Media Release Hon Gail Gago, Minister for Agriculture, Food & Fisheries, SA

Sunday 29 July, 2012
NEW POSSESSION LIMITS TO APPLY FOR RECREATIONAL FISHERS
Restrictions will be placed on the amount of King George Whiting, Pipis and Razorfish that
recreational fishers can stock pile in a bid to protect species.
Minister for Fisheries, Gail Gago said regulations will be amended and come into effect later this year to put possession limits for these species in place.



http://www.ministers.sa.gov.au/images/news_releases/12_07Jul/possession_limits.pdf

Keep Australia Fishing Rally WA

THE organisers of a Keep Australia Fishing Convoy in WA set down for Wednesday, Aug 29, at 2pm need your support!
A convoy will start in Fremantle and head to a meeting point (destination still to be confirmed) at around 4pm, where a public rally will be held, with keynote speakers and special guests in attendance.


http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/keep-australia-fishing-rally


Keep Australia Fishing WA Convoy Facebook page

Warrnambool SBT meeting

With a turnout of over a hundred people with some traveling as far as Port MacDonnell,  Mount Gambier and the Melbourne south Eastern suburbs, the evening started with Marin Ellul kicking of proceedings with the formalities followed by a Dale McClelland with a basic summation of the issue, this was followed by an in depth presentation from Antony Hurst on SBT facts and the issues with the grey areas in its management, Garry Kerr then spoke about “Keep Australia fishing”  and a few other issues after which point the floor was opened up to questions.

It was great to see such great representation at the meeting from peak body’s, federal and State politics, council and local business as well as the fishing community. I am sure all anglers appreciate these people giving up there time on a Friday night to be informed of our concerns and issues. We would like to thank Anthony Hurst Executive officer of Fisheries Victoria, Russel Conway from VRFish & RECFISH, Garry Kerr from AFTA, Ben Scullin from BIA, Warrnambool Mayor Jacinta Ermacora as well as other councillors Jennifer Lowe. Rob Askew and Peter Hulin, representative from Dennis Napthine’s office (State member for south west coast & the Minister for Ports, Minister for Regional Cities.) and Lisa from Dan Tehan’s office (Federal Member for Wannon), Matthew Hunt from the charter industry as well as  representation from Portland’s commercial fishing industry. Also a thanks must go out to Mary Alexander from the Standard and Alex from Win news Barry Tanner  from The Geelong Fishing show and their respective teams for the media coverage they have provided on the issue, and the South Rovers for opening up their doors and allowing us to use their facilities.

the crowd starting to gather

There is no question that our SBT fishery is coming under pressure from several angles, over the last few weeks we have seen a little bit of back paddling as a result of the issue being raised, this will be a long and drawn out campaign and we need to keep on top of it, so it doesn’t end up like the Mako ban issue of a few years ago, it is still not 100% clear on who is pushing what from where, and we might never get to the bottom of it, the other option is to allow them to do as they like and we start the fight as the ink is drying, one thing that is very clear is who did and didn’t attend the meeting, it was very disappointing that there was not representation from the Federal Government, minister Joe Ludwig, DAFF or AFMA, as far as I am aware at the time of this blog update they have not even responded to invitations to the meeting as yet and only issued a media release to The Standard, I am happy to be corrected on this should I be wrong.

The link to the article in The Standard on Saturday

Warrnambool Mayor Jacinta Ermacora addressing the port upgrades questions at the end of the night

Local Newspaper article about SBT meeting

full report will be posted by tomorrow night.

And earlier on in the day a win TV interview

Victorian Tuna rally / meeting

Today, 27th July 7.30 pm Warrnambool

Warrnambool / 27th July 7.30 pm at the 

South Rovers Football Club 
Coulstock St
Warrnambool, Victoria

http://wefishaustralia.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/normal-0-false-false-false-en-au-x-none_04.html

The Warrnambool Standard Tuna article

We fish had solid and imformative discussions with Several staff within DAFF over the last few days and are pleased to hear that Daff are happy at this stage with SBTs being managed by state governments and their agencies
It would appear Daff have either heard the many voices of recreational anglers and reponded as such or the pressure being applied to recreational anglers with regard to the tuna fishery is coming from elsewhere
hopefully more will be revealed at the meeting in Warrnambool next Friday 27th July

The wilderness Society South Australia, has made a conscious decision to unfairly attack anglers, recently on their Facebook page they had a number of post that attempted to attack fishing in an attempt to justify marine parks, when some anglers posted up some facts including links to government pages showing that the story was misleading, The Wilderness Society South Australia removed the post and banned the users, not one of the anglers was rule or abusive. Considering that they receive a status as a tax free charity to educate the public it seems ironic that some very, informative posts were removed for no other reasons other than that they were posted by people holding fish.

link to The Wilderness Society South Australia
http://www.facebook.com/WildernessSocietySA

link to the mentioned story
A recent channel 7 story claiming that the sea lions in South Australia’s west coast are in danger unless we introduce marine parks, from gill nets and rock lobster pots, with video with a baby sea lion tangled in a fishing net, in South Australia.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/sa/watch/29957142/sea-lions-still-at-risk/885658/3/

The original seal in the net in story from May 2008, on a beach in San Diego.

Look familiar?

This is a bigger image of the one posted showing the areas where gill nets have been banned from

In this video channel 7 interviewed a conservationist, named David Letch, there was a David Letch on the WEST COAST MARINE PARKS LOCAL ADVISORY GROUP, in South Australia, he is also a representative of the “Friends of Sceale Bay” Sceale Bay is just south of Streaky Bay still well with in all that green area, as you can see on the map the area is  in a heavy gill net banned area, the Seal Lions he talks about are already protected. 

As for lobster pots they have been modified to significantly reduce the likelihood of sea lion entrapment (bycatch mortality)

Foraging ranges of vulnerable-sized animals were confirmed by use of satellite-linked transmitters and time-depth recorders. Mitigation of this incidental mortality was effected by means of modifying the lobster pots with a sea lion exclusion device within the area of known interaction. The mandatory implementation of this programme resulted in a very high compliance rate (95%) in the first season and was achieved through active consultation and involvement of the industry, and of fishery and wildlife managers.

http://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2008/5/n005p345.pdf
Another post saying that whales are in danger from humans with a picture of a whale tangled in a fishing net, and unless we create marine parks they would be at risk. The current research tells us the by far the greatest threat to whales and marine mammals is in fact shipping, and our marine park plan does not restrict shipping in any shape, not one of the environmental NGOs mention shipping as a threat to the whales in there marine park submission.

Theirs also another post that Cactus locals support marine sanctuaries to help make waters safer for surfing, by removing fisherman apparently it’s our bait that is drawing in the sharks.

Now considering that a shark fishing ban was introduced  earlier this year , this bans anglers fishing for shark  during daylight hours for South Australian metropolitan beaches in a trial which will run until February 2013, fishers can't use wire traces or hooks larger than 50mm, size 5 hook!

Now if you remove anglers and as they say this will increase the fish numbers, I wonder where the sharks will be. But we all know it’s not about increasing fish numbers, it’s about banning fishing!

Do these posts look like the ones that a group claiming to care about our marine environment would remove and ban the posters, this is a clear example of a group that is on a major anti fishing campaign, this has very little to do with offering protection for our marine environment.  

Its time this stops we need to let these people understand they can’t get away with this sort of blatant misleading information.

Country Alliance Media Release 17 July 2012

The Country Alliance party has expressed concern over the silence by the Gillard Government on
the future of recreational fishing for Bluefin Tuna in Commonwealth marine reserves.


http://www.countryalliance.org/images/PDFs/20120717-garry-bluefin.pdf

Jack Erskine


Jack Erskine was possibly the most influential Australian ever involved in the tackle industry. For his life time of dedication to the sport he loved so dearly , he is held in high esteem by his peers, not only for his undisputed angling talents but for many contributions to the development and ever improving fishing tackle

He was one of the only Australians to be presented with the Ron Dempster Award for the contributions to the future of Sportfishing, one of the first inductees to the Cairns Black Marlin Hall of Fishing Fame in 2006 and in 2009 was inducted into the International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame.

Born in Bourke, in western NSW, Jack grew up in Sydney. Apprenticed as a motor mechanic, he worked for BHP, before moving into the tackle trade in 1967, when he was 22 years old. His first job was with Arthur Chapman's Sport Store in Rockdale, Sydney.

Jack's first visit to Cairns was in 1968. Two years later he packed up his family and moved there, opening a tackle store with George Bransford, the legendary Cairns game boat skipper responsible for finding and catching the huge black marlin that put Cairns on the world's game fishing map.

Known for his expertise with fishing tackle, he was equally highly regarded for his extraordinary angling skills and is the only angler on record to capture eight black marlin on IGFA 2 kg (4.4 pounds) line class in one day, setting four consecutive world records at the time.

Jack was well known overseas having spent many years working and fishing in the United States. It was there that Jack met with Johnny Morris, owner of Bass Pro Shops, who invited Jack to assist him in establishing Offshore Angler in Florida. Their friendship continued to this sad day, as it didwith any person fortunate enough to have met this gentleman of the sport and industry.

In 2006 the Cairns Black Marlin 40th Anniversary celebrations announced the names of five recipients of the inaugural Cairns Black Marlin Hall of Fame awards. Among them was Jack, who was credited with revolutionising big game fishing in respect to the equipment and techniques required to subdue giant billfish. Much of what went on in the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's at Cairns in relation to tackle development can be directly attributed to Jack.

But the gongs got bigger in 2009 when Jack was inducted into the International Game Fishing Association Hall of Fame. This was a rare honour given that despite several decades of existence, just 69 anglers have been presented with this prestigious award.

And why not? After all, for more than 30 years, the name Jack Erskine had been synonymous with the cutting edge of tackle innovation and development. Few Australian anglers command the degree of respect and authority, as did this Cairns-based tackle guru.

Jack's technical savvy was not lost to the tackle industry. When he talks - and the words come out at a hundred kilometres an hour - industry captains listen.

But for all his technical wizardry, Jack was primarily an angler: one of our finest light tackle specialists. A founder member of the Australian National Sportfishing Association, he has participated in all forms of fresh and salt-water fishing, nationally and internationally, for more than 40 years. Whether it's billfish on fly off Cairns, barramundi at Tinaroo or tarpon in Costa Rica, he's done most of it.

If tournament credits mean anything, then he has a record of fishing in teams that have either placed first or in the first three places in over 45 tournaments; as well, he was one of only three Australian light tackle anglers ever invited to fish the prestigious Masters Tournament conducted by the Sailfish Club of South Florida.

In the early 1970s Jack pioneered the successful introduction of heavy duty spinning tackle for casting live baits (pitch baiting) to sailfish and small marlin, and he now has over 300 captures of billfish to his credit. Not a bad effort for a method of fishing that some doubting Thomas's said couldn't be done, going so far as to unkindly label it 'stunt fishing'. These days the use of spinning tackle for both live baiting and trolling for the smaller species of billfish is popular around the globe.

This is only a very small part of Jacks life, he was a family man who like many of us lived for fishing, his dedication to the sport and education of anglers around the world will be Jacks mark on this earth for many many years to come, a true legend (legend is a word not used lightly) of the sport and a hero to the tackle industry world wide.

He may be lost to us all, but his name will remain synonymous with all anglers and will never be forgotten.

Rest in peace Jack

Regards

Us the fishermen.

Tuna Dollars under threat, Mary Alexander 17^th July 2012

Marine Conservation Forum held in Coffs Harbour chaired by the National Parks Association of NSW.

For over two decades there has been an unrelenting, politically driven push for Marine Parks in NSW and indeed all of Australia. John Featherstone accepted the invitation to present his views and those of many recreational fishers at a recent Marine Conservation Forum held in Coffs Harbour chaired by the National Parks Association of NSW 9/7/2012 . John is the owner/editor of Spearfishing Downunder Magazine and owner/publisher of FishLife Magazine, this is his passionate address.

.

This report by the ABCs Ian Townsend is a fantastic report that clearly shows what the federal government’s marine parks plan will and will not do.
Australian commercial fisher being locked out of the Coral Sea are considering moving their operations to NZ or New Guinea where they have no or little management and far worse fishing practices then we have here.

LISTEN TO THE REPORT

Marine parks popular with punters: polling (or is it?)

"THE move to establish the world's largest network of marine parks is the most popular decision the federal government has made since Julia Gillard became prime minister, new polling by Essential Research Suggests."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/marine-parks-popular-with-punters-polling/story-e6frf7kf-1226423819338

The polling was conducted by Essential Research, Essential Media was representing PEW and The Wilderness Society, Greenpeace as well as a few other environmental NGOs, and they also ran the campaign for the federal marine parks that this poll says 70% of Australians agree with, as well as participating in lobbing for at least some if not all of these groups.

http://www.essentialmedia.com.au/

Serious concerns have been raised with regarding to the level and adequacy of editorial disclosure in and around any pecuniary interest Essential Research may have with undertaking such polling

Paul Sheridan from Essential Research said that Essential Media and Essential Research are completely separate entities and that there was no undue influence or direction from Essential Media to conduct the polling into marine parks, and to his knowledge Essential Media no longer represented the USA based Pew Environmental Group or the Wilderness Society.However a quick look at Essential Media’s web page and at the top you can clearly see a tool bar titled Essential Research.

(PS if the picture is too small, a left mouse click on the picture should open it in a full screen.)

If you look at the governments Resister of Lobbyist under Essential Media Communications Pty Ltd, listed as a person or employee who conducts lobbing activities there is a Paul Sheridan listed at number 14 as Associated Director.

You will also note on this page under client details The Wilderness Society and PEW listed, also listed are Greenpeace, Environment Victoria, Conservation Council WA among others.

.

That page was edited on the 13^th of July and now PEW and The Wilderness Society no longer appear.

Then we have on the Essential Media “Our Team” page, someone called Paul Sheridan

If we follow the link at the top of the page on Essential Media, to Essential Research, we get to this page Essential Vision by Essential Media, which clearly has logos of both Essential Media and Essential Research displayed.

So what does Essential Media do? well this is straight of their web page “EMC is working with the Save Our Marine Life alliance to build public awareness and lobby the Federal Government to significantly increase protection.

Save Our Marine Life centres around an online hub, which channels supporters into actions like petitions, videos and an interactive flash marine survival game – ‘Unprotected Waters’.

Supporters can also follow developments on Twitter through campaign mascot Sandy the Seal.

Extensive research informed the framing and development of Save Our Marine Life – identifying the strong connection Australians feel with the ocean.

“When this campaign started there was a low level of awareness about the south-west region,” said Client Manager Paul Sheridan.

“But we found people responded strongly to wanting to protect marine life that’s uniquely Australian – building that sense of connection to the region has underpinned our campaign strategy.”

 

Another Paul Sheridan as Client Manager of the Coral Sea campaign, now it’s quite possible that there a few Paul Sheridan’s in Essential Media and Essential Research.

And they do this by

Friday, July 13^th, 2012

Marine parks popular in the polls

A Sydney-based polling company says the Gillard government’s most popular decision is the creation of marine parks.

Essential media says 70% of voters it surveyed approved of the move, ahead of increasing compulsory superannuation (69%) and the Gonski report on schools reform (68%).

The Essential Report is a weekly national, online poll conducted that samples the opinions of 1000+ Australians, drawn from a panel of more than 110,000. Results are post-weighted to match Australian Bureau of Statistics demographics data to ensure results are within a standard deviation.

“The federal government’s decision on marine parks is the single most popular decision it has made since Julia Gillard became Prime Minister. This decision ranks higher than the introduction of paid maternity leave, aged care reforms and increases in compulsory super payments,” Paul Sheridan from Essential Research said.


http://www.kimberleypage.com.au/2012/07/marine-parks-popular-in-the-polls/

Really! we have a company being paid to run a campaign for marine parks for the “The Save Our Marine Life” PEW group, that conducts a survey showing that 70% of Australians support the governments marine park plan, but it doesn’t end there this company that was paid to run the marine park campaign as well as conducting the poll failed to disclose even one of the many conflicts of interest it had, then when asked about this issue, they deny that there is any connection between Essential Media and Essential Research.

It appears that there is a Paul Sheridan who is a Client Manager for Essential Media on the Save our marine life campaign as well as a Paul Sheridan who is listed as a lobbies for Essential Media, and a Paul Sheridan from Essential Research, who knows! there might even be a few more Paul Sheridan in one or both of these completely separate entities that have nothing to do with each other.

But wait there is more! (here are your stake knives)

Public backs marine parks: NSW must lift moratorium – Greens

Posted on 12 July 2012 by Cate

Greens MP and environment spokesperson Cate Faehrmann says new research showing how popular marine parks are demonstrates how out of touch the NSW Government’s marine parks moratorium is.

http://catefaehrmann.org/2012/07/public-backs-marine-parks-nsw-must-lift-moratorium-greens/


She joined the Greens after moving to Melbourne in 1996 to complete her degree at La Trobe University. First as an enthusiastic volunteer, then gradually as a professional media and policy adviser, Faehrmann began to work for the party. The T-shirts were exchanged for business suits. She came to Sydney, where her name had appeared on the Greens' Senate ticket, at the suggestion of her colleague and current member of the Legislative Council John Kaye.

In 2003, in the middle of the NSW state election campaign, Faehrmann met the love of her life, a fellow Greens adviser, Paul Sheridan. Many an ardent look must have been exchanged across the photocopier, but the pair kept their office romance secret until the election night party.

"Paul's my life partner and he's also a very calming influence - we balance each other out. We'll probably have a commitment ceremony at some stage when life allows. I have a lot of gay friends, and until they can access marriage I don't want to do something they can't do."

The couple live in Petersham.

http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac;jsessionid=F8AA7221730FFB6064F3292B76193A2A?sy=afr&pb=all_ffx&dt=selectRange&dr=1month&so=relevance&sf=text&sf=headline&rc=10&rm=200&sp=brs&cls=18964&clsPage=1&docID=SMH1104221G7S22F829B

Possibly another Paul Sheridan

and here we come full circle. So was this a poll or was this part of the marine park campaign?