Page 67 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

CThoughts on the upcoming Queensland election
OVID-19 has balanced view of our ern communities – in- changed our state’s fisheries man- cluding recreational world, so its agement. fishers.
Comment
by DAVE DONALD
vitally important that, While this small Our advocates have
as recreational fish- ers, we seriously con- sider where to place our votes later this month.
happened.
This is a slap in the
ing zones, then threat- ening to hand those areas back to netters if they get re-elected.
right-wing party will be standing candi- dates predominantly in western and north- ern-based seats, they have the potential to become a major force in the parliament, par- ticularly in the event it becomes ‘hung’.
tried repeatedly to talk sense with both majors, only to be re- peatedly let down and patronised.
All states are now recognising the eco- nomic and social ben- efits of encouraging a vibrant recreational fishery, but Queens- land continues to fall further and further behind as both ma- jor parties continue to treat us as an after- thought.
face for Queensland- based recreational fishers because our new restrictions were on time and effective in August 2019.
Having been ap- proached on many oc- casions, senior mem- bers continue to be openly antagonistic towards our repre- sentatives.
It’s time to register our protest and give somebody who ap- pears to be interested in a better outcome ago.
The rollout of com- mercial regulations – contained in the Sustainable Fisheries Reforms – that was ‘promised’ last De- cember, has still not
The other main party has repeatedly sided with commer- cial fishers, opposing the establishment of the three highly suc- cessful net-free fish-
There is one party that has shown inter- est in pursuing a more
An increased par- liamentary ‘block’ of these members would appear to offer the best overall outcome for outback and north-
Fishers, make your vote count this elec- tion!
A perfect reason for more than 900,000 adherents to put the party concerned as last preference on bal- lot papers in protest.
So, where does that leave those of us who want to make our votes count towards policies that better support Queensland’s $4 billion recreational fishing, boating and tourism sectors?
All three sitting members are recrea- tional fishers, so they understand many of the issues with cur- rent unresponsive and archaic political poli- cies.
I’ve mentioned be- fore how far Queens- land lags behind other states in recreational fishing terms.
But is the alternative any better?
We will only keep going backwards if we vote as we always have and the status quo is maintained.
Fishing therapy – a positive outcome for anglers
quite a few Queens- landers have taken the opportunity to visit the Cape at short notice, and we’ve seen a steady flow of drive-in visi- tors, with many towing a boat.
* from P66
ly and queenfish ap- pear to be a little more prevalent, while finger- mark, cod, coral trout and tuskfish are being taken regularly around the bauxite reefs.
left us alone long enough that we were able to put a few mack- erel in the icebox – for a couple of feeds at home plus half a dozen frozen packs for my visitors to take with them.
Tournament is still scheduled for the first weekend in October, so checking what COVID restrictions apply may be a good idea.
get very hot and humid, the fishing more than makes up for the un- comfortable conditions.
A few days of fish- ing with my daughter Mel and her husband Ben – who had planned trips to New Zealand then Melbourne before being locked down – proved to be a fairly hectic affair.
The following day, we topped the visit off with a few nice upriver barra.
Due to an inability to travel to other parts of Australia or overseas,
Though summer can
So, if you have the chance, it’s definitely a good time to head to the pointy part of Aus- tralia.
On our first day we found a patch of 6-8kg grey mackerel that were feeding on bait schools wide of Red Cliffs.
The local game fish- ing club experienced several memorable days onsailfishwhenweath- er allowed, with boats landing and releasing more than 10 fish in a session.
As usual, trolled Hal- co Scorpion 90mm di- vers did the trick, with fish largely unrespon- sive to other models.
Estimated at over 250kg, one large black marlin was tagged dur- ing a marathon session by a member fishing a trolled lure – a fantastic effort.
Mel and Ben landed this double header of grey mackerel on a beautiful morn-
ing wide of the Gulf coast.
Thankfully, the sharks
The Weipa Billfish
www.bnb shing.com.au
Bush ’n Beach Fishing, October 2020 – Page 67