June 2010 - Boating Industry Association of NSW

to compete in and enjoy but incredibly hard to win you’re on
the right track. With 5 points for 1 st , 3 points for 2 nd , and 1
point for 3 rd place, a winning angler usually needs to be on
the board with a number of species. With 14 eligible species
there are 96 prizes for species winners and champions.
The good news is that there are literally dozens of lucky
draw prizes for those not so lucky anglers. The lucky draws
included everything from slabs of Coca Cola through samples
of the main prize winners packages to holiday packages
from Winning Holidays, The Retreat, and Port Stephens
Beachside Holiday Parks. Suzy Crompton even won a south
coast accommodation / charter package compliments of new
sponsor Kloster Nissan. There were many Lowrance sounder
plotters won and the main lucky draw was an Evinrude E-Tec
powered Polycraft Boat from Bay Boat Sales that was won
by the very lucky Kieren Larson from Sydney. This motor/
boat package came complete with a trailer, Lowrance HDS5
sounder/plotter, and Club Marine insurance.
With over 80% of competitors being visitors to the Port
Stephens area, the tournament is a valuable contributor to the
local economy. Funds are applied to assist local organisations
such as the RVCP, Coast Guard, Police Boys Club, and Shoal
Bay Fishing Club.
Despite being virtually under siege by all the Government
Departments all out to ‘help’ the competitors, this tournament
is a raging success each year. This is not to denigrate the
employees of these Government instrumentalities, most of
whom do a very good job. However, there must be a point at
which visitors to an area put having to fight their way through
all the different enforcement officers in all their different vessels
with all their different requirements as being too hard and
decide to stay away.
There were Water Police doing RBTs, Maritime Officers
doing safety checks, Fisheries Inspectors doing license
and bag-limit checks, and of course the latest in politically
created authorities, the exuberant Marine Parks Rangers
who compliment the fine work done by the zealous onshore
council parking rangers. One wit was heard to quip that
there were probably more law enforcement officers in Port
Stephens over this weekend making sure Mr and Mrs Jones
and their children didn’t step out of line while out fishing than
chasing real criminals in NSW. Sadly, it’s probably closer
to the truth than we’d hope and reflects the sad state of the
NSW government, its politics, and its desperation to garner
preference votes from all and sundry lunatic fringes.
It is disappointing to see the amount of wasted resources
with duplicate staffing, duplicate offices, duplicate boats and
all the other infrastructure requirement duplications devoted
to walloping a few tourists for even daring to look like they
may be fishing in a marine park. More so when it is widely
recognised that most marine parks have been created to
achieve a political end in the first place, with precious little
real scientific basis or regard for the environment or fish used
in their creation.
What sort of society are we when the fine for fishing (or
looking like fishing) in a marine park is probably a higher
penalty than one would get for stealing a car or breaking into
a house. Perhaps we need some Civil Libertarians to take up
the poor old fisho’s plight.
Date for your diary:
The 2011 Club Marine Trailer Boat Fishing Tournament
will be held 15, 16, and 17 April with entries closing on 8
April. You can view the rules and enter online at www.tbft.
com.au or ask for entry forms to be mailed out by calling
(02) 9029 6554.
Tony Poole
Boat
for
Life
Our Safety
Ambassadors
for Paddle Safety:
Justin & James
Visit www.boatforlife.com.au
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The BIA website has an active Jobs Vacant or Jobs
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Listing a Job Vacant or Job Wanted is simple and
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For assistance, please contact
Justine Merrony justine@bia.org.au or
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Phone: (02) 9438 2077
BIA of NSW LOGBOOK June 2010 - 19