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Thread: Marine reserves

  1. #1

    Marine reserves

    Information on all the green zones coming into play.

    http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts...ves/index.html

  2. #2

    Re: Marine reserves

    Comes into law at 12 pm tonight
    Tangles KFC


  3. #3

    Re: Marine reserves

    Yep- thin end of the wedge is in. Now watch for the lentil eating germ carriers to start kicking like hell on the thick end.


  4. #4

    Re: Marine reserves

    No changes to the intial 'proposed' zone boundaries. Comments by recreational fishers, pro fishers and their input completely ignored.

    Roll on the next Federal Election when Mr Burke and his fellow Labour stooges will join their NSW and QLD State colleagues!
    Jim

  5. #5

    Re: Marine reserves

    so what impact do they have on rec fishing? or am I reading it wrong?


    http://www.environment.gov.au/marine...ctivities.html

  6. #6

    Re: Marine reserves

    It looks like there is bugger all impact for the recs but the long liners are going to be the ones effected.

  7. #7

    Re: Marine reserves

    The plain fact is this is simply another 'payment' to the greens to keep labor in government.

    There is no sound scientific reason to have them in place.

  8. #8

    Re: Marine reserves

    Quote Originally Posted by PinHead View Post
    so what impact do they have on rec fishing? or am I reading it wrong?


    http://www.environment.gov.au/marine...ctivities.html
    I flogged this from Mr Fisho, it should explain a few things.




    ust found this on www.keepaustraliafishing.com.au
    http://www.keepaustraliafishing.com.au/ ... news?id=51

    The Hon Tony Burke
    Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
    PO Box 6022
    House of Representatives
    Parliament House
    Canberra ACT 2600



    An Open Letter to Environment Minister Tony Burke

    Dear Minister

    When you announced the proposed Commonwealth marine reserve system in June this year we were shocked and disappointed to see that recreational fishers will be banned from more than 1.3 million square kilometres of Australian waters, classified as Marine National Park Zones (IUCN II).

    Since your initial plan was released we have asked through submission processes, and via meetings with yourself, your staff and departmental officials, why your Government is locking Australian recreational fishers out of these areas. We have continually requested that you show us the science necessitating these lockouts. To date, we have not received an adequate response.

    Again, we publicly request that you explain exactly what recreational fishers, including mums and dads fishing with their kids, do to the environment that warrants banning us from your new marine national parks. After all, we’re hardly in the same league as a super trawler – yet your new laws make no real distinction between a family enjoying a pleasant day on the water and the industrial activities carried out by large commercial fishing vessels. We respectfully suggest you need to update your thinking in this regard. Other nations recognise the difference between recreational and industrial fishing when implementing marine protection plans. Why not Australia?

    Furthermore, your current plan allows other user groups, including scuba divers and thousands of visitors in commercial tour vessels, to freely access and utilise these parks. However you have decided to deny recreational fishers these same rights. Why? Recreational fishing is allowed in many terrestrial national parks in Australia and overseas - why not in a marine national park? Is it fair to give one group of user’s unrestricted access while unjustifiably locking another group out?

    You also plan to allow commercial shipping, plus defence activities, to continue unabated in these new Parks, yet you will forbid Aussie fishers from wetting a line.

    This, we regret to say, is a bizarre and seemingly nonsensical decision. You say it is OK for giant oil tankers and coal ships to dodge coral reefs in these waters, and for naval vessels to bombard the area with heavy weapons, but recreational fishers pose such a risk that we need to be summarily banned? Surely, Mr Burke, you can understand why we are perplexed by your rationale here?

    We note that your Department has been running advertisements in major newspapers and magazines saying the new marine parks will not affect recreational fishers, mainly because the proposed no-go zones are located in offshore waters. We respectfully ask that you come clean with the Australian public and explain to the fishing families holidaying at Geographe Bay in Western Australia why they will no longer be able to fish in relative safety. You know as well as we do that the new parks you have planned here will completely remove access to protected inshore waters used sustainably for generations. Again, what is it that recreational fishers are doing that requires such seemingly draconian action?

    As a former fisheries minister, you are doubtless aware that Australian recreational fisheries are extremely tightly managed. All fishers are subject to strict size and bag limits, as well as other management protocols including closed seasons, tackle restrictions and so on. Many, if not all, of these rules and regulations were instigated by fishers as a demonstration of our commitment to the sustainability of the marine environment.

    It needs to be publicly acknowledged that we have made it very clear to you in various meetings that we are not opposed to sensible marine protection plans. Our stated policy is that if there is credible scientific evidence indicating that recreational fishing activities are having an adverse effect on the marine environment, then we will work with you to do what is needed to fix the problem.

    To date, however, we have seen no evidence from you or your department indicating that recreational fishing needs to be curtailed or banned in any Australian waters. This is despite continually asking for the science outlining the need for the proposed lockouts; hence our concern over your actions to date.

    Look at it from our perspective: We’re being unilaterally banned from vast areas of our own nation’s oceanic territory with no specific justification, no compensation and no recourse for appeal. At the same time other user groups (divers, tourists, shipping etc.) are given unfettered access across the entire marine park system while different groups (commercial fishing, for example) will be given millions in compensation courtesy of the taxpayer.

    Can you not understand our disquiet with the situation as it stands?

    The fact is that your plans to ban Aussie fishers from vast areas of Commonwealth waters without any scientific justification or rationale set an unacceptable and worrying precedent.

    In order to rectify these concerns, we expect your final decisions on who can and can't access the new marine parks to be based solely on credible science. To do anything else is to resort to what can only be described as crass political expediency.

    Australia’s 5 million recreational fishers await your response.

    Yours sincerely

    Jim Harnwell

  9. #9

    Re: Marine reserves

    I agree, there is not a lot of changes to the fishing habits of anglers along the Eastern Seaboard of Australia. Certainly in those areas that hold the majority of the poplulation (ie voters). However, just because it hasn't affected you or I personally in the manner in which we now fish, doesn't mean that it hasn't affected others or indeed won't bite us on the @ss later when the next round of parks, boundary changes happen. Ohh, and it will happen, probably immediately after a Federal Election when some politician says "There will be no changes to Marine Parks under the Government that I lead" (sound familiar?). Immediately following an election where the ruling party is held in place by single minded independants or Green party members things will change.

    I would like to draw your attention to some of the sentiment that is being expressed online by the Australian fishing community;

    Nomad Sportsfishing;


    "I should say up front that we don't believe this announcement will have any impact on our current charter schedule for the next 18 months, just to calm everyone on that front.

    What we do know for a fact is that every angler who owns a fishing rod or reel is about to have something stolen from them tomorrow, and I know that sounds dramatic, but it's the simple truth. The Minister is allowed to proclaim this without it going through parliament or having any vote on it!!! How insane is that? Its all because of some ancient law written in the 50's - truly offensive!

    Have you ever had something stolen? How'd it make you feel? Well anglers everywhere need to do what anyone who has had something stolen would do:-
    1) Do everything you can to get it back
    2) Make sure it never happens again
    3) Make sure the people who stole it are held accountable for their actions

    However, the fight is by no means over because the boundaries(and the whole marine park) do not come into effect until the management plan is implemented, and seeing as they don't even have a management plan yet, this won't happen before the next election(we hope!!), at which time we will all ensure that the crazy tree hugging labor party is sent packing and we can hold the liberal party to their promise for a full scientific review of the entire process and a review of all boundaries.

    I personally feel shafted and disillusioned at a political process that allows a single minister to wield sole power over the proclamation of a the world's largest marine reserve system without any accountability to parliament or any scientific process.

    All we can do from here is tell them what we think at the next election. What Burke is announcing tomorrow will be a national disgrace and i'm embarrassed to think what the rest of the world will think about us tomorrow. The world won't see us as a forward thinking, eco friendly, advanced western society, we'll be seen by the rest of the world as an island bananna republic inhabited by ignorant baboons, who know nothing of science or due process and have no idea how to govern themselves.

    This announcement will absolutely without any doubt cost Australia a massive amount in lost tourism revenue. We won't get any more people coming to Australia because we locked up massive areas of the ocean, but we will get a huge decrease in travelling anglers who PERCIEVE that we have closed shop to fishermen and we don't want them. Jeez, why would they think that? Can you imagine the way this will be reported all over the world? Just think how the US media will portray this story, are any US tourists going to put Australia at the top of their travel list? Maybe we could setup a new marketing campaign forget about the where the bloody hell are ya routine, we could get a new one "piss off travelling anglers, we don't want ya!"

    Ah well, that's my piece for now. We'll be doing everything we physically can to stop this craziness, and we hope that everyone who shares the same view will also do whatever they can as well."


    The Following Letter is from Tim Carter - Halco Tackle. I believe it sums up beautifully how a lot of us feel about the marginalisation of Australian Recreational Anglers when it comes to the current Federal Government.

    "I never thought I would get to the point that I had to write this.
    As a responsible recreational angler for over 40 years, I have stuck by government imposed size and bag limits, fisheries closures to allow for spawning aggregations and been involved in scientific fish tagging programmes to name but a few aspects of my fishing life.
    I have always stuck by the rules but today seals the day that I b...
    ecome an anarchist in relation to fisheries management.
    Today, federal environment minister Tony Burke proclaimed a huge area of Australia's waters as a series of marine parks around the country.
    While green groups will no doubt be dancing in the streets over the move, what about recreational anglers in all this? Commercial fishers will be precluded from fishing in these areas as well, but they will receive financial compensation for the exclusion – up $100 million taxpayers dollars worth, what’s the story for recreational anglers? You got a giant kick up the arse, that's what!
    Todays proclamation caps personally, a three year long series of supposed negotiations with the minister and his department.
    Unfortunately my report card scores the minister a complete and utter fail for this sham of a process.
    If there was real science behind the move, I could have lived with that, however it is not and never has been about science. It's about political payback to the green lobby for the ability of federal Labour to govern this country. It’s about the power that overseas funded, green groups have over the minister and his department and the absolute treachery and goalpost changing tactics they used to get this through.
    The spin and plain untruths of the green lobby has been breath taking, but the most startling thing I think, has been the conduct of minister Burke.
    He has even today insisted recreational anglers are unaffected by these MPA’s. A total bare faced lie I say!!!
    Areas of the Coral Sea, the Rottnest Trench and Geographe Bay are just three areas where recreational anglers are very much affected, and the minister knows it too. There are plenty of other examples out there but these ones in particular are the worst.
    He doesn’t have the courage to own up to these ones and recreational anglers, the little guys in this game have found it impossible through the media scrum to get the message out.
    Once the minister released a draft of this plan, leaders of the Australian fishing community including myself met again with the minister in Canberra to try and thrash out a plan to fix the major sticking points of concern to recreational fishermen.
    In that meeting, minister Burke admitted to us that he had made a mistake over the Rottnest Trench decision and stated that he would get back to us once he had a chance to have a look at the situation.
    Shock and horror, he didn’t and today locked us out of an area that we have fished since the late 1940’s. The fact that the Navy can run our clapped out, noisy submarines through the area with no restriction, naval surface vessels live firing and commercial shipping racing through the area seems to be ok but put a handful in reality of recreational anglers in small boats trolling the top 3 m of the water column is obviously a major risk. If it wasn’t so serious you would roll off the couch laughing about it. It’s straight out of “Yes Minister”.
    Guess what minister, today myself and others I know have said enough. No amount of green paint on a map is going to stop me or many others here in WA fishing this area. No science, no lock out, I say.
    Tell me who is going to police the area, located over 40NM off the coast. Are you going to run aircraft around a little square in the ocean to catch us out? At what cost to the taxpayer? Patrol boats might be another option open to you, but who then will stop all the illegal boats that are freely entering our waters on a daily basis. I forgot, your government tore down laws that effectively stopped the boats and has left us with almost no border protection – well done Labour. Your green mates are very pleased with the result though.
    The biggest tragedy in this is whole saga is that the minister had the opportunity to work out a number of these major sticking points through a properly negotiated settlement. Now all he has left anglers with is bitterness and contempt. It’s a great pity and indicative of many of the federal governments failings.
    Finally Minister, today my friends and I say to you - stick your green MPA maps where they fit, you can’t and won’t be able to stop us in practice. I will see you out there some time!!

    Tim Carter"


    Something for every Australian Angler to think about.
    Jim

  10. #10

    Re: Marine reserves

    Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation

    The Voice of Australia’s Recreational Fishing Community

    Media Release – 16 November 2012

    Marine Parks – Why are Aussie recreational fishers being locked out!

    The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF), the national peak body representing Australia’s recreational fishing community has asked the Environment Minister, Tony Burke, why his Marine Park Plan is locking Aussie recreational fishers out of 1.3 million square kilometres of Australian seas without a reason.

    Director Allan Hansard said “Australia’s 5 million recreational fishers applaud good science based conservation measures that protects our marine environment for future generations. However, the Government’s Marine Park Plan lacks scientific reasoning and no explanation why Aussie recreational fishers are banned from Marine Parks.

    “What does Mum, Dad and the kids fishing in a tinnie do to the environment that warrants them being locked out of vast areas of Australian waters, whether the Marine Parks are 5 or 500 kilometres from a boat ramp.

    “The Government has not differentiated between a family fishing in a tinnie and an industrial scale super trawler. The Government is discriminating against recreational fishers by allowing divers, tourist operators, container ships and even defence force activities into Marine Parks but banning Aussie fishing families from catching a fish. This does not make sense and the Government has not provided any rational explanation.
    “Though the Aussie recreational fishing community is the largest stakeholder affected by the ‘lock out’ Marine Park Plan we are the biggest losers as we are not only locked out FOREVER of some of Australia’s iconic fishing spots, like Perth Trench, Geographe Bay and reefs in the Coral Sea, but we are not being compensated for it.

    “There is a tax payer compensation package for affected commercial fishers, but who is compensating the affected recreational fisher or charter boat operators, what about the corner shop that sells fishing gear and bait! Do we have the right balance Minister?”

    The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF) is the newly formed national peak body representing Australia’s Recreational Fishing Community and is supported by the Australian Fishing Trade Association (AFTA), Recfish Australia, Game Fishing Association Australia (GFAA), Sunfish Queensland, Recfishwest, Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW (RFANSW), Underwater Skindivers and Fishermen’s Association (USFA), Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA), Professional Fishing Instructors and Guides Association (PFIGA), Victorian Recreational Fishing Peak Body Peak Body (VRFish), Australian Underwater Federation (AUF), Tasmanian Association for Recreational Fishing Inc (TARFish) and Keep Australia Fishing (KAF).


    ENDS
    Media Contact: Alice Logan Edwards
    Mob: 0419 464 270
    Email: alice.loganedwards@afta.net.au
    Kingfisher Painting Solutions:- Domestic and Commercial.

    For further information, contact details, quotes or advice - Click Here





  11. #11

    Re: Marine reserves

    I congratulate the federal coalition and state LNP fisheries spokespersons for opposing these new Labor-Green marine reserves. The state LNP government is standing by its election commitment of no more marine parks or green zones or green zone area in state waters

  12. #12

    Re: Marine reserves

    Why do you need Science to set up Marine Reserves / Parks etc ? ...........

    That said it is bullshit ........ specially when it comes to recreational activities or activities that have minimal impact .
    I have greater objections to allowing shipping to travel through these environmentally sensitive areas (apparently) or having the military blast the shit out of an area with live firing.
    this is just a case of another political figure wanting to leave his mark ...... regardless of necessity , common sense or political will

    Chris

    Ps - thanks Mark for your anticipated response - you can go back to slumber land now
    Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
    Teach him how to fish
    & he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
    TEAM MOJIKO

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