‘Listen up, peasants!

I’m the boss now and I’ll tell you where you can fish, and what you can fish for.

Now sit down and shut up.’

At the end of this week, Friday 29th January 2010, Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett will ban the capture of mako sharks by recreational anglers.

Why?

Mako sharks are under no threat whatsoever in the southern hemisphere. They swarm in thousands around the southern half of Australia’s 34,000 km coastline. Here’s a map of the globe, with their distribution shown in red:

Makos are one of the most widespread and successful shark species on earth. But overfishing in the Mediterranean Sea (less than one percent of their habitat) has prompted a ban by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN.) The IUCN, is a UN sponsored body stacked with green groups from around the world. Greenie NGOs make up seventy percent of the organisation’s membership:

Does Garrett have a treaty obligation to ban the taking of mako sharks? NO. But he’s a hardcore greenie who’s wrecked countless lives in the mining, forestry and farming industries.  Now, it’s our turn. Garrett’s style is not consultation or consideration of issues, it’s about in-your face confrontation:

Does Garrett have to rush through the ban? NO. No other countries in the southern hemisphere are even considering banning the take of mako sharks. But like all bullies, Garrett is a coward. He announced the ban plan then immediately went on holidays. Now his office is refusing to even take calls, on this issue: http://www.liberal.org.au/news.php?Id=4487

Will this ban be the end of his war on anglers? NO. Coming up next is a proposed ban on fishing for southern bluefin tuna. Here’s Peter Trott from the World Wildlife Fund on the ABC’s 7:30 Report, 16/12/2009:

PETER TROTT: We'd definitely like to see a very significant cut in the catch allocation provided by the Australian Government in this situation.

JOURNALIST: How much of a reduction?

PETER TROTT: Well, we're talking almost a moratorium on southern bluefin tuna fishing. So, it's quite substantial.

This ban is not about the conservation of mako sharks. It is driven by the same hardcore anti-Australian ideology that has seen 4WD drivers and horseriders kicked out of our national parks. Now, Garrett wants anglers out of our seas, and he’s getting plenty of help from both his own department, and State environment ministries around the country. Marine park closures and other angling restrictions are leading to a fall in the number of Australians fishing. Here’s what’s happening in New South Wales, where nearly 40,000 anglers have quit the sport in the last five years:

Garrett has stacked his department with hard core greenies, whose mission is solely to advance their political agenda. Government departments are supposed to be apolitical, but Garrett’s fan club laugh at that obligation. Check out item two, from his departmental newsletter published on Friday 4th December 2009:

DEWHA News is a regular email update of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts. 

1.TENDERS INVITED FOR RESALE ROYALTY SCHEME

Minister for the Arts Peter Garrett announced the first step in establishing the resale royalty scheme for visual artists following the passage of the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2009 on 26 November 2009.

Minister Garrett said ............ Australian artists will finally gain a share in the growing value of their artworks and ongoing rights in their art," Mr Garrett said.

http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/mr20091203a.html

2.LIBERAL PARTY BACK TO THE FUTURE ON NUCLEAR POWER

Tony Abbott and the extremists in the Liberal Party have gone back to the future on nuclear power.

Today we see 'close to 99 per cent' of Liberal's urging Mr Abbott to dust off John Howard's plan for nuclear reactors to be built around the country.

The Liberal Party has flicked the switch back to default setting. The climate change deniers, extremists and contrarians of the Liberal Party have taken over, first junking a credible position on climate change and now running the nuclear option back up the policy flag pole.

http://www.environment.gov.au/minister/garrett/2009/mr20091203.html

3.TRAVESTON DAM GETS FINAL NO

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett has made his final decision on the Traveston Crossing Dam proposal, determining that the impacts of the proposed dam on threatened species would be too great.

Since when is it the role of a Government department, to take cheap shots at Opposition policy? Since Garrett became boss. Check this out. In the first week of January, five out of nine Environment press releases were pure party politics:

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts

Media releases 2010 January

•Tony Abbott should have the integrity to walk away from his $1100 false Climate Change claim - 8 January 2010

•New Uluru management plan approved - 8 January 2010

•Caring for our Country helps community groups take action - 7 January 2010

•Caring for our Country is good business planning - 7 January 2010

•Greg Hunt spreads Tony Abbott's Climate Change falsehoods - 6 January 2010

•Ningaloo nominated for World Heritage List - 6 January 2010

•Tony Abbott - a climate change clanger every 14 days - 6 January 2010

•New Liberal Party solar panel policy - 5 January 2010

•Another climate clanger for Tony Abbott - 5 January 2010

For Garrett, everything is about politics.

We have to fight this. Garrett’s greenies are planning other attacks on anglers, including closure of sections of Australia’s largest freshwater fishery to fishing. Sample quote:

Fishing could be banned in large areas of the Murray-Darling Basin under a proposed marine-parks-style scheme for the drought-hit waterway.... Dr Humphries says fishing bans would be an important part of the protection strategy, but he says strict measures need to be put in place if results are to be achieved.

Full story here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/17/2774432.htm

And closure of nearly a million square kilometres of the Coral Sea, to fishing:

GREEN groups are one step closer to creating a Coral Sea Marine Park after a move by Nationals Senator Ron Boswell to prevent Environment Minister Peter Garrett declaring the area a "conservation zone" was rejected yesterday in the Senate.

Full story here: http://www.marinebusiness.com.au/news/fishos-lose-first-coral-sea-battle

What can be done? Not to just to save mako fishing for ourselves, but for generations of Aussies to come? We have to fight. No big effort is required, but you must take action now.

Please don’t leave this fight to others. We can win this one, but we all have to pitch in.

‘What can I do?’

The first thing to understand is that this is not about endangered species. Australia has the worst record of any country on the globe as regards species loss with over thirty species of mammals alone becoming extinct since white settlement and many more seriously endangered. But that disaster isn’t even on Garrett’s radar. This fight will not be won by appeals to common sense, logic or fair play. Garrett’s green career has left a trail of wreckage amongst mining, farming and forestry towns – projects closed down, communities becoming ghost towns, jobs and lives wrecked by his manic anti-Australian agenda. So forget writing to him about the damage this ban will cause to coastal communities. Forget writing to him about the value of the recreational fishing industry. He doesn’t care. He’s seen

This fight is political. The only way to get Garrett to change his plan is to make the ban not worth the political cost. We need Garrett to receive complaints from Labor MPs that the mako ban is prompting anger in their own electorate. Here’s what to do.

Write to your local Federal MP and ask for a reply. Just a couple of lines are needed.

Here’s a sample letter to a Labor MP:

And here’s a sample letter to a Coalition MP:

Make 3 copies.

One to your local MP

One to Senator Richard Colbeck, PO box 603 Devonport TAS 7310. He’s the shadow Minister for Fisheries and has been fighting hard against the mako ban right through the holiday period. Colbeck has earned our support and gratitude.

One to your local Newspaper

Letters from within an MP’s own electorate are taken very seriously. Your letter will have an effect, one far more valuable than clicking an online poll. Please take two minutes of your time and write the letter now. The sport you save could be your own.

‘ I don’t fish for makos, so it doesn’t affect me.”

Dead wrong. This is not about makos. It’s one battle in a war anglers must win, if our sport is to have a future. Garrett won’t take calls from Aussie anglers but if Greenpeace or the World Wildlife Fund wants to talk they’re put straight through. Foreign green groups have plenty more angling restrictions planned for Australia. And Garrett has a battalion of greenies and animal libbers working for him and paid for by your taxes to make those restrictions and closures a reality. Please – take five minutes and do it now. Don’t waste a moment.  And please copy these pages and pass on to your friends, or e-mail your fisho list. Thanks for reading,

Andrew Hestelow
Member: Sydney Gamefishing Club, http://www.sgfc.com.au/

Member: Sydney Angler, http://www.sydneyangler.com.au/forum/index.php

Candidate, Fishing and Lifestyle Party, 2007 elections
Proprietor, Downrigger Shop Online Tackle http://www.downriggershop.com.au/
Tel. 0402075000