Sutherland Shire Council Meeting – Mayor’s Motion regarding boundaries for Spearfishing

Monday February 19th

Sutherland Shire Council Meeting – Mayor’s Motion regarding boundaries for Spearfishing – Shelly Beach to Bass and Flinders Point. Creating a new Aquatic Reserve therefore increasing the spearfishing exclusion boundaries.  USFA protested peacefully against these Mayoral motions and offered solutions.

USFA Members hold your heads up high!

Last night’s Sutherland Shire council meeting saw an overwhelming number of recreational fishers attending to offer solutions to be able to share the marine resource rather than have spearfishers excluded losing safe access to more of our treasured shallow water hunting grounds.

Every single fishing representative in attendance, close to 150 rec fishers showed class and dignity and gave respect to others of the public, showing the Council the quality of people involved in recreational fishing. Council staff mentioning they had not seen such numbers in attendance at any Council meeting previously.             

The Crux of the matter: A protected specie – the Blue Groper was speared, by an unlicensed fisher new to the country, therefore due to the actions of one person fishers are to lose territory.

Julian, Hon. Mark Banasiak MLC, Alex Bellisimo, Simon Trippe USFA President

Our Association and its members boast many generations of experience dealing with issues relating to sharing the spatial areas that we use with other stakeholders and this again came to the fore as the talks given by David McGowan (Pt Hacking Penguins) and Charl deVilliers (St George Dragons President) were on point. 

Dave McGowan

David mentioning the benefits of the ocean for our health and well-being “the ocean is the antidote to modern life”; David expressing that we could flip this problem to an opportunity to solve this together, “as changes to the rules wont change behaviour… yet an engaged community from all sides with guidance and leadership from governing bodies could lead to great things for the marine environment further benefitting the community… Do we turn our backs on each other, close the door and lock it down, or do we open for community collaboration and positive change?

Charl pointing out that the La Perouse aboriginal land council had not been consulted. Charl expressed there were 40 000 rec fishers in the Shire; he queried the lack of good, respectful and collaborative approach liaising with the community to solve the problems, and finally he asked Council to stop special interest groups who request exclusive access to the public domain.

Note, the USFA, and its speakers representing tonight absolutely condemns the taking of Blue Groper by spear. Spearfishers are not at fault here.

We suggest to the Minister, her Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, and the Sutherland Shire Council the following:

Education: The USFA would like to be involved with the Department to assist concerned locals in communities, and recreational fishers on the fishing regulations, and to promote spearfishing in its best light where people are realising the huge positive impact it has on fitness, well-being and mental health. An open day at Oak Park promoted by governing bodies assisted by USFA local members would be a great start to this ongoing education.  Too, encouraging local dive and tackle stores to promote awareness of the Blue Groper.

Science:  That there needs to be an index of abundance on Blue Groper. The species have been in an eruptive phase for several decades and it would be worth looking to see if they are a threatening process to other species due to their inter-specific hyper dominant nature, and their sheer biomass. You would look to adaptive management based upon the science and monitoring.  The USFA would be happy to assist with this research.

The Mayor and Councillors were impressed by the spearfishers and had good discussion and decided to make amendments to forward on to the Minister. Council looks forward to positive collaboration with community stakeholders and USFA in the ongoing education of people in the benefits of spearfishing and those coming into their community enjoying the wonderful Marine environment the Shire offers.

Thanks must go to the Hon. Mark Banasiak MLC and his amazing team from the SFF Party, Mark you have always stood by the spearo, thank you so much; the amazing crew at St George and Sutherland Shire Anglers Club who turned in in great numbers; various members of the Stop the Lockout Alliance with their banners; the Spearfishing clubs, our tribe! Port Hacking Penguins, St George Dragons, Sans Souci Dolphins, North Shore Sea Hawks (at least 7 members from the Northern beaches came to support!) plus, legends like Alex Bellismo; the Wild Foodmeister; Fergo’s Tackleworld staff, cheers Johnny and team! Adreno Legends – thanks Craig Seadog for being there too, and lastly Danil Hike, Nick Tang, Melven Brown AO, and Bob McComb, what a think tank and awesome action group you guys were with the countless days combined you spent on this with Charlie and David, thank you all so much.

You all came, you were respectful, we left a great impression, thank you! Now for the Minister’s announcement to come, watch this space…..

3 USFA Presidents Bob McComb, Jack Jones, Simon Trippe. Jack is now a keen angler with St George and Sutherland Shire Anglers.

The USFA’s Issues with the Hawkesbury Shelf Marine Bioregion Assessment

The NSW Government is inviting your comments on suggested management initiatives to enhance marine biodiversity in the Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregion. Please note that the consultation period has been extended until Sunday 8th May 2016.

The Marine Estate Management Authority (MEMA) has created a  discussion paper where they describe eight suggested management initiatives in the Hawkesbury Shelf Marine Bioregion Assessment. The USFA agrees with most of these Initiatives except for Initiative 4 – Spatial Management.

Spatial management is basically another name for Lockouts. The USFA is opposed to lockouts as we believe there are better management strategies than total lockouts.

USFA’s Matthew Poulton answers some questions on what the  Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregion assessment created by the Marine Estate Management Authority (MEMA) means for spear fishers in NSW, Sydney, Newcastle & Wollongong.
The USFA’s Issues with the Hawkesbury Shelf Marine Bioregion Assessment
http://usfa.org.au/usfas-issues-hawkesbury-shelf-marine-bioregion-assessment/

A better picture showing the expanse of the region under assessment
The Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregion under assessment

The Assessment has identified 15 main sites and 44 additional sites. The implications are that as many of these sites as possible will be locked up for good.  Continue reading The USFA’s Issues with the Hawkesbury Shelf Marine Bioregion Assessment

Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregion assessment

Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregionAs many of you are aware there is a huge push to create another marine park from Newcastle to Wollongong. We are working as hard as we can to minimise the impacts to  spear fishers as much as possible. We set to lose out big time here especially as shallow reefs and headlands <25m include 95% of the areas that we dive.

Continue reading Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregion assessment

Australian Marine Park Information

Understanding the rules

A word of caution: If you break the Marine Parks rules and are charged, it does not matter if you did not know you were breaking the rules. Ignorance is not a valid legal defence.

What is a “no-take” area?

An area where all forms of fishing, recreational and commercial is banned. This includes gathering shellfish or crustaceans or collecting seaweed.

How is a Marine Park mean to work?

By setting aside areas for protection, the aim is to create a system of areas which are not harvested, and which can supply adults and juveniles to the surrounding areas which are still open to fishing.

Does it work?

For some species, particularly long-lived and territorial species, yes, Marine Parks can work quite well. For other species, especially open-ocean, pelagic species such as tuna; the no-take areas would have to cover massive areas of ocean to be effective.


Australia

http://www.environment.gov.au/topics/marine/marine-reserves

Commonwealth marine reserves:
South-west | North-west | North | Great Barrier Reef | Coral Sea | Temperate East | South-east | Heard Island and McDonald Islands

Map of Australia’s network of Commonwealth marine reserves (PDF – 842.05 KB)


New South Wales

http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/
http://www.mpa.nsw.gov.au/pdf/NSW-Marine-protected-areas.pdf
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/habitat/protecting-habitats/mpa

There are six Marine Parks currently gazetted in NSW:
Cape Byron | Solitary Islands | Port Stephens-Great Lakes | Jervis Bay | Batemans Bay | Lord Howe Island


Queensland

http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/marine-parks/

The three state marine parks in Queensland are:
Great Barrier Reef Coast Marine Park | Great Sandy Marine Park | Moreton Bay Marine Park


Victoria

http://www.vic.gov.au/environment-water/water/marine-parks.html
http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/forestry-and-land-use/coasts/marine/marine-national-parks


South Australia

http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/marineparks/home


West Australia

http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/management/marine/marine-parks-and-reserves


Tasmania

http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/index.aspx?base=397


Northern Territory

http://www.parksandwildlife.nt.gov.au/
Limmen Bight Marine Park