February 2001. (No.35).

STOCKED IMPOUNDMENT PERMIT FEE (SIP) UPDATE.

There is now approximately $230,000 in the kitty. This is to be distributed to the 25 groups (on the schedule), in about June. The funds will be shared out partly based on the surface area of the dam, and partly on where the permit holders have indicated they want their funds to go. A meeting of the FreshwaterMAC SIP Sub-committee is to be held in March to finalise the details.
Obviously FFSAQ would expect stocking groups to generally target all funds collected from permit fees specifically to buying fingerlings. There may however be a few exceptions, for example those stocking groups with their own hatcheries. In good seasons these hatcheries produce fingerlings at a fraction of commercial hatchery costs. In FFSAQ's view it would be reasonable for some SIP funds to go towards the running costs of these hatcheries. There may well be other exceptions. FFSAQ will be suggesting that where groups wish to spend SIP funds on anything else but fingerlings, they will need to present their case to the SIP Sub-committee for ratification.

FINGERLINGS VERSUS GRANTS

In the past the DPI/QFS have been responsible for the purchase and delivery of fingerlings. Following the support of FFSAQ members at the Monto workshop for the grant system, the QFS, to their credit, trialed the grant concept this season, involving some 9 groups. From the feedback we have had from these groups, the grant concept has worked very well. As a result FFSAQ will be pushing for all groups to be put on the grant system next season. To date the only problem appears to be the shortage of sooty grunter. We would hope that that the groups who miss out this season will be able to carry their grant forward to the next season. For the record the groups on the grant system this season included Bowen, Mt Isa, Taroom, Callide, Mundubbera, Gayndah, Toowoomba, (Cressbrook), Texas, and Nobby/Clifton.

DPI/QFS WORKSHOPS

This year the Northern workshop will be held at Ayr, hosted by the Burdekin group over the 28/29 April weekend. Les Kowitz will be attending as President of FFSAQ. groups. Normally DPI/QFS also provide funds for another southern stocking group member to attend the Northern workshop. This year it appears that funding is so tight that they cannot afford it!?
The Southern workshop will be held at Maroon Dam, hosted by the Maroon/Moogerah group over the May 12/13 weekend. FFSAQ urges all stocking groups to make an effort to attend. This is an ideal opportunity to have your say. Specifically in regards to the Maroon workshop: accommodation will be at the Maroon Education Centre which is virtually on the waters edge. Maroon is one of the most heavily stocked bass impoundments in Queensland. At times the fishing can be quite fantastic. You would be mad not to bring a boat and give it a go.

THE FFSAQ AGM

As in the past, the FFSAQ AGM will be held at Maroon on Saturday afternoon, at the end of Saturday's workshop proceedings. As in the past, an important part of the meeting will involve the election of office bearers for the 2001/2002 season. Also this year a proposed change of the constitution to include fishing clubs, and other freshwater fishing interest groups (as non voting members), will be put to the meeting for ratification. Under the present constitution, only stocking groups can be members. All groups will receive nomination forms and a copy of the proposed change to the constitution within the next couple of weeks. Please note that under our constitution nominations to the executive must be received at least 2 weeks prior to the AGM. This also applies to motions to be put to the meeting.

FFSAQ POLICY DOCUMENT

FFSAQ is presently preparing a policy document on a whole range of freshwater issues. Once the draft is completed we will be sending this out to all FFSAQ members for comment and input.

LOSS OF QFS STAFF

Peter Long (Rockhampton) and Simone Retief (Brisbane) have left for greener pastures. Kylie Dodds (Mackay) is leaving to have a baby. We are sorry to see these people go as they have all provided excellent service to our freshwater stocking associations. We wish them every success. We will be writing to them all individually to thank them for their commitment to freshwater. This loss of staff, all to varying degrees involved in freshwater, is of considerable concern. What is even of more concern is that there appears to be no immediate commitment by QFS to fill these positions. We now have no QFS extension, research or managerial staff between Bundaberg and Cairns, (with the exception of a very temporary fishway team at MacKay). This is over a distance of some 1000 km! FFSAQ will be following this up.

APPLICATION TO COMMERCIALLY HARVEST REDCLAW

It's on again. Yet another application to commercially harvest freshwater. From what we can gather this is still in the early application stage, with the applicant yet to pay the $1000 processing fee. We will be watching the progress of this application very closely. If it looks serious, we will be calling for a concerted effort by all stocking groups to knock this on the head. We will keep you informed.

WATER EXTRACTION

In drought conditions we have a serious problem with irrigators pumping waterholes dry. As we all know, in times of drought, the only refuge our fish have is the deeper waterholes. We have received concerns on this issue from the Chinchilla, Stanthorpe and Wallangarra stocking groups. In some cases members have been involved in the removal of fish to other water holes. Up to their waists in mud, backbreaking work! At Stanthorpe the group rescued over 400 fish (mostly yellowbelly and jew) from one waterhole. FFSAQ will be taking these cases up with the DNR.
With the recent rain much of this problem has disappeared for the time being. However there is no doubt that this problem will re-occur with the next dry. We ask all stocking groups to remain vigilant. The only chance that FFSAQ is going to have of addressing this problem is if stocking groups let us know all the details as soon as possible.

LABOUR AND NATIONAL/LIBERAL PARTY POLICIES

Coming up to the election we had great difficulty in getting any kind of recreational fishing policy from any party. The best we could do was to get some vague election promises. At least 'expansion of stocking' is still on the agenda. FFSAQ will be looking for a much more positive role from the Beattie Government now that they have such a good majority.

PUBLIC ACCESS

FFSAQ have corresponded with Beattie and Borbidge in regards to the loss of public access. Beattie's reply very non committal. FFSAQ will continue to pursue the matter.

NEXT MEETING ON SAT 7 APRIL 2001. AT KEV HORSEY'S RESIDENCE. Start 9.00 am. All Welcome.

FFSAQ Inc.
PO Box 2025
Brighton Qld 4017
Fax: 07 3869 0385