RecFish Australia MPA seminar

[Juzo]

In November (4-5 Nov) this year Recfish Australia is holding a weekend seminar to discuss MPAs (Marine Protected Areas). It will be covering what is going on, the direction MPAs are taking, what we can do about it and what we need to develop and create to minimise the impact for the future. The seminar will cover both State and Commonwealth MPAs. For a brief on the seminar go to www.recfish.com.au and click on the link to the MPA seminar.

A full program will be available shortly once all speakers are confirmed. The seminar will be interactive with break out groups enabling everyone to have input and have a say in the outcomes, the research, development and extension needs and what the implications are, from their perspective, with MPAs.

John Harrison (Recfish Australia's CEO) has asked me to promote this event on this web forum, to let all the online fisho community know about it. Any questions, queries etc, post a reply or send me a PM, if I can't answer I will pass on to John.

So, for all of you who have been harping on about this topic in recent posts, here's a chance to get involved and do something about it. Cost is $200 for the 2 days, includes dinner on the Saturday night. The registration form is on the Recfish website. This is a chance for us to get involved and do something about protecting our fishing future.

On Saturday night the dinner will also see the inaugural awards for contribution to recreational fishing. The national Recfishing Awards nomination form can also be found on www.recfish.com.au


If the RecFish Administrators agree I would as them to make this an important topic to keep it at the top of the board.

cheers
Justin

[choppa]

justin,,,, i for one will be watching this post with interest,,,, as a contributor/receiver to RECFISH,, and other formats,, you are correct in saying to those who have had a gripe or two to raise their hands and cast there annoyance forward

Recfish has had this meeting posted for some time,,, and i think (please respond if i'm wrong),, that the main topics will be implemented around the work of the FRDC/DEH/TAFI projects that encompass the areas associated with rec fishing,, that is freely available through their and relevant authority websites now

issues such as GBRMPA and associated closures to the rec fisho are here to stay,,, and any further ""Smart Areas"" will or may be discussed,,,but again this info is already available

Also a query i have is in the 2006/2007 approved funding list,, MPA's/Smart Areas have been limited once more as per the trend over the past few years,,,,you would think that the reviews and impact reports proposed in the first instance would have some weight to carry by now,, considering the amount of man hours and fundng that it has seen to date????????

MPA's/Smart Areas have a role,, and Recfish campaign that there beliefs are a total lockout is a last resort on the rec fisho,,, but in fairness this has been passed around since the early 1990's,,,

my query,,,, can and will ROFA's be part of the forum,,,i have asked this direct,,, awaiting reply from Recfish also??????????????????

[Juzo]

hi Choppa

I will pass your question on to John for a response. But forgive my ignorance what does ROFA stand for? Am only new to this game and don't know what all the acronims stand for. While your at it, maybe you could explain what the FRDC/DEH/TAFI projects are for myself and others who may not be aware of work that has been going on in recent years :).

cheers
Justin

[choppa]

sorry juzo,,, recreational only fishing area's,,, as per pumicestone passage,, which by the way is the only ROFA in qld,, opposed to the number in NSW,,,

as for the frdc & tafi projects,, how many do you require,,,anyone intro'ed can either log into the FRDC as per Recfish and follow the various sites,,, some good reading and cross referencing to a large number of govt sites all to do with MPA's etc etc

please note the majority of MPA info is pro,,, but what info on rec is avail is good

you can also subscribe to the various dept's to obtain new release info on a month by month basis or as it happens,,, this info is simply emailed and yes again is interesting,, anyway getting of the track a bit,,

would be interested to see what john has to say

[jch]

Hi all

I thought I would add a little more to what was put up on the first posting by Justin. There will be more again as soon as we finalise the speakers and presenters and get the seminar program finalised.


This MPA Seminar has been in the planning for some 12 months. MPAs are here to stay and anyone who thinks otherwise is also likely to say they can stop the tide. The objectives of the seminar are listed below for the benefit of all. They are draft and may vary slightly between now and November.

There is no doubt that there will be many varied views on what we should or should not do about MPAs. There are plans for both state and commonwealth MPAs. Generally speaking the states have responsibility out to the 3 nautical mile (nm) mark although this can vary depending on where the ‘base’ line is. That aside the states introduce a range of management initiatives inside their territorial waters and the result is anything from complete no take zones such as the area around Solitary Islands in NSW to multiple use and of course areas that are designated as free from commercial fishing (ROFA).

ROFAs are likely to be a part of the suite of solutions that the seminar is likely to come up with however I am not going to pre-empt the outcomes as it is the participants that we are looking towards to tell us what they believe are the answers.

The Australian government is responsible from the 3 nm out to the EEZ (200 nm). In December 2005 the South East (Kangaroo Is around to Vic NSW Border) planning area candidate MPAs were announced. We had no problem with the proposed areas as they did not impact on recreational fishing at all. After much consultation by DEH with the stakeholders (except the recreational sector) the revised candidate areas were announced in May and varied substantially from the December version. Recfish Australia has approached the Australian Government Environment Minister to seek amendments to the proposed MPAs as the area off Freycinet Peninsula that is tagged as an MPA is a highly prized fishing area for pelagics.

The recent TAFI project on the South East MPAs whilst being great for the commercial fishing sector did absolutely nothing for the recreational sector as it was not in their brief for the project. We were behind the 8 ball and unless we come up with a series of strategies and tools on how we want all governments to engage with us on MPAs we are always going to be behind the ball.

The DEH are now moving on the South West planning area as well as the Northern area. However there are no lines drawn on maps that I have seen indicating preferred or candidate MPAs. And you can be assured that there will be some impact on recreational fishing with these unless we get our act together and show a cohesive and well planned approach to the issue to minimise the impact – hence the seminar.

If you then look at the state plans and see the likes of Batemans Marine Park, Moreton Bay, Sandy Straight, Ningaloo, Victor Harbour, etc etc is it any wonder that we should as an industry start to get smart on how we want to be included in the debate and what solutions are available to once again minimise the impact.

There are many options that should be considered before lockout, e.g. catch and release only, special bag limits, seasonal closed areas for protection of aggregating breeding stock, removal of commercial effort, no anchoring areas but still allow fishing, etc.

Yes there is a mountain of info on MPAs most of it claiming how wonderful they are for biodiversity and the spill-over effects in to adjacent areas and how the fish numbers increase dramatically etc etc – but in most cases the jury is still out. Often the cause of the problem lies outside the box eg. On shore pollution, habitat destruction, draining of wetlands which are nursery areas for juvenile fish, are but some of the other problems. Whacking a box around a lump of water is not necessarily the answer to ensuring biodiversity in the water.

This seminar is not just looking at the introduction of MPAs but also the future reviews of their success or otherwise and what mechanisms we need to be able to have effective input to the review processes.

MPA Seminar Objectives 4 & 5 November

1. Understanding of the current and projected future status of MPAs (state and commonwealth)
2. To define engagement and develop processes and guidelines for adequate and early engagement of the recreational sector in the MPA debate.
3. To identify the effects (especially social and economic)of MPAs on recreational fishers and fisheries, and develop alternative access arrangements in lieu of ‘lockouts’
4. To identify and articulate the gaps in knowledge and understanding of recreational fishing activity in MPAs and develop strategies and programs for Research, Development & Extension (R, D & E) to address them.
5. To identify and develop the best tools and methods for recreational fishers to use in presenting their case for the rational establishment and review of MPAs


jch

[choppa]

john,,,, don't want to say told ya so,,, but i did,,,

the only concern that i have is more to the point of this info has been avail now for some time,,, i have a 3 ring binder at the home office showing outcomes of R & D,, especially in and around the GBR,, and yet this """seems""" to be placed aside and ignored,,, qld is definitely behind the 8 ball in regards to MPA's and ROFA's,, and its simply to important a topic to be rehashed over and over and nothing done

the forum for this seminar is vague,,,, is it a presentation style format only,,or will it be open to general discussion,,,i enquired back on this in early feb 2006,,,followed up in april/may,,,,, still awaiting responses

i like your hint towards c & r,,, this has been floored once before also,,, i'll check the library when i get home amnd post a few more questions for ya,,,

[Juzo]

there a question amongst all that Choppa? :)

[choppa]

nah,,, i was in the middle of 2 things reading jch report and got tied up???.....

but i have a few more now,,

1st,,, with no offence to you justin,, i find i need to know why recfish has chosen to take the avenue it has to make ausfish members aware of the up and coming seminar through a fellow member and not speaking direct,,, ie; i'm sure steve would have no objection to jch approaching him on this issue and many more that recfish has under its control to bring information forward,,, this would eleviate the vagueness of response,, and have a more ""hands on"" reply to any queries or questions,, i agree that the seminar has been ""planned"" for the past 12 months,, as i posted earlier,, one would think though that the forum for this would be well and truly done by know

2. in saying in jch response that rofa's are going to be part of this ""discussion"" as a solution,, and then not pre empting,,as recfish is looking for an answer from the participants at hand,, leaves me wondering/concerned,,,,surely all of that R & D research has gone somewhere,, along with reports from southern areas where rofa's are in place,,

3. the tafi report on the south east,, i presume is the same as the DEH MPA bio region proposed which covers approx 170,000 square km's,, and yes is more of a concern to pro than rec,,, but i was led to believe that this was clouded by the TAC report,,,(Total Allowable Catch),, that showed more pressure was placed on fish that did not move away from there general sites,, hence TAC's were being looked at becoming further reduced in number on certain species,,

4. please correct me if i'm wrong,,, but the DEH has had lines drawn on maps for the northern and south east region for the past 2-3 years,,, its been sitting back awaiting to pounce

5. i quote from a direct release from FRDC

DEH has been asked to stop and reconsider the results of recently completed data that show MPA's do not offer much benefit to those of a well managed fishery,,,,,and in fisheries managed in TAC's

to date, i'm yet to learn the outcome of this request.. other than witnessing more and more movement forward to increasing the number of MPA's in qld

6. an R & D project that spanned over 11 years, has only recently been wrapped up by CRC that looked at the issues of ELF,, (effects of line fishing),, it spanned over 1000 k's of the GBR,, which included reefs and areas open and closed to rec fishing,,,this was the worlds largest ever experiment based on the effects of line fisho's,,the outcome is still undecided,, as the information gathered is extremely vast,,, HOWEVER,, they did find the average size of trout and emperor was larger in no go zones opposed to open zones,,(duhhhhh),,, query i ask here is has refish been made privy to this info,,, and if not do they want a copy,,,??????

MPA's,,, as jch stated,, can open a lot of doors of opinion,,, and views,,, i just hope that common sense prevails,,,

oh and by the way,,, my response earlier was a question,,, cryptic as it may be,,,, c & r zones have been raised,, but was ruled out by the likes of the greenies/PETA,, that shouted thats cruel and inhumane to torture a fish and then release it,,, only to die later,,, a report was asked for a more definite answer to be carried forward on the survival rates of c & r fish,,,,,

i think i raised my hand here also in another post earlier

that'll do for now choppa,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Juzo]

Choppa

Sounds like you have a lot of thoughts on this issue, in answer to your question 1. I contact recFish Aus and volunteered my services to get involved in working in the recfish scene.

As I spend so much time on this and other chat boards, it was agreed that I could help by promoting this seminar on the forums to let fellow concerned fishos such as yourself that the seminar is hapening and whats going on.

The purpose of my post was to make fishos aware that this seminar is on, not to have a full blown discussion on MPA's (that's what the seminar is for :))

cheers
Juzo

I think the whole idea is to discuss these issue's, through keynote speakers and breakout sessions and try to formulate a strategy to get the best outcome for the recfish scene (dont quote me, thats just my opinion)

[choppa]

John Harrison (Recfish Australia's CEO) has asked me to promote this event on this web forum, to let all the online fisho community know about it. Any questions, queries etc, post a reply or send me a PM, if I can't answer I will pass on to John.




Justin

apologies if taken the wrong way justin,,,, but i was querying why recfish,,, in their size and power do not make this more aware to the rec fisho as a whole,,, not having a go at you personally mate,,,but you did paint the picture as above,,, as i have posted,, here and in other threads,,, i am and have been a regular subscriber to numerous departments info services for some time,,,,and even though i come across in some areas as just your average fisho having a fish and and a stir,, don't judge the book by its cover to soon

i find it diffcult to comprehend at times why we as rec fisho's keep getting the same info thrown at us but worded differently,,,, the info supplied by frdc/deh/recfish/sunfish/dpi&f etc etc etc,, is the same,, the answers differ slightly,,, but are the same,,

why does it take 12 months to announce a forum/seminar,, and yet with only a few months to go admit that all is not in order,

at 200/head,,,, (for those who do attend),, is this a worthwhile expense to outlay,, to receive info that is available for free on their website,,

i'm all for it,,,,trust me,,,, just want some straight answers

[jch]

The draft program for the MPA Seminar is now on the Recfish Australia website www.recfish.com.au

You will also find the registration form there as well.

In addition to these the nomination form for the inaugural awards in recognition of contributions to recreational fishing is also on the site.

For the MPA Seminar you will see there is over 4 hrs where the participants will be asked to workshop and come up with solutions, advice, ideas, agendas for the future, review processes and a range of other initiatives to assist the recreational sector in the future for MPAs.

This is the first event organised for the recreational sector that specifically focuses on our needs. It is your chance to have a say and be part of the answer for your fishing future.

I hope to see you in November

jch

[Juzo]

thought I'd bump this post up, now people are starting to realise the fight is on for our fishing grounds.

This conference is hosted by Rec Fish Australia, but it is for all fisho's to make a contribution on how we can fight for our fishing rights.

This is about an organized response to the MPA's