Letter to your local MP about Moreton bay

[reelchippy]

Have is a letter you can send to your local MP I HAVE SEND AND THIS IS WANT CAME BACK [file name=Letter_to_MP.doc size=37888]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/files/Letter_to_MP.doc[/file]

Letter_to_MP.doc

[reelchippy]

This isa the letter i got back

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[Feral]

Reelchippy, it is a good cause, but I am still burnt out from the Rights at Work campaign, it was a hard two years. writing to MP's and senators, weekly pickets of politicians offices, shopping mall stands, sausage sizzles, stalls at local markets, it is all pretty exhausting, and takes a big bite out of your family time.

Maybe in a month or two I might be able to raise enough enthusiasm to stand up and join you beating my head against the wall again!.

[Dan23]

You've got to wonder with these restrictions how many people will obey them. Fisheries already don't police our waterways very well. They are under resourced as it is, so if lots of people take a stand (not saying I will or condoning it) they will be powerless to stop people from doing it.

Also Feral I too am a little burnt out on protest and am becoming less and less convinced about its effectiveness. I went to the pre Iraq invasion protests and thought we could make a difference. In the end the only thing that will stop power hungry politicians with big corporations in their back pockets is being voted out. That's what we did to little Johnny. Hopefully there's enough people out there who aren't as jaded about the whole system as I am to do something about this.

At least we don't live in America where they clearly rig the elections. We at least can vote scoundrels out if they screw us over.

A bit off topic but my reasons for not becoming actively involved in this issue.

[ellicat]

It's not a bad letter. Here it is for those too lazy to download it.

For some of the guys that are of the opinion that this closure thing is a good thing or those without the time to pursue their own research the letter contains some good facts.

Hope you take time to read it, because when you get bored with some of the estuaries you fish today there may not be too many decent places left to go.

RE: Draft Moreton Bay Zoning Plan from the EPA

Dear ,

As my local Member of the Queensland Parliament, I am writing to highlight to you something I, and I daresay many others that utilise Moreton Bay, consider the single most major potential disastrous outcome for the Bay that has been witnessed in over a generation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently released their draft zoning plan for Moreton Bay including many closures to recreational fishing grounds, grounds that I frequent regularly with family and friends to get away from the stresses of life. This plan is delivered on the back of “protection of biodiversity†as announced by the Premier and the Minister for Sustainability. The comments about 0.5% of Moreton Bay having protection are a fallacy. Since the last Marine park designation with the no-take zones, go slow zones and the like, about 46% of the Bay has protection of some form or another – where does this 0.5% come from – well I can tell you; it comes from a radical environmental group called the Australian Marine Conservation Society or AMCS. This group are there purely to stop usage and fishing in Australia’s waterways and it is evident on their website. Somehow this lobby group have tax free charity status and you cannot join their Executive committee or partake in any decision making process.

This plan has some major issues which I feel have not been adequately addressed and has been sold to the public under the guise of “science†of which there seems to be very little substance other than an earmark on recreational fishing to take away from the general public; very similar to the Barrier Reef closure plans. Misinformation is being fed to the Premier and the Minister for Environment & Sustainability by the bureaucrats within the EPA such as fish stocks have declined dramatically by over fishing by recreational anglers. This is not a correct statement at all and the evidence from the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) indicates in their report from 2006 several clear factors in this regard. Excerpts from this report state;

Coral Reef Finfish Fishery:-

Page 160…… Fishery impacts on the ecosystem

“Line fisheries are considered benign in terms of their impacts on the broader ecosystem.â€Â

East Coast Inshore Finfish Fishery:-

Page 75…….. Appraisal of fishery in regard to sustainability

“The ECIFF is managed using a variety of input and output controls ( eg. Limited licences, gear restrictions, permanent and seasonal closures, size and bag limits and competitive Total Allowable Catches for some species) and is regarded as being managed in a precautionary and sustainable manner.â€Â

Rocky Reef Finfish Fishery:-

Page 118 ……. Fishery impacts on the ecosystem

“It is unlikely that there is any significant physical impact on the ecosystem from the fishery due to the relative benign line fishing method used.â€Â

Page 115 …… Fishery Performance

“This is further supported by commercial logbook data, fisheries observer information and anecdotal reports from recreational fishers over the last 12 months indicating good catches have been occurring with an increased occurrence of larger individuals.â€Â

With this report highlighting that line fishing is a benign method of catching fish and has little damage on the Ecosystem, why then does the EPA think otherwise? Surely the DPI&F, who manage the fish stocks and are responsible for the protection of them, would know more than the EPA. The DPI&F are also reviewing the fishery bag limits and sizes at the moment which further increases the biodiversity of the fish stock in the bay. These comments via the EPA through the Premier and Minister do not make sense.

The EPA also has made comment on turtles and dugong that are being injured or killed as part of the issue. ALL of the dugong killed by boats according to QLD Government reports have been done so by large commercial vessels, not the average guy out their in his boat. The ACTUAL number of dugong killed in Moreton Bay by these means is 1.7 per annum and NOT the 15 being sprouted by the AMCS. The total is 15 in ALL of Queensland, and they neglect to inform the public of the 1293 (FRDC data) taken by Indigenous people in their rights to hunt these animals. There are already large numbers of “go slow†zones in the Bay, how about funding the DPI&F properly so they can police this. On the Turtle issue, even the Sea World Turtle Rescue team as late as last week on River 94.9 radio said it is not fishing killing these turtles, it is pollution and they cannot take any more rescue animals. The EPA’s own website refers to a visiting eminent Doctor Dennison from the USA stating Moreton Bay’s issue is pollution from urbanisation – not one mention of fishing from recreational users. So if pollution is the key issue and is highlighted so drastically, why doesn’t the EPA address this instead of taking fishing away from people? I would have thought urban run-off from roads and stormwater would be part of their portfolio.

Protecting the environment, here we have the EPA approving the dredging of 150 million tonnes of Moreton Bay’s floor to build the 2nd runway at Brisbane Airport. It seems OK to dredge a hole in 1km wide by 6km long by 8metres deep and take Marine habitat away which is in fact a large seagrass bed feeding ground for turtles and dugong, change tidal flow patterns, close off one of the major nursery’s for fish stocks for the Bay and ruin the mangroves forever. Yet, fishing my family and friends is the issue!

The promise of keeping shore based fishing alive does not help any of the boating public, nor has it been kept. The area at Point Halloran has been closed off and is the only shore based bait gathering area in the Bay from the mainland. On the islands in the bay are more issues, the lagoon at the top of Moreton Island is the second only yabbie gathering area outside of Pt Halloran and has been earmarked for closure. South Stradbroke Island has a section of the beach, opposite Tipplers camping grounds and Couran Cove resort to be closed; of which thousands of visitors walk across to the beach for a fish and a swim in that area as it is safe for families to visit.

Looking economically, the South East Corner, while the planned closures (green zones) will be 15% (up from the 10% announced by the Minister before the election), the actual closure area is effectively much larger. In a process similar to that used in north Queensland, the Queensland EPA surveyed anglers to find which parts of Moreton Bay they used, and then zoned many of these areas “greenâ€Â. Sunfish have stated that the closures represent a 50% closure to recreational fishing areas.

The economic effect in SEQ should be proportional to that of NQ and with $222m thus far paid in restructuring grants we are looking at a collapse of Australia’s biggest Marine Industry right on your doorstep. With about 31% of the Queensland registered boats in the area of the Great Barrier Reef and some 52% (source Queensland Transport Feb 2007) based in Queensland’s Moreton Bay usage area here in the South East, then the estimated economic cost to SEQ will be 166% of the north or approx $1.2 to $2billion. Sadly – there will be no restructuring grants, no compensation for the small business owner relying on their share of that economy. Any drop in sales will effectively shut these working families down, most with 2nd mortgages to fund their businesses including bait and tackle shops, marine mechanics, chandlery stores and the flow on effect.

I urge you to investigate and voice your concern at what will cause major damage to not only Moreton Bay from a usage perspective, but will collapse several industries alongside the recreational fishing industry in your electorate – these are mainstream Mum & Dad businesses. Not only are the pastimes of many Queenslanders at stake here, the livelihoods of many families in this area are too. Only with your help can we stop this injustice occurring and it is not too late to act on behalf of your constituents and support us who support you.

Yours sincerely,

[Feral]

he problem with everyone sending in form letters, is that the politicians deem them of little value, as they believe it is only people with little \"ownership\" of an issue whom use them. If you structure your own letter and send that in, they will probably at least give it a passing glance.

The trick is to write a letter to every politican, keep records of who has replied and who has not, then send the data you collect off to the party leaders telling them their members cant be bothered replying to their potential voters at the next election. Email is good for this because politicians are to stupid to turn off their \"receipt system\" for email - so if you have it turned on, and you get a reply telling you your email has been deleted without being read. Party leaders just love hearing about that!

What needs to happen is for a few natural leaders to step up and give people advice on how to best channel their efforts, reelchippy is potentially one! But we need some really canny leaders at the top.

[ellicat]

Agree Feral. Posted the letter up as it has some useful information in it.

I suspect after they get 3 of the same letter they'd just reply with their own standard letter like the one reelchippy got.

Maybe if they get enough correspondence on the issue someone like old Richo might start adding up the numbers though;)

[obone]

Pretty useless response. So is this just a letter that you put your name on and send it away?

Joel

[Brian D]

Great letter chippy.

Well I'm not sure the response is usless or just the office it came from. The office appears to not give a rats ass about the subject.

Best bet is to follow what the response advises and forward it onto the \"Get Involved\" site and administrators.

My problem is where is the restocking? Have a look at how good the restocked waterways around the country are doing. Why does it take Qld 2 decades longer then any other state to get in the game?

[reelchippy]

Yes you are all right but i still think that some thing in Nos can help.But i mean Nos

[reelchippy]

If these zoning come in and I mean if as the fishable area gets smaller each time the major parties sells there soul to the greens we will slowly get shut right out I will be able to say to myself while untangling my boats anchor from another boat right next to me he will be complaining about how crowded this spot has be come I TRIED THAT’S WHAT SIT GOOD IN MY HEAD CHEERS.

PS:So for the next few months you mite have to put up with me bring this up

[ellicat]

Brian D wrote:

Great letter chippy.

Well I'm not sure the response is usless or just the office it came from. The office appears to not give a rats ass about the subject.

Best bet is to follow what the response advises and forward it onto the \"Get Involved\" site and administrators.

My problem is where is the restocking? Have a look at how good the restocked waterways around the country are doing. Why does it take Qld 2 decades longer then any other state to get in the game?

Brian D, The main reason is that, generally speaking, you wont see a politician with a rod in his hand unless he's out for a media session to try to win the votes of fishermen. That's what this is all about. Before the next state election we want to see plenty with rods in hand because they realise that this issue is a vote winner (or loser). Actually it's more urgent than that timeframe. We need these numbers to be shown before the end of February to be any hope of making a change to the \"proposals\".

Another reason is that this whole issue has little to do with fish stocks. That is just the wool being used to cover peoples eyes.

[Feral]

reelchippy wrote:

PS:So for the next few months you mite have to put up with me bring this up

Got no problems with that mate!

[Brian D]

Me either chippy, keep the preasure up.

I'll be sending your letter to my local member and shadow.

[Feral]

Reelchippy if you get the fishing party mob to do a few things, like a sausage sizzle at a busy ramp for awareness, IE suck em in with a free snag and hand out some leaflets (I'll even pitch in some loot for the snags and bread) I dont mind coming along and burning the snags for ya! Might get a few other AFO volunteers as well.