Derek_Bullock
14-12-2005, 04:05 PM
Hi
There is an organisation being set up in New South Wales to fight the introduction of more Marine Parks.
There website is http://www.ecofishers.com/
Below is an extract from it:
ECOfishers has been formed in response to the government implementation of marine parks and the unjustified reduction in access for fishers with potential for further erosion of those rights if the process is not halted and then managed at a sensible level.
ECOfishers represents a wide cross-section of individuals and interest groups. These groups believe the current marine park planning and implementation unfairly discriminates against fishers both commercial and recreational.
The principal objective of ECOfishers is to support the rights of current and future generations to commercially harvest and enjoy recreational access to sustainable fishing in NSW waters. As ECOfishers we strongly support appropriately researched and evaluated conservation measures for aquatic ecosystems.
We maintain that people are an essential component of any balanced ecosystem anywhere in the world and maintain that we have a traditional right to harvest the environment. There is ample historical and legal precedent to support these views. We believe that our right to fish is a natural right based on our need to eat.
We see the cause as the increasing influence of the green movement (as opposed to the environmental movement) and the adoption of the greens dogma by state labour governments who are desperate to retain power. Of greatest concern to us is the green movements obsession with denying people access to natural areas. We accept that there needs to be management controls but we are not willing to accept what we term "lockouts" as one of them. We have researched the literature well and we see little support for the "belief" that the only way to preserve nature is to lock people out.
The current push and implementation of exclusion zones should be seen as a last resort for aquatic protection, not the first course of action. The planning process must involve ALL stakeholders including the commercial sector, recreational fishers, and NSW fisheries, of which none were included in the study of the Manning Shelf Bioregion published by the Marine Parks Authority. Critically, planners must look at achieving the required outcomes as a result of scientific analysis. Most importantly the effectiveness of such management must be evaluated against the objectives put forward.
In just four months, we have achieved wide coverage in media and formed 8 groups involving thousands of people along the NSW coast. Two groups from the north coast, who have been active for years, have joined us and have provided a template for our activities and other alliances are being formed with like-minded groups around the country and the globe.
We are very much in the formative stages, however, already we can see that this approach will be effective. The ultimate aim is to have the major political parties enshrine our rights and freedoms in their policies and ultimately in law. We know we have the numbers.
We have no special allegiance with any political party, however, we wish to develop a working relationship with all political parties.
As ECOfishers we don’t see that locking fishers out of a section of coastline will have anywhere near the impact on fish stocks and biodiversity as reducing pressure on the environment in the nurseries that are our estuaries and offshore habitats that sustain aquatic life. United as ECOfishers we can make governments listen, divided as fishers, we will be told where we can and can not fish.
Cheers
Derek
There is an organisation being set up in New South Wales to fight the introduction of more Marine Parks.
There website is http://www.ecofishers.com/
Below is an extract from it:
ECOfishers has been formed in response to the government implementation of marine parks and the unjustified reduction in access for fishers with potential for further erosion of those rights if the process is not halted and then managed at a sensible level.
ECOfishers represents a wide cross-section of individuals and interest groups. These groups believe the current marine park planning and implementation unfairly discriminates against fishers both commercial and recreational.
The principal objective of ECOfishers is to support the rights of current and future generations to commercially harvest and enjoy recreational access to sustainable fishing in NSW waters. As ECOfishers we strongly support appropriately researched and evaluated conservation measures for aquatic ecosystems.
We maintain that people are an essential component of any balanced ecosystem anywhere in the world and maintain that we have a traditional right to harvest the environment. There is ample historical and legal precedent to support these views. We believe that our right to fish is a natural right based on our need to eat.
We see the cause as the increasing influence of the green movement (as opposed to the environmental movement) and the adoption of the greens dogma by state labour governments who are desperate to retain power. Of greatest concern to us is the green movements obsession with denying people access to natural areas. We accept that there needs to be management controls but we are not willing to accept what we term "lockouts" as one of them. We have researched the literature well and we see little support for the "belief" that the only way to preserve nature is to lock people out.
The current push and implementation of exclusion zones should be seen as a last resort for aquatic protection, not the first course of action. The planning process must involve ALL stakeholders including the commercial sector, recreational fishers, and NSW fisheries, of which none were included in the study of the Manning Shelf Bioregion published by the Marine Parks Authority. Critically, planners must look at achieving the required outcomes as a result of scientific analysis. Most importantly the effectiveness of such management must be evaluated against the objectives put forward.
In just four months, we have achieved wide coverage in media and formed 8 groups involving thousands of people along the NSW coast. Two groups from the north coast, who have been active for years, have joined us and have provided a template for our activities and other alliances are being formed with like-minded groups around the country and the globe.
We are very much in the formative stages, however, already we can see that this approach will be effective. The ultimate aim is to have the major political parties enshrine our rights and freedoms in their policies and ultimately in law. We know we have the numbers.
We have no special allegiance with any political party, however, we wish to develop a working relationship with all political parties.
As ECOfishers we don’t see that locking fishers out of a section of coastline will have anywhere near the impact on fish stocks and biodiversity as reducing pressure on the environment in the nurseries that are our estuaries and offshore habitats that sustain aquatic life. United as ECOfishers we can make governments listen, divided as fishers, we will be told where we can and can not fish.
Cheers
Derek