Mayfield Public Meeting

[Nete-Quette]

The following Message was Recieved from Pete of the Fishermans Warehouse

The public meeting held last night as Mayfield RSL, hosted by NSW ECO Fishers was a little disappointing to say the least with regards to numbers of people in attendance.I believe that you, the public need to 'get on board' with any meetings that are called or any assistance that is advertised with regards to the fighting of Marine Parks.

The attendance was 120 people who were very well informed with information from myself,illustrating how marine parks are instigated  and key note speaker was Mr Ken Thurlow who is on the liaison committee with regards to the Byron Bay marine parks.Ken advised that when the draft  zoning plan had been negotiated and that all parties were reasonably in agreeance with the plan,the outcome was totally different.That is to say that it appears the people of Byron Bay are left with the  'ocean deserts' to spend their time fishing for --whatever!

The Premier yesterday handed down a decision to declare 97000 hectares of marine park along our coastline from Birubi Point north to Forster and within this park 20% to become -NO ACCESS TO FISHING-, these areas will most certainly be the best and most sensitive fishing areas and as other marine parks have proven , that the percentage of NO ACCESS AREAS will increase.This is currently in process at the Jervis Bay marine parks where the intention is to increase the areas to 37% taking in the most popular land based game fishing location known as 'THE TUBES'.

What many of you are not aware of is that the next 'HAWKESBURY BIOREGION' assessment has just been released which engulfs Lake Macquarie,Hawkesbury River,Tuggerah Lakes and many other locations stretching from the Hunter River south to Shellharbour (south of Sydney), of which most of Lake Macquarie has been highlighted as a high priority to become an AQUATIC RESERVE.

The pressure is building and times are changing,any of you who are concerned about loosing your rights to be able to fish where you want,then take note of any meetings that are advertised and simply ATTEND!

[JJ]

I went to the meeting at Mayfield last week and i also attended the metting a few weeks before that aswell. Its good that you guys are telling us whats about to happen to rec fishing but its not enough.
You guys arent actually telling us what to do other than signing a petition.
We want to help more but we dont know what to do. Most of the people that i know have already writen petition letters to the government and so on...
We want to save our fishing spots and we will do anything to do so.
If someone can give me registration forms for ecofishers memberships, i could give it to all the local tackle stores so that they can distribute the news (raise awareness) and raise money.
Most fisho's didnt even know about the marine parks until they published the article on the front page of the herald the other week.
Everyone i know is willing to help but we need guidence as what to do!

If you guys need more money for advertising let me know and me and a few mates could go around some companys and ask for donations.

We need to move faster on this subject

Regards
JJ

[mad mitch]

attention jj

jj we do need to move faster but we must be organised and prepared for what lays ahead aswell jj i will raise ur issues at our neet committee meeting and see what we can come up with mate ill be in touch

cheers mitch

[Grantm]

I agree with jj's sentiment there.

My problem is although i feel strongly about these issues and wish to support the cause, I can seldom attend meetings or get physically involved due to home and work commitments.

There has to be other ways to show support and help without physically being at a meeting to sign a petition.

From my experience the vast majority of rec fisho's agree and support the idea of protecting our pastime, but having to get physically involved is not possible. I know from other forums where you get only the keenist fisho's that it is only a small minority of people wishing to post their thoughts although i know they care. What chance do we have of getting these people to show up at a meeting.

Other groups including TFP have always struggled to gain support because your average rec fisho wont step forward.

How can support be drummed up from these people who i know want to help but for various reason dont/cant get involved ?

There is also a huge lack of exposure from any rec fishing group. Most people dont even know groups like ECOFishers exist.

I hope ECOFishers can raise some funds to get the exposure they so desperatly need and there can be ways that even the most reclusive and shy rec fisho can show support that counts. People need to made aware. Perhaps a rep from ECOFishers should spend some time posting in ALL fishing forums to spread the word and inform people of their intention as a start.

Thanks

[JJ]

Sorry to be so blunt but, you guys from ECOFishers need to get your arses in gear. Everyone wants to help but dont know what to do. You need to tell us what to do!

This is a quote from another website:

JJ,

Where can we sign up? Why haven't ECOfishers approached every tackle store in the Greater Newcastle area to put a membership box on their counter? I have numerous customers asking how they can support ECOfishers yet none of them, nor I, know how to do this. Knowing that the website exists is a great help but that is not the way to get the average person to join. GET IN PEOPLES FACES MORE! I only say this because without the numbers we aren't going to win this war. Especially with local Port Stephens identities declaring their support for the Marine Park in the local Port Stephens paper today and saying that we can only hope, through cohesive negotiation, that we still retain our prime fishing areas. The fact that there is an action group in the Port Stephens area also rallying for the marine parks implementation is not helping either.

Please, get to people on the grass roots level and do it quickly. I have asked this nearly a week ago now with no response.

[mad mitch]

there is a membership box for ECO FISHERS at fishermans wharehouse at marks point

THERE WILL BO MORE MEMBERSHIP BOXES IN OTHER TACKLE STORES THROUGHOUT THE HUNTER IN THE UPCOMING WEEKS 

[ian cameron]

The first thing you should do is start writing letters to the editor of your local paper. Follow this up with letters supporting your viewpoint to your local political representative. After all they are there theoretically to rerpresent the interests and wishes of those who elect them . If you think they are acting against your best interests then tell them in blunt terms that cannot be misunderstood.

Eco Fishers cannot succeed without everyone doing their bit and that includes most importantly voting against any politician or party that is not representing you. And tell both of them loud  and clear that you are going to vote against them. The only thing that matters to a politician is staying in power and the threat of losing that power is the only thing they understand, so tell them !

[squizzytaylor]

Out of interest Guys, I saw a couple of interviews regarding Lake Macquarie on local news and it has taken me about 4 weeks to find this site. Most tackle shops in Newcastle are either "out of the loop" or just playing dumb.
GT