AUF Members - check out this deal.
Tony Heugh (Superfrog) is still making great guns, and they are currently available at a ridiculous price.
Archives for April 2016
RFA Hawkesbury Bioregion Letter 12 April 2016
April 18, 2016 by
Hi All,
The attatched doc is from the Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW, where the AUF/NSW are affiliate members. Stan Konstantaras of RFA is heading up a campaign to see that fisho's are not screwed over.
The USFA , Matt Poulton & a few other Spearo's are taking a front seat in this with Stan so well done to them. A lot of time & hard work being carried by a few, so thanks guys.
I'm hoping to meet with the head guy managing this mpa in the next week or so, & if newsworthy will share.
For you interstate non NSW members it's a great example of a campaign & using independent parliamentarians who affect the balance of power. It's a similar strategy to that used by ARFF the national recfishing body where the National AUF Spearfishing sit on the committee. A great example you may use in your own local battles.
NSW Spearo's you need to get on the front foot & become involved in this as we've everything to lose as usual, please study the attachments & links provided, go to the RFA website to keep up on this, get their newsletters, write or go & see your local member.
Spearfishers should not be put out of any areas unless there is a sound scientific reason to do so & where Spearfishing may be seen to pose a threat to the environment we should have the right & opportunity to meet with the regulators & develop risk minimisation strategies that still allow limited Spearfishing.
We are well & truly done over in NSW & it's time the balances tipped our way.
Anglers in NSW have the advantage of a large portion of our licence & government money being spent on commercial buyouts to create recreational fishing havens & artificial reefs, there's also breakwater spearing bans all over NSW(angling allowed), none of which are of any use to the average Spearo. I'm not having a go at anglers but it's blatantly unfair, of all fishing methods we should have the most access to good territory, not the bloody least. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't work with & share support with anglers, but we are Spearo's!! At the end of the day the anglers will need to get the best outcome for their members as they are obliged to do. We need to keep this in mind & show that we are not complacent & run our own parallel campaign individually as Spearo's. We may well be on the bottom of the heap if we don't.
Remember the one exclusive thing we have in our power is that we can choose to be responsible in our actions & have the most minimal impact of all fishing methods including catch & release which has a mortality rate, also a mortality of bait/berley species. If C&R is allowed limited spearing should also be allowed.
Add to our disadvantages the LHI MPA Spearfishing only ban, North harbour Spearfishing only ban, less rock shelf access than anglers, unnecessary GNS exclusion zones in all mpa's & Southern QLD, no fresh water, no lakes, limited estuary & river, dirty water, rough water, strong currents, depth limitations, etc etc. We are the most screwed of all & it's time it stopped. Let your pollies know, use local opposition & sitting members of parliament, get onto local TV & newspapers.
Where's our exclusive use of territory & why don't we have some, there's nothing wrong with responsible Spearfishing is there??
It's time for everyone to man up do something & reverse this bias towards fishing & particularly Spearfishing. Come up with your own ideas, be reasonable & realistic but get out there yourself & make a difference. Do the required submissions & the things I've said in here but please let them know your here & that you care passionately. Don't leave it up to other Spearo's or you'll be leaving it up to 3or4 people only, and that wouldn't come across as strong to me.
Look at how the greens attack these things in mass, we got to do some of the same. Gather others to help put in submissions & make noise.
Could those addressed above please consider spreading these words & attachments through your club & members networks?
Please remember these words are purely my opinion, one which will not be shared by all!!
Best regards.
Adrian Wayne.
Vale – Gordan “Slim” Ward
April 7, 2016 by
Its a shame we have lost someone like Slim Ward, we only knew him from a trip we did to Tahiti for the inter-pacific. Slim wanted to come along as interpreter and he proved to be much more than that. We learnt a lot from Slim and kept in touch with him with cards each year. A sad loss to Spearfishing.
Slim will be laid to rest this Friday 8th April 11.00am, service at the Good Shepherd Church 143 Moss Vale Rd in the main street of Kangaroo Valley.
On the hearing of his passing someone who knew him better than us contributed the following:
"I have known Slim for around 45 years, perhaps the longest fo most NZ spearfishers of his and my vintage. As New Zealanders we have been grateful to him ever since we first met back at the beginning of the 1970's. He was extraordinarily generous to us as the NZ spearfishing team and a gentleman to boot in the years that followed.
At the beginning of the 1970's Australia held a competition at Narooma and a NZ team was invited. We arrived in Sydney and Slim met us at the airport, introduced himself and packed us into his wagon and took us home to his place for a meal that Glynnis (spelling) had laid out for us. Hospitality was first rate and our education about Sydney's toilets in the area where he lived became a talking point for several years. We couldn't believe that in the city you had to walk to the back of the section in order get a seat!
We were introduced to Slim's shop, checked out his bikes, hitched up a caravan and headed to Narooma. Parked in a camping ground, that caravan became our home courtesy of Slim for the period of the competition. Generous to a fault. We had comfort, access to the RSL and people arranged to take us diving each day. As I said earlier, Slim made an indelible impression on us Kiwis, one that was reinforced on numerous occasions thereafter when he would travel with Australian teams to international spearfishing events and when he and his wife did a travelling holiday around NZ. He and I kept that contact up until the last 3 or 4 years. Good for a chat, I was often told what George and Merv were said to have done or be doing and how he thought spearfishing administration in NSW should develop. He certainly had strong opinions and could be forthright in putting them forward.
Australian spearfishing had in Slim a committed supporter for which it ought to be grateful. Such people contribute handsomely to the lifeblood of voluntary organisations and I would imagine that those Australian spearfishing representatives in the era when Slim shouldered so much of managerial roles, will be grateful he put his hand up at the time and said, "I'll do it."
I'm grateful to have called him a friend."
Bob Rosemergy
Speaqrfishing NZ
May he rest in peace.
AUF Spearfishing.
Results from 2016 57 th Australian Pacific Coast Championships. Port Stephens, NSW.
April 6, 2016 by
The Championships held over Easter proved once again to be a popular and well attended event with great catering and prizes. The sea gods were kind to us for once and some good fish were taken.
Congratulations Newcastle Neptune's on an extremely well run safe event. Please see results."
2016 Inter-Pacific Spearfishing Championship Results
April 3, 2016 by
A well run event held in Paihia, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. Congratulations go out to the New Zealand teams on their winning result in both the Mens and Ladies.
Our Australian Men's Team Guy Wood, Michael Pannach, Ryan Schulter, Jack Lavender and team manager Scott McKenzie placed a hard earned third position and our ladies team Taylah Martindale, Nikki Watt and Team Manager Joe Martindale fort hard in a tough competition placed 4th. Congratulations to all our team.
Men Day 1 Day 2 Total Place
NZ 100 100 200 1st
New Caledonia 87 87 174 2nd
Australia 81 77 167 3rd
Tahiti 76 87 163 4th
Hawaii 71 88 159 5th
Guam 35 74 109 6th
Ladies
New Zealand 92 100 192 1st
Hawaii 100 79 179 2nd
Guam 36 88 124 3rd
Australia 48 54 102 4th
We would like to again take the opportunity to sincerley thank all our sponsors for the prizes donated to the team fundraiser and all the supporters who brought tickets.
Australia, Guam, Hawaii, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tahiti Competitors 2016
Mens team Placings New Zealand, New Caledonia, Australia, Tahiti, Hawaii, Guam.
Ladies team placing - New Zealand, Hawaii, Guam, Australia.
Team Australia
2016 Mens winners New Zealand with Inter-Pacific Champions - New Caledonia
