PDA

View Full Version : ECOfishers



Derek_Bullock
14-12-2005, 04:05 PM
Hi

There is an organisation being set up in New South Wales to fight the introduction of more Marine Parks.

There website is http://www.ecofishers.com/

Below is an extract from it:


ECOfishers has been formed in response to the government implementation of marine parks and the unjustified reduction in access for fishers with potential for further erosion of those rights if the process is not halted and then managed at a sensible level.

ECOfishers represents a wide cross-section of individuals and interest groups. These groups believe the current marine park planning and implementation unfairly discriminates against fishers both commercial and recreational.

The principal objective of ECOfishers is to support the rights of current and future generations to commercially harvest and enjoy recreational access to sustainable fishing in NSW waters. As ECOfishers we strongly support appropriately researched and evaluated conservation measures for aquatic ecosystems.

We maintain that people are an essential component of any balanced ecosystem anywhere in the world and maintain that we have a traditional right to harvest the environment. There is ample historical and legal precedent to support these views. We believe that our right to fish is a natural right based on our need to eat.

We see the cause as the increasing influence of the green movement (as opposed to the environmental movement) and the adoption of the greens dogma by state labour governments who are desperate to retain power. Of greatest concern to us is the green movements obsession with denying people access to natural areas. We accept that there needs to be management controls but we are not willing to accept what we term "lockouts" as one of them. We have researched the literature well and we see little support for the "belief" that the only way to preserve nature is to lock people out.

The current push and implementation of exclusion zones should be seen as a last resort for aquatic protection, not the first course of action. The planning process must involve ALL stakeholders including the commercial sector, recreational fishers, and NSW fisheries, of which none were included in the study of the Manning Shelf Bioregion published by the Marine Parks Authority. Critically, planners must look at achieving the required outcomes as a result of scientific analysis. Most importantly the effectiveness of such management must be evaluated against the objectives put forward.

In just four months, we have achieved wide coverage in media and formed 8 groups involving thousands of people along the NSW coast. Two groups from the north coast, who have been active for years, have joined us and have provided a template for our activities and other alliances are being formed with like-minded groups around the country and the globe.

We are very much in the formative stages, however, already we can see that this approach will be effective. The ultimate aim is to have the major political parties enshrine our rights and freedoms in their policies and ultimately in law. We know we have the numbers.

We have no special allegiance with any political party, however, we wish to develop a working relationship with all political parties.

As ECOfishers we don’t see that locking fishers out of a section of coastline will have anywhere near the impact on fish stocks and biodiversity as reducing pressure on the environment in the nurseries that are our estuaries and offshore habitats that sustain aquatic life. United as ECOfishers we can make governments listen, divided as fishers, we will be told where we can and can not fish.

Cheers


Derek

nonibbles
14-12-2005, 11:52 PM
All join hands people. #We will win this fight and we must keep winning them because they won't go away. #The biggest #mistake I think is being made at the moment though is that the fishing party (necessarily due to funds) has to concentrate on election times for public support. #But if other groups along similar lines can maintain a prolific awareness of these issues then the everyday Australian (not just fishing folk who read the forums) support for the cause(s) is maintained and not allowed to wax and wain.
Does the average Australian understand that the more we allow ourselves to be excluded from our own resources then we must rely on others'? #We will become more and more a dependant consumerist country. #Are we going to have to beg for our freedoms to be returned to us in the future? #Would you prefer to have to purchase your freedoms? #I think not, the average Australian at present seems to be in a state of catharsis, prefering to do nothing rather than offend. # Wake Up! #Wake yourself up and those around you. #Don't wait until it directly effects you. #Precedents have already been set and are being taken adantage of. #Your area is next so help your neighbours' areas out by showing them support.
Nobody is ever going to lock me out of my back yard if I can help it! #I will support those who support me - good on ya ECOfish I hope the ball keeps rolling.

Jeremy
15-12-2005, 07:25 AM
word from the EPA is that 40% of Moreton bay will be no-fishing zones in the near future. This is indirect information from the EPA via Sunfish North Moreton newsletter. Two choices people, get off your ass and do something quick, or bend over and take it.

Jeremy

jaybee
16-12-2005, 05:08 AM
word from the EPA is that 40% of Moreton bay will be no-fishing zones in the near future.
I remember posting something similar during the tailor RIS, after a meeting with my local member, however back then it was to be 30% was told by many on this board it wouldn't happen. Time to contact your local member for some answers and or a meeting with him/her. The government thinks like this, for every one (1) person that complains there are fifty (50) that don't. So in reality we need 1 in every 50 that use the bay to contact their members. Better still everyone that uses the bay.
cheers
Joe

thumps
16-12-2005, 07:52 AM
funny how things hapen

now before anyone gets upset or agitated at me...i do not make this post to $hit stir

a week or so ago i made a new topic about the GBR being closed off to rec fishing

i put a fake date and created a false report as a warning to people to actually do something about the future

just seems ironic that this should then occur.

Two choices people, get off your ass and do something quick, or bend over and take it.

Jeremy

Derek_Bullock
17-12-2005, 03:39 PM
word from the EPA is that 40% of Moreton bay will be no-fishing zones in the near future. This is indirect information from the EPA via Sunfish North Moreton newsletter. Two choices people, get off your ass and do something quick, or bend over and take it.

Jeremy

Or maybe someone has overheard a conversation somewhere. I have been going on about Moreton Bay closures for quite some time now. The green groups as has happend in GBRMP and now lobbying in the Sandy Straits Marine Park are pushing for and successfully gaing around 30% closures.

Are you guys going to wait until your fishing areas around Mud and Peel Island are closed to fishing or perhaps your favourite spot down at the Pin is gone before you jump up and down. Look out Moreton Bay because its coming for sure.


Derek

Derek_Bullock
17-12-2005, 03:42 PM
funny how things hapen

now before anyone gets upset or agitated at me...i do not make this post to $hit stir

a week or so ago i made a new topic about the GBR being closed off to rec fishing

i put a fake date and created a false report as a warning to people to actually do something about the future

just seems ironic that this should then occur.

Two choices people, get off your ass and do something quick, or bend over and take it. #

Jeremy

Jeremy

Maybe it was the way you wrote it. I think people are getting sick and tired of all the crap about all this. What is needed is solid defence. Apart from Kev Collins we are not seeing much of this on here.


Derek