AAT GM 28th Feb 2021
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL MEETING
10am Sunday 28 Feb 2021
Great Lake Community Hall, Miena
Present
Gary France Chair, Terry Byard Vice Chair, Howard Jones Exec Committee, Malcolm Crosse Exec Committee, Jonathan Wadwell STLAA Delegate, John Broomby Northern Clubs, Wayne Bellette Tas Fly Tyers Club, Alan Gordon BOD Sports Anglers, Keith Symons Indep South, John Diggle IFS, Guest Speaker Claire Bookless Managing Lawyer Tasmania, Environmental Defenders Office, Denis Edwards Exec Officer
Apologies
Michael Caminada, Mark Rockliff, Brett Smith
Inland Fisheries Service Report
John Diggle talked on current IFS matters including the following --
> Carp program; only 3 carp caught over summer -- 1 female and 2 sterile males so that carp
are now considered to be functionally eradicated from Lake Sorell. The spawning conditions for trout in Mountain Creek and Silver Plains Creek look promising.
> Plenty River composting spill , awaiting EPA report
> Climate outlook – BOM is predicting above average rainfall in the immediate future and with the east coast water levels good, the IFS expects a positive outlook for the next 2 years.
>IFS is about to undertake surveys of poorly performing NW rivers
> Licence sales for Tas are the highest in 5 yrs but Covid has caused a decline in interstate sales of up to 50%
>Trout Weekend is unlikely to go ahead because Covid requirements
Questions were taken from the floor and all news/information is available on the IFS website.
Minutes of the last GM and matters arising
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 28 Feb 2020 at the Great Lake Community Hall were tabled
J Broomby moved that the minutes be accepted . Seconded : J Wadwell
Guest Speaker Claire Bookless Managing Lawyer Tasmania, Environmental Defenders Office
Claire gave a very well received talk which included :
> The background of the Lake Malbena proposal and that an appeal to the Supreme Court is now being considered, decision is due in 1-2 months and will be open for public comment.
> Rural Water Use Strategy -- the proposed 5 times increase in agricultural output by 2050 and the amount of water required for irrigation, may make some of the proposals un-sustainable.
Claire outlined the complex array of state and federal bodies and legislation that effect the proposed RWUS . The draft proposal fails to address some of these requirements , is agri-focused and neglects possible negative environmental effects such as water quality and social issues. It has no provision for comprehensive water metering or water quality monitoring and takes from ground water require no permit. The EPA is in-effective in controlling water quality objectives and there is a strong need for an independent water authority.
St Patricks Wind Farm
Malcolm Crosse gave a summary of the state of play with the windfarm approval process including new information that noise levels may be greater than noise data modelled by Epuron. Correspondence from the No Turbine Action Group was tabled.
Malcolm also showed an illuminating video with drone footage from 240m ( the height of the turbines ) showing that the turbines are so tall they will be seen from the Tasmanian World Heritage Area and from the top of Mt Wellington – quite an intrusion on the landscape for many, many kilometres from the windfarm.
Webcams
Jonathan Wadwell is in the process of taking over the webcam role from Malcolm - a big pair of shoes to fill! The Tooms Lake webcam should be operational on 11 March 21 and negotiations with Hydro on the Lake Pedder webcam are ongoing .
TByard suggested that a maintenance plan be drawn up for operational and budget purposes.
H Jones suggested that IMAS may be interested sponsors for webcam weather stations
Sorell/Crescent WMP
T Byard reported that the irrigators want an increased take despite only taking their full allocation once in the 15 years the scheme has been in action. Recent advice from Professor David Hamilton, clearly shows that any lowering of the current protection mechanisms will have very significant detrimental consequences for both environmental, ecological and angling values. If a weather event occurs at suggested lower take levels colloidal matter would take 28 years to recover to present conditions.
H Jones suggested that videos of the science be made available to anglers.
Mersey/Forth WMP
J Broomby reported that there have been no meetings since Oct last year and no results of the trial changes to environmental releases by Hydro from Parangana.
Deloraine Angling Club have a proposal for a much needed toilet at Lake Parangana and have requested a letter of support from AAT.
Waterbug Blitz training day
There has been a limited response and it was suggested that individuals be emailed and a Facebook post to reach the target of 10 minimum participants by the Sat 6 March.
Fisheries Habitat Improvement Fund
Meeting to be set up with Tony Wright/ Peter Brooks and interested parties to discuss management, possible sponsors etc.
Financials
The current balances of the four bank accounts were tabled together with an overview of the 2018 Grant Deed and projections of the estimated position at end of the 2021 and 2022 financial years. Covid resulted in reduction of possible projects in the 2020 calendar year and to a lesser extent will affect possible spending in 2021, which will result in a bigger surplus than budgeted.
Ideas to reduce the projected surplus included :
> A small book for Junior Anglers on all aspects of freshwater fishing is badly needed (a
M Rockliff suggestion) a subsequent conversation with M Stevens suggested that a series of short videos could also be a valuable aid
J Diggle reported that IFS have just produced such illustrated information which will be available on the IFS website
> Fund reliable research on the $ value of freshwater fishing to Tasmania which would be invaluable for improving grant applications etc. It was suggested that UTAS may be interested.
> Better Facebook content
> Water quality monitoring
> Workshop with IFS/Tarfish about possible extension of FishCare program to a freshwater Junior Angling program
> Habitat projects via OzFish
General Business
T Byard moved that AAT make a $500 donation to the Environmental Defenders Office the EDO provides AAT with a valuable and independent source of information on many topical issues which in some way relate to freshwater angling. It is important for AAT to have access to information on such issues in order to frame a position which represents the views of anglers. Carried unanimously.
D Edwards outlined what the Executive had been working on and what’s in the pipeline.
Action list
>Engage a consultant to determine a creditable $ value of freshwater fishing
>Maintenance plan and operational budget for webcams
>Fisheries Habitat Improvement Fund meeting to be organised
>AAT letter of support for toilets at Lake Parangana
>Meeting to discuss the possibility of extending dpipwe Fish Care volunteers to AAT
freshwater Junior Program
>Facebook review needed
Gary France and guest speaker Claire Bookless, Managing Lawyer, EDO Hobart
