queensland Ban Netting in Cairns - Last Day for Petition !

[Scotto]

CAREFISH

4.11.2011

After a couple of years of lobbying, negotiating, and attending and calling meetings, we finally get towards the end of the procedure to achieve a â€Net Free Zone†off Cairns. All the boxes along the way have been ticked.

Now we have to see this completed. Yesterday we launched a public petition, sponsored by Steve Wettenhall MP, calling on the Government to put the ink on the paper. This is a show of hands from the community. There’s several ways government test public sentiment. Surveys, petitions, and elections.

If ten people sign this petition, it’ll tell the gov something. If ten thousand sign it, it’ll tell them something completely different. Don’t forget there’s over 20,000 boat trailers registered around here. Government will be watching this closely. We in Cairns are not the only ones to be seeking a ‘Net Free Area’ around their town. This is going on up and down the coast. Other areas will be watching as well.

The last sitting for parliament this year is December 1. This petition has to be done and dusted by then.Time is ticking. The goal is 300 signatures EVERY DAY.

This is up to all of you. There’s a hundred or so in CAREFISH so that’s 3 a day each to put it in perspective. We can do that.

The petition is attached along with the’ facts and figures’ sheet. Print some out and get the signatures. Drop them off to Steve Wettenhall’s office at Smithfield or call me and I’ll come and pick them up. There’s also an e-petition. Simply Google Steve Wettenhall/e petition and you’ll find it. The other way is to follow this link…

/>http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/work-o ... etNum=1803 If you can’t open this, highlight it, then right click and select ‘open hyperlink’.

The primary public spots to sign are the locally owned tackle shops (BCF and Rays won’t participate at this stage due to ‘policy’), also up to 30 newsagencies have engaged along with Half Moon Bay Chandlery and Markwell Marine (welcome to CAREFISH). Steve Wettenhall’s office too. The Tinaroo ‘Barra Bash’ committee are thinking about it.

I’ll call on more today and keep you posted on who’s involved. Feel free to find others yourselves, the more the better. Use your e- networks as well. Everyone in Cairns needs to know aboutthis. There must be no doubt in any politicians mind where we stand on the issue ofgillnets in our town.

This is a call to action. If you want the nets out, then get cracking! It’s all about numbers at this stage.

Now it’s up to you.

/>http://www.scotto.com.au/cmsdocuments/F ... 0Final.pdf

/>http://www.scotto.com.au/cmsdocuments/P ... letter.pdf

Paul Aubin

CAREFISH

[Scotto]

CAREFISH

29.11,2011

Petition

The paper petition is on its way to Parliament as I type. If you have any sheets signed, then please get them to Steve Wettenhall’s office tomorrow. This is a once in a generation chance to get the nets out of the front of Cairns.

PLEASE all of you who are QLD residents (only) go online NOW and sign - if you have not already done so. Then flick this link to your networks requesting the same.

The on-line petition is at: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/wor...on?PetNum=1803

It just takes a few moments to register your vote. Today - Wednesday 30th Nov 2011 is its last day.

There are about 3,000 hard copy signatures on their way down to Brisbane tonight and only 488 on-line signatures as I write this – Surely we can break the 1,000 mark !?

Through this process we have learnt there is a huge sector of the population who are in support of the ban even though they are not recreational fishers !

This is the final call. Do it NOW!! No more chances.

Paul Aubin

CAREFISH

[Scotto]

Dear All,

Paul Aubin will no doubt be forwarding a report on the number of hard copy signatures. Here’s some observations on how the e-petition went.

Online Vote tally increased from 488 to 674, an increase of 186 votes (38%) in last 30 hrs before closing at midnight 30 November.

488 at 18.00 hr 29 Nov 2011

580 at 10.17 hr 30th Nov 2011

597 at 11.32 hr

605 at 11.50 hr

610 at 12.00 hr

630 at 14.05 hr

642 at 16.22 hr

657 at 19.30

671 at 22.25, 22.40

674 at 24.00, 30 Nov 2011

- an indication that many more votes could have been gained if the petition had run for longer than the 3 weeks it was allocated.

A visit to the Parliamentary web site link to ‘Closed Petitions’ shows that for the last 100 petitions, only 12 petitions received more votes and 87 received less.

This extremely high position is proof that this issue is far more than just a conflict between a few recreational fishers and gill netters.

It is proof that there is real angst amongst the broader community with concerns over gill netting bycatch including marine mammals and turtle and about gill netting’s contribution to the widely observed severe decline of several, once common, large inshore fish species.

Kind regards,

David Cook

PS: Thanks to every one who voted - Scotto

[Scotto]

CAREFISH

2.12.11

The paper petition air bagged to parliament numbered 2304 on 28.11.11. It had to be in Steve Wettenhall’s hands before 1.12.11 which was the last sitting day of parliament for the year and perhaps the last before an election. That’s why we only got 3 weeks and almost no lead in time. The e petition finished at 674 on 30.11.11 making a total of 2977.

However, more signed sheets were still being handed in to Steve Wettenhall’s office after the airbag left and we’re still finding them here, there and everywhere as copies were made and taken to other businesses and workplaces etc. We tried to overnight what we had to Steve before he tabled them but I’m not sure if he got them on time.

The total went well over 3000. This is more than 1000 a week. Each week was more than the previous, so it was gathering steam, not running out, as could be seen clearly by the way the e petition behaved towards the end.

My gut feeling is that we could have achieved 10,000 if handled better and if left to run for 3 or 4 months. There are over 20.000 registered boat trailers around the region if that is any indication. This ran on a zero budget and with almost no media participation.

One would have thought the tackle shops would have collected the most signatures, This turned out to be not the case and out of the 6 or 7 around Cairns 3 had a go and the rest didn’t. They accounted for about 500 signatures between them. None of the new boat dealers participated. No fishing clubs engaged or responded to requests for assistance apart from one, but contributed very few signatures. This is curious, but a look at membership numbers might explain it.

Two individuals collected about 1000 between them. They said this was without much effort with a strike rate of over 90% of people approached signing. They reported that almost all of those did so with high conviction and interest and most had a grievance with nets.

They were also surprised at how many mums wanted to participate on behalf of their families. Some newsagents and IGA’s participated with one displaying it prominently and returned around 200 signatures.Port Douglas contributed more than 300 with one individual and his family collecting most of these.

And that’s about it. I’ll talk to Steve Wettenhall when he gets back and we’ll hear from Minister Craig Wallace when he makes a decision. On behalf of CAREFISH, I would like to thank those that assisted in this process and particularly to Steve Wettenhall and his office, who has had to endure more than a few meetings involving stakeholders.

A lot more goes on behind the scenes than most would imagine, so thanks, we do appreciate it.

Paul Aubin

CAREFISH