Updates
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April 2001. (No.36). INSURANCE. FFSAQ have still got no further with this. At the moment, Keith Day
of the Mackay group, an expert on insurance with plenty of contacts
in the industry, is looking into a policy that provides adequate cover
at a reasonable price. If FFSAQ can guarantee, say 25 to 30 policies
we may be able to achieve a worthwhile discount. STOCKED IMPOUNDMENT PERMIT SCHEME. A freshwater MAC SIP sub committee meeting was held in March. Allocations were finalised and hopefully each of the 25 groups on the scheme will be notified of what they are getting before or at the workshops. We would expect this to be allocated in the way of grants. This should allow groups to put their orders in early and give the hatcheries plenty of notice. As mentioned previously, there is $ 230,000 to be distributed. Considerably less than was expected, however this represents only seven months. Hopefully next year, with a full 12 months and the moratorium on permits lifted, we will see a better return. The battle now will be keeping the QFS allocation of $168,000. What's the betting that the bureaucrats will try and cut this back? Their rational for reducing QFS funding will be that we are already getting $230,000 from the SIP. MT CROSBY WEIR FISHWAY. There has been very little progress for some time. The Brisbane City Council is prepared to consider going ahead, but is looking to the State Government for financial assistance. We understand that there have been talks between Premier Beattie and Mayor Soorley but we are unaware of any outcome. FFSAQ will be following this up. CALLIDE DAM-WATER CHARGES. For many years the Callide Dam group have been growing out fingerlings in a DNR pond originally built for saratoga production by Hamar Midgley. DNR have always supplied the water for free. Not any more now that Sunwater has taken over. This season, for their second run of barramundi, the group were charged $330 per megalitre. For the 2.6 megalitres required, the cost to the group was $890. It is of considerable concern that Sunwater fail to appreciate that the stocking group are all volunteers that have to work hard for every cent raised. All the money goes back to stocking, which in turn attracts visitors to the area. This is economic rationalism at its worst on the part of Sunwater The good news is that the group produced and stocked some 20,000 barramundi fingerlings from this particular effort. Barra appear to be a real success story in Callide. Over the past three months over 70 barra have been caught, with many up to 70 cm. Even anglers chucking lures from the shore are doing surprisingly well. QFS FORESIGHTING EXERCISE. FFSAQ and a number of other stakeholders have been involved in a fore-sighting exercise for the stocking program. Basically fore sighting is looking at where we would like the fishery to be in 10 years time, and most importantly, working out ways achieve this. We understand that this exercise will be discussed at both workshops and all groups will have opportunity for input. FISHWAY PROBLEMS FOR THE BOWEN RIVER STOCKING GROUP. The Clare and Bowen Weirs with old-fashioned ineffective fishways, seriously restrict the upstream passage of fish, even in major flood events. Worse still the Bowen River fishway, (in a state of chronic disrepair and choked with rocks and debris), actually traps fish in the fishway cells with almost 100% mortality as water levels recede. To quote from Bowen River Fish Stocking groups correspondence to the DNR Minister, "the lower three tiers of the fishway were awash with maggots and the stench was gut wrenching. And this, by the way is our local water supply!" The best solution the DNR has come up with so far is to offer to pay the group to remove the dead fish! FFSAQ will be following this issue up with the Minister requesting a long-term and sustainable solution. CANIA DAM-DRAW-DOWN TO 4%. It's on again. Rumour has it that Sunwater are intending to reduce Cania Dam down to 4%. This will seriously impact on the viability of one of the best bass and saratoga fisheries in Queensland. As FFSAQ has repeatedly told the relevant ministers in the past, it is essential that minimum sustainable draw down levels be established for each and every dam in consultation with all stakeholders. The alternative is that every future draw down will result in a major political uproar. This will not reflect positively on either Sunwater, DNR, or the Minister. FFSAQ will be following up the Cania issue once DNR/Sunwater's intentions are clear.
Recently all the aquatic vegetation in Cressbrook has virtually disappeared. Some have attributed this to the relatively recent introduction of gar. Basically what they are saying is that gar have wiped out the weed. Obviously this possibility deserves consideration. But why only Cressbrook? In other impoundments where gar have been successfully introduced, there appears to have been no appreciable reduction in aquatic plant growth. FFSAQ understands that the Toowoomba City Council is considering funding a project to look at the disappearance of aquatic vegetation in Cressbrook and the possible implication of gar. NEW SPECIES RESEARCH. Unfortunately the jungle perch FRDC project was knocked back for this
year. We believe that part of the problem behind FRDC's decision was
concern that there would be difficulties in breeding JP's and that the
project would then fall in a heap. Mike Hutchison (Deception Bay) will
try and get the project up again next year, and also look for alternative
funding. FFSAQ will also be taking this up directly with FRDC. Our concern
is that if nothing is done soon there will be no southern strain jungle
perch left. LAKES DYER, CLARENDON AND GREGORY UNDER THREAT. Sunwater want to have these three lakes taken off the SIP. There rationale is that these are all balancing storages and as such Sunwater cannot guarantee adequate water levels. Obviously FFSAQ will oppose. NEXT MEETING DATE TO BE SET FOLLOWING THE MAROON WORKSHOP. |
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