay x groups of consultants to do another study on another system in order to recommend y outcome, and all within the realms of qangos and their inefficiencies. Having seen what state govt has done to DPI and other departments in the bush, I don't have any faith that an anti fishing government would screw down fishing if it was in their interests to do so.
And while I understand that funds might be segregated, I don't have the faith that those funds would not be raided.
But it's not the money, it's the principal of being on another list.
Let me explain it this way. It shoots me to tears that I have to pay the road toll people $20 to have a buzzer in my car. If I have to backpay, ie pay over the internet if I gothrough a toll without a buzzer, they've made it so bloody impossible that it's a joke. So you virtually have to have a pass. When I buy that pass, I have to give them $20 to start off and if I go below $10 they top it up. So they have $20 of mine for nothing to do with what they will. For ever. Unless I cancel it. I find that unfair.
So when I say I am against a licence, it's because I'm finding myself more and more tied down by rules and regulations. Gone are the days when I could largely do what I wanted, when I wanted. Fishing is my last freedom, where I can get in a boat and get the hell away from everyone. Will having to pay a licence change that. Fundamentally for me...yes. It would be another tooth on the cog of government control.
I amn't trying to downgrade your point of view at all. I think I can understand your arguments. It's just that to me, the argument is not about fish stocks, it's about lifestyle, and what I see as a right of a Qlder to do what I want without a shiny arse regulating me. Again.
Hope that makes sense
regards Jim