What's New
TARFish BULLETIN
The June edition of the TARFish Bulletin is now available for download from our Communications page. If you would like us to automatically email you a free copy simply use our Subscribe page on the right hand side of any page.
RECREATIONAL BOATING FUND SUBMISSIONS
Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) utilise funds derived from recreational boat registrations to develop and enhance recreational boating facilities from which $380,000 has been allocated for this year. MAST called for proposals for suitable projects from January to March and where necessary endeavoured to talk to all applicants, in some cases on site, to discuss their submissions during April. A full list of the proposals received can be viewed at www.mast.tas.gov.au . A series of public forum meetings is now being conducted statewide, providing an opportunity for the boating community to offer their views on each of the projects within their region. At each forum MAST will give an overview of each project to enable it to be discussed in detail. As freshwater anglers and East Coast boaters live all around the state projects for inland waters and the East Coast will be discussed at each forum. After the public forums, the MAST Board will meet and select successful projects, which will be announced during June. To have your say on the projects for 2009/2010 attend your regional meeting as detailed below. All meetings commence at 7pm. Launceston - 11 May at Tamar Yacht Club, Park Street, Launceston, Burnie - 12 May at Burnie Yacht Club, The Esplanade, South Burnie, Hobart - 13 May at Bellerive Yacht Club, Cambridge Road, Bellerive, Bicheno - 14 May at Community Hall, Burgess Street, Bicheno.
ROCK LOBSTER SEASONAL CLOSURE
The recreational seasonal closure for the taking of female rock lobsters commenced on 1 May. This means it is illegal for recreational fishers to take any female rock lobsters from 1 May to 31 October 2009. The male season remains open until 21 August 2009.
ROCK LOBSTER RULES REVIEW
The Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW) have commenced the process for a review of the Rock Lobster Rules which expire in 2011. TARFish were involved in the first Working Group meeting which was held on 7 April. State wide representation from recreational fishers, commercial fishers, marine researchers and DPIW personnel make up the working group. Agenda items for the meeting included an Overview of the Fishery, Main Stock Issues, Estimation of the Recreational Catch, Resource Sharing Arrangement, Compliance Issues and Estimating Illegal Catch, Increasing Urchin Barrens and Inshore Fishing Issues. The first meeting was more of an information and discussion session with further meetings of the Working Group to be scheduled later this year. The commercial rock lobster fishers association has flagged that they have some concerns about the accuracy of the annual estimated recreational catch level however they have indicated they are not looking for the recreational sector to reduce their minimum 170t annual rock lobster allocation which was agreed at the previous Rules Review. Alternate methods of calculating the catch were briefly discussed and we will be following this issue closely to ensure unnecessary complexity is not created and any possible alternative calculation methods are workable, cost effective and efficient.
ABALONE RULES REVIEW
DPIW have commenced the review of the Abalone Rules which expire in late 2009. A Working Group has been established which TARFish is representated on and the first meeting was held on 18 February. All of the issues discussed at the first meeting involve amendments to the commercial fishery with no impacts on the recreartional sector. TARFish will update you as this process develops but at this stage it appears likely that impacts on recreational sector will be minimal, if at all.
ST HELENS BARWAY
Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) have called tenders on 2 May for the transfer of sand from Blanches Beach at St Helens Point. The work involves construction of a sand bund, removal of sand from the beach and placing into the bund. Tenders close on 22 May.
JOIN TARFish - ITS FREE
The Chief Executive Officer of TARFish, Mark Nikolai, has been busy during 2008 in raising the public profile of the association. He attended most of the fishing competitions in Tasmania, held public meetings on the West, North West and East Coasts and had display's at the Royal Hobart Show, the Deegan Marine Boat Show in Ulverstone and the Leisure and Boating Expo at the Motor Yacht Club of Tasmania at Lindisfarne. A constant question raised by a large number of people Mark spoke to wanted to know how they could support TARFish, the government recognised fully independent peak body which had been established to represent the interests of recreational marine fishers in Tasmania. Mark explained that the current rules of the association limited membership of TARFish to the organisation level and did not provide a level of individual membership. Due to the significant public interest in wanting to join and support TARFish Mark discussed the issue with the TARFish Committee and it was agreed that there would be significant benefits in changing the association's rules to allow individual membership. TARFish continues to grow and mature as an association and remains committed and flexible to the needs of Tasmania's recreational marine fishing community. If you would like to join and support TARFish simply fill out an Associate Member Application Form.
SCALEFISH RULES REVIEW
The Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW) have released their Scalefish Fishery Management Plan Review Final Report on the First Consultation Phase. This report consolidates the 416 public submissions received on the first phase of the scalefish rules review. Goto our Communications page to download a copy.
The Draft Scalefish Rules were released by the DPIW on 21 May 2009 and closed for public submissions on 22 June 2009. There were 224 submissions received in the second public submission period. DPIW have advised all "submissions will be considered as part of the process that determines the outcome of the review of the scalefish fishery management plan." All submissions will be summarised into a final report for consideration by Minister Llewellyn prior to making decisions on the proposed amendments. TARFish will be keeping a close eye on the outcomes and will update recreational marine fishers when the summary report is released. A copy of TARFish's second submission is available on our Communications page.