Keep Australia Fishing

Today is the day the biggest Aussie angler lock-out in history is decided! Recreational-fishing lobby group Keep Australia Fishing has set up a Facebook page and website to make it easy to share your views on the proposed lock-outs. See the video below for further explanation about what the marine parks might mean to you.

Following rallies in Melbourne on the weekend, Keep Australia Fishing is now asking all concerned anglers to contact the independent federal politicians Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott to ask for their help to stop the lock-outs. The Keep Australia Fishing website facilitates contacting these key pollies via published phone numbers.

Please share the website and the cause far and wide, with family, friends, work colleagues, fishing mates, next door neighbours. This is our last chance, says Keep Australia Fishing, and if we don't succeed, the lock-outs become enshrined in law and you, your family, friends and future generations will lose access to 1.3 million square kilometres of our seas forever.

Marion Reef, Kenn Reef, Shark and Osprey, Perth Trench Dampier, Geographe Bay and many, many more iconic fishing spots will be gone forever unless we share our views today to help Keep Australia Fishing.

Meantime, The Coalition will today press ahead with attempts to disallow management plans for Labor’s green-inspired network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Coalition Fisheries spokesman Senator Richard Colbeck said it was an attempt to bring a genuine consultation process to bear on the network, which was among issues that sparked angler protests at the weekend.

"Environment Minister Tony Burke rammed these management plans through with what could only sparingly be called a consultation process -- more of a show and tell," Senator Colbeck said.

“In February, we discovered that Mr Burke was disbanding the division responsible for the marine park process before the date for public submissions on the plan closed.

"The Coalition is not opposed to MPAs -- we have a strong record in this regard. But Mr Burke has played one group off against another and defaulted to the ENGO view -- a common trait for this Minister.

"Australia has access to a much more sophisticated toolkit than the simple lock-out strategy that this Minister seems to prefer. The Coalition will provide a much more balanced approach that ensures a sustainable seafood resource, access for recreational anglers and conservation of the environment," Mr Colbeck said.

See http://www.keepaustraliafishing.com.au/ and www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgpuVft_YY0&feature=youtube_gdata. Embedded video below.

UPDATE JUNE 4, 12PM: Things have hotted up on the campaign to have Minister Burke give recreational fishers a better deal in the Commonwealth Marine Reserve planning process.

The Coalition will sometime today be tabling a Disallowance Motion before the Federal Parliament which if successful will block the passage of  Labor's Marine Reserve Management regulations. The Coalition has asked for the support of all recreational fishers in having the Marine Management Plan stopped. For the Disallowance Motion to get up in Parliament it is essential that the Independents support the Motion. Hence the above call to visit www.keepaustraliafishing.com.au to contact these Independents (details on site).

Even if the Disallowance Motion does not get up in Parliament, the unified voice of all recreational fishers will send a very clear reality check to Minister Burke and his Labor colleagues that recreational fishers are not happy with the Government's handling of the Marine Reserve process and will make their disquiet evident at the ballot box. This could be our last chance to achieve a sensible and equitable outcome for recreational fishers.