OPENING ROSS RIVER DAM TO FISHERS RULED OUT

[fishsmith]

North Queensland Water stance on stocking the Ross river dam for recreational fishing remains the same after considering the issue at a board meeting last month.
NQ Water Cheif Executive Officer,Ken Diehm conducted a special presentation at a council meeting on August 19.
"For the same environment,public saftey and cost reasons,NQ Water has again affirmed it's committment to eco-tourism",Mr Diehm said.
Mr Diehm said the arguments were reconsidered "but our research conducted into the practicalities and limitations are conclusive...There should be no fishing on the dam".
NQ Water is in the process of awarding three permits for eco-tourism activities on the dam.They include wildlife and bird watching safaris and kyaking and educational tours.
Mr Diehm said these activities were consistant with NQ Water management plans.
He said unresricted access to the dam by fishres would also compromise the commercial viability of these businesses.

[fishsmith]

???

[Fitzy]

A rediculous decision. The potential to the local communities of stocked lakes is in the millions.

[cooky]

hmmm - modern politics - take the SAFE BET. >

[fishsmith]

I think some commercial interests may have the local council in a headlock over future use of this great dam,which i believe could be a greater success than Tinnaroo or Faust and bing in anglers worldwide and potentially $millions to the local economy of Townsville/Thurongowa...... ???

[Volvo]

And the decision should be applauded, fancy havin yonks of lure tosses out on the Dam pissin n crappin in the water everywhere ..Then expect peoples ta drink from it....
Merry christmas all n Hope ya have a Good one for the New Year ...
Cheers

[notts_so]

Yuor kiddin arnt you volvo

[Volvo]

[Barrymundi]

The dam is too shallow.

Anyway it was illegally stocked a few years back with Barra

[fishsmith]

Deep enough to water ski in apparently!!!!!!!....How big have those Barra got do you know Al?....

[FlyRod]

Tourism /Fishing # I was invited up there a couple of weeks ago by local stocking group members to rec-fish survey the Appliens weir on the Ross River .And because I'm a big Barra addict I, like many others would, Jumped at the chance.
The weekend involved this
Flights to townsville
accomodation
meals/drinks (in a local hotel)
all other meals
fishing in other local creeks
a tour by my host of the city and surrounds
I even used the post office to pay some bills while I was there


And I'm just one single fisherman maybe the local pollies should think realistically about the benifits for both the local comunity and the fishing public,if they were to open such a fishery so close to a beautiful ,large and populated city.There are many other fisho's like me that cant stomach the big wide blue ocean and are always in search of some flat water to catch big barra!!!
Check out the "APPLIENS WEIR ACTION" #topic in the fishing reports chat page!!!
Rod #