North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Hi Everyone
Request for Policy Positions From the Major Parties
As I indicated earlier in the week, AFANT has now provided both parties with a list of issues it wants to see addressed in their election policies. We asked if they would :commit to the following key recreational fishing policy initiatives should they win Government later this month:
• Continuation of the barramundi licence buy back already committed by Labor and a closures of commercial barramundi fishing in Chambers and Finke bays that will genuinely reduce resource conflict and deliver real value for the buy back expenditure.
• A serious commitment to adopt, fund and implement the Recreational Fishing Development Plan which has already had its final period of public comment. Key elements of the plan that require urgent action are:
 a targeted public awareness program to develop better fisher awareness of resource stewardship in general and of more sustainable fishing practices in the recreational fishery
 a comprehensive boat safety awareness program
 put in place a marine VHF radio repeater system for the more heavily fished areas of the NT
 the development of an ongoing program of monitoring and data collection in the NT’s recreational fishery to provide timely and relevant information to inform management decisions and programs
 maintaining and continuing to upgrade our recreational fishing infrastructure and developing new fishing access opportunities.
• The development of a safe and serviceable self-launch boat ramp at Dundee Beach. Dundee Beach is now one of our most used launching places and its popularity will increase with road upgrades now underway. Conditions at the existing ramp make self-launching difficult and often unsafe and new facilities are urgently needed.
• A commitment to advance planning for a new launching facility in the lower Mary River to replace the unformed launching area at the Shady Camp barrage. Water depth and bank profile at the current location make launching difficult and often dangerous in view of the large number of salt water crocodiles in the area. In addition, the channel downstream of the launching area is silting up rapidly and access through the area is already tide dependent. Plans for a new facility should be finalised so access to the lower Mary River, Chambers Bay and Finke Bay can be maintained should usage increase with the proposed commercial barramundi closures in the area and/or the conditions of the existing launching area and channel deteriorate.
• A commitment to staff, equip and fund NT Water Police so they can fulfill Police responsibilities to adequately carry out fisheries and boating compliance and enforcement activities.
• A commitment to regularize the maintenance, insurance and operation of the “Mud Wharf” boat ramp in Nhulunbuy to bring it into line with other public boat ramps in the NT and to free the Nhulunbuy Regional Sports Fishing Club from its current responsibilities in respect of the facility.
• A straight no-nonsense commitment to maintain access to the Catalina Creeks (Lightning and Cossack) in Darwin Harbour. The Inpex project is now sufficiently advanced that any regulatory questions should have been resolved and access arrangements for the creeks should be clear. We accept that, as Inpex has advised previously, there will be some restrictions required in any water to the east of the main channel of Lightning Creek and we recognise that some access restrictions may be required at various stages of construction. We do not believe that any other restrictions are necessary and we believe fishers should now be given assurances by Government that this is the case.

Release of the Country Liberals Recreational Fishing Policy
CLP leader Terry Mills launched his parties Recreational Fishing Policy this morning under the banner of “Safeguarding the Territory Way of Life.” It is very pleasing to see that recreational fishing is being treated as a major policy area by the CLP.
Particularly pleasing to see is the commitment to the full closure of Chambers and Finke bays to commercial barramundi fishing and the buy back of commercial barramundi licences. This has been a major issue for recreational fishers for a number of years and, in our opinion, the CLPs commitment to a complete closure is what is actually required to reduce conflict between commercial and recreational fishers and to provide true value for the cost of buying out the commercial licences. AFANT has publicly stated this position on a number of occasions in the lead up to this election campaign and we welcome the commitment from the CLP
The policy also addresses a number of the key issues we have raised and it is good to see commitments to important areas such as recreational fishing infrastructure, Water Police resources and fishing and boating safety awareness. These have been on AFANT’s agenda for some time now. We will have further discussions with the CLP over the next week or so on those issues raised by AFANT which are not covered in their current policy statement.
The key points outlined in the policy released today are:
• “We will close Chambers and Finke Bay to commercial barramundi fishing.”
• “We will commit to the buyback of commercial fishing licences in areas deemed important and beneficial to recreational fishing.”
• “We will make safety on our waterways a priority and implement a new safety education program within the first 6 months of Government.”
• “We will trial the use of security cameras at boat ramps.”
• “We will boost the Fisheries Police Unit and ensure they are equipped to target those who break the law.”
• “We will build a self-launch boat ramp at Dundee Beach and investigate a secondary boat ramp at Shady Camp and locations for new suburban boat ramps in Darwin.”
• “We are against permits and payments for fishing.”
The full text of the CLP policy is attached.
You may see in media coverage that AFANT was present when the CLP policy was launched this morning. We have also offered to attend any launch of Labor’s policy if they wish us to do so.

Labor hasn’t advised us when they intend to release their recreational fishing policy but we will provide you with details as soon as we receive advice from them. We will also keep you informed of any other developments that may impact on recreational fishing in the lead up to the election

Regards

Chris

Labor will have to match the Chambers/Finke Bays closure pledge or it's obvious what will happen to the fishing vote.

However ...

• “We (CLP) will close Chambers and Finke Bay to commercial barramundi fishing.” Will they reopen other closed areas?
• “We (CLP) will make safety on our waterways a priority and implement a new safety education program within the first 6 months of Government.” Will this include boat rego?

I just got an unequivocal absolute NO! from the CLP to both Matt's questions.

Rgds

Chris

Was interesting to hear Henderson's response on the radio " the CLP proposal will remove NT Barramundi & Threadfin Salmon from the plates of Territory Mum's & Dad's" that clown and his cronies are so out of touch they are on Mars! Got to say I know quite a few Territory Mum's and Dad's and they don't buy Territory fish at $35 a kilo, they buy Thai Barra & Mekong Powertail (Basa) at $15 a kilo, the only Territory fish they get is the stuff I give them, which they really appreciate.

Not a CLP fan, but Hendo is so out of touch with the cost of living, crazy cost ( crazy controlled) of housing and normal people that this CLP announcement (plus their slightly better housing release ( though ridiculous rental subsidy plan)) has me thinking very hard about my vote and where it is most likely to go.

Maybe do a poll to find out how important fisheries policy is to us, i.e. "Will the fisheries policies of the major parties play a role in your decision this election?" Sure will for me- waiting for the other response...

It seems to me that elections of recent times (last 20 years or so), have gone from being relatively benign events to being increasingly polarised.

In elections where electorate polarisation occurs (usually out of frustration), there is a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

A few years ago, there was a federal election in which the Fishing Party in Qld attempted to gain a senate seat. It was a single policy platform party. Receational fishing.

What wasn't stated was that the president of the party (from Townsville) hoped to gain a senate seat and resign after 12 months leaving the 2nd runner to fill the vacant spot by convention appointment. The 2nd runner wasn't the sharpest knife to grace any kitchen cupboard drawer, but luckily never got the chance as the president's attempt failed. Even the most minor of parties have their hidden agendas.

However, the real problem was that as a result of getting knocked out of the senate count late in the piece, the preference votes thay obtained eventually went to Pauline Hansen (remember her?).

She was then knocked out and her preferences went to the National's Barnaby Joyce who was duly elected to the senate.

As a result John Howard gained control of the senate. Having already control of the House of Reps, he could pass whatever legislation he liked.

Consequently, the nation was saddled with Work Choices and a number of other unpopular ininiatives.

All because of the unintended consequences of Fishing Party vote preferences.

These minority party experiments of the electorate has been going on for years with the likes of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), the Democrats, Pauline Hansen... The Fishing Party.

And more recently the Rob "Hotshot", Tony "The Fox" Windsor and Andrew "Wanker" Wilke debacle.

By all means allow recreational fishing policy to be a factor in your decision making process if you feel that way inclined. But be careful of any unintended consequences of making the issue the highest priority.