Seachange Newsletter xG at AustralianEdition 6 Shark Count March 2009

Contents: Editorial National Championships Wild Blue Miami Shark Count Benefits for AUF members 10% discounts Competitions What is happening in your state AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness toMedia the UnderwaterReleases World New Members

S Safety

Editorial

Welcome to edition 6 of Seachange.- the newsletter for members of the Australian Underwater Federation. This issue is packed with results and photos from the recent national titles in WA. Thank you very much to the brilliant organisers Simon Longbottom and Joe Petrovitch – and congratulations to the open winner Arnie Piccoli – read all their stories below.

We are very excited that the Nationals was assessed and received 4 stars in the NEATfish accreditation – this is based on environmental, social and economic criteria. It is a great result for our sport and brings the number of competitions accredited to 3 (the first was the Blue Water Classic and the second the Pacific Coast Championships – both in NSW).

We have some great benefits for AUF members so do yourself a favour and purchase the Spearing the Menu DVD – you may learn about and cooking your catch.

Dr Adam Smith, National Chair (Spearfishing)

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WA Nationals Report

By Simon Longbottom, Competitor Director, WA Chair and Joe Petrovitch

The West Australian Spearfishing Commission recently hosted the 57th Australian Underwater Titles in Dunsborough, Western Australia. It was a week of competition which involved 3 individual spearfishing heats, a film fishing event and a fin swim race.

The competition was shore based, meaning divers had to enter and exit from a designated point (no easy boat rides here!). Each diver had to tow their own safety float, with fish and any spare gear they might need. The spearfishing heats ran for 6 hours each and used a species based scoring system meaning divers are rewarded for finding as many different species as possible (subject to being on the nominated scorecard). A diver may only present one of each species to the Weigh Master, with each species having a minimum competition approximately 30% bigger than the legal size for that specie.

To do well in this type of competition a diver must be fit (to swim the distances required to find the different species) and they must know the species (where fish will be given the conditions on the day).

Finswimming and Filmfishing

Busselton jetty for the film fishing and fin swim. At 1.8km long the jetty is the longest in the southern hemisphere and being 138 years old has turned into a great artifical (off limits to most forms of fishing though). The fin swim was first which provided much amusement to the local primary school AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

kids taking swimming lessons. Each diver had their own idea of the best attire, full suits, no suits, suits inside out. In the end it was the ever consistent Adam Smith in front by several body lengths followed by a great struggle between Derek Dufall and junior Jordan Macneill which was eventually

termed a “dead heat”.

The film fishing yielded some fantastic photos. Several tourists emerged from the underwater observatory on the jetty exclaiming “and they didn’t even have a SCUBA tank on!” Everyone seemed to have a great time at this location and I think if I didn’t have a time limit on them I would still be trying to get them out of the water! At the end of the day it was Derek Dufall a clear winner with photos of nearly all the hard to find species.

Place Surname Name State TOTAL 1 Dufall Derek WA 65 2 deVries Ric VIC 58.5 3 Bond David WA 49 4 Sutcliffe David WA 47 5 Carter Warren NSW 46 6 Petersen Murray VIC 45.5 7 Smith Adam QLD 45 8 Pfrengle Gunther NSW 42.5 9 Monaghan Chris VIC 41 10 Piccoli Arnold WA 40 11 Underhay Glen WA 40 12 Fitzmaurice Shane NZ 37.5 13 Bunney Stephen NSW 37.5 14 Fenney Drew VIC 36.5 15 Schulter Ryan NSW 36.5 16 Lane Damian WA 36.5 17 Stacey Mary-Anne SA 36.5 18 Carlisle Graham WA 36 19 Wills Rob NSW 35.5 20 Saunders Michael QLD 35 21 Macneill Jordan WA 35 22 Huegh Tony QLD 33 23 Arentz Michael NSW 32

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24 Herbert Dwayne NZ 31.5 25 Haley Josh WA 31.5 26 Nilsson-Linne Cameron WA 29 27 Loxton Spencer WA 28 28 Davies Paul WA 24.5 29 Felton John WA 24 30 Falzon Claye NSW 24 31 Wilkinson Jamie WA 21.5 32 Schulter John NSW 20 33 Smith Kai NSW 19.5 34 Falzon Jesmond NSW 18.5

Spearfishing

Day one was at the southern end of Hamelin Bay opposite the island. Conditions started out fine as the competitors entered the water. Two safety boats crewed by Alistair MacNeil and Brian Loxton, and Mike Simon and Josh Hayley kept a maritime eye on proceedings as Simon and I managed things from shore. One of the boat vhf radios wasn’t working properly so our backup handheld radio was used. Wayne Spencer would also volunteer his time on future days to man a safety boat. With regular radio checks and reports from the skippers, we were kept well informed of how the divers were going. Mark Flynn and Mark Colys assisted Simon at the weigh-in for each day. Fitness showed on the first day as after one hour Tony, Dwayne, Arnold and Drew Fenney hadn’t stopped free styling as they powered to their first stop. The top divers would end up swimming 8 kms or more as they searched for ground. This was no weekend wobble in the park. Highlights for the day were Jack Lavender’s 3.5kg Giant Boarfish, Tony Heugh’s 22kgs of fish and Spencer Loxton’s determined effort to swim back to shore and sign off with 15 seconds to spare. Although Tony’s catch weighed more Arnold won the day with more species and Dwayne Herbert came third. Adam Smith managed to lose his gun as he performed a tonsillectomy on a 3 metre bronze whaler. The spear passing into the shark’s mouth and out the gill slits whereupon the flopper opened snagging the unloaded gun leaving a distressed Adam to decry the table manners of our sharks. It was not the only occasion that a diver returned to shore to replace broken or missing equipment. But it was certainly the most exciting!

Day 2- Tony Heugh returned half way through to drop off what was to be the fish of the tournament, a 5kg Baldchin Groper. Steve Bunney was going well until he donated a couple of species to a local whaler but still managed 3rd with 11 species just behind Derek Dufall (2nd) with 12 and Ric DeVries (1st) with 13. Overall Arnie and Tony still hung onto the top 2 positions however with a heat to go it was anyone’s game.

Day 3 saw us at Sugarloaf Rock for the third and final spearfishing heat. I couldn’t believe that the weather had held out to allow 3 heats on the exposed western side of the cape. The final day would be close and a long swim but after 3 days of competition who had the strength to keep going?

As it turned out Dwayne had a great day bagging 12 species including a nice 8.5kg WA Dhufish, hot on his heals was Arnold Piccoli and Drew Fenny each with 12 species but slightly less weight.

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PLACE Surname Name State Class Heat 1 Heat 2 Heat 3 TOTAL 1 Piccoli Arnold WA Veteran 100.00 83.10 96.83 279.93 2 Herbert Dwayne NZ Intermediate 85.54 73.36 100.00 258.90 3 Huegh Tony QLD Veteran 91.55 79.38 84.23 255.16 4 Smith Adam QLD Senior 76.54 86.34 89.86 252.74 5 Fenney Drew VIC Senior 76.26 76.13 95.35 247.74 6 Pfrengle Gunther NSW Veteran 84.22 81.07 68.17 233.46 7 Sutcliffe David WA Senior 76.75 77.48 61.48 215.71 8 Dufall Derek WA Senior 52.86 93.98 62.18 209.02 9 deVries Ric VIC Senior 53.63 100.00 54.51 208.14 10 Fitzmaurice Shane NZ Senior 69.27 85.26 53.24 207.77 11 Petersen Murray VIC Senior 76.33 58.42 60.56 195.31 12 Nilsson-Linne Cameron WA Senior 61.38 59.77 69.51 190.66 13 Carlisle Graham WA Senior 54.89 65.11 60.92 180.92 14 Lavender Jack NSW Intermediate 63.13 65.31 45.28 173.72 15 Schulter John NSW Veteran 67.88 43.88 60.70 172.46 16 Bunney Stephen NSW Senior 45.53 88.30 38.10 171.93 17 Schulter Ryan NSW Intermediate 75.63 51.45 38.80 165.88 18 Felton John WA Senior 80.24 58.01 22.75 161.00 19 Elliott Leigh VIC Intermediate 46.30 50.57 57.39 154.26 20 Lane Damian WA Senior 77.72 45.44 30.56 153.72 21 Neilsen Tim QLD Senior 62.71 43.41 37.75 143.87 22 Carter Warren NSW Senior 60.54 44.35 38.31 143.20 23 Arentz Michael NSW Senior 76.82 43.61 22.68 143.11 24 Wills Rob NSW Senior 47.00 46.32 43.10 136.42 25 Monaghan Chris VIC Senior 54.05 51.52 30.28 135.85 26 Neilsen Jayme-Lee QLD Junior 54.47 42.87 38.03 135.37 27 Falzon Jesmond NSW Veteran 45.39 57.67 30.56 133.62 28 Stacey Mary-Anne SA Ladies 45.88 36.24 33.45 115.57 29 Saunders Michael QLD Intermediate 52.51 53.28 7.57 113.36 30 Macneill Jordan WA Junior 30.59 43.88 37.75 112.22 31 Morton Jozua (Joz) NSW Junior 29.96 43.68 30.07 103.71 32 Underhay Glen WA Senior 37.29 43.14 15.28 95.71 33 Chave Matt WA Senior 46.02 14.27 31.34 91.63 34 Wilkinson Jamie WA Senior 52.37 38.34 0.00 90.71 35 Davies Paul WA Senior 22.63 36.58 30.14 89.35 36 Bunney George NSW Masters 30.03 36.71 22.54 89.28 37 Davies Guy WA Senior 45.32 21.57 14.79 81.68 38 Falzon Claye NSW Junior 29.75 36.51 14.93 81.19 39 Bond David WA Senior 22.63 36.38 15.07 74.08 40 Loxton Spencer WA Senior 31.01 14.47 14.93 60.41 41 Fylnn Mark WA Senior 22.77 14.47 14.93 52.17 42 Haley Josh WA Intermediate 0.00 43.54 0.00 43.54 AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Most meritorious Huegh Tony Baldchin Groper 5.05kg

Interpacific Pairs

Day 5 saw the top ten divers pair up for the Interpacific pairs selection competition. The top 2 pairs would be eligible to represent Australia against Hawaii, Tahiti, New Caledonia and New Zealand, although in this unusual circumstance we actually had the top pair from New Zealand within the top ten of an Australian Championship. At the end of a shorten (4 hr) swim it was the Arnold Piccoli / Gunther Pfrengle combination in front of Adam Smith and Drew Fenny by the smallest of margins (100 grams!) Of course the real victory was that all the Aussie pairs beat the Kiwis!

Fish donated to Charity

All fish except two optional ones per diver per day were donated to Foodbank; a not-for-profit, non- denominational organisation which distributes food and grocery donations to welfare groups around Australia. They were on hand each day with a chiller truck to load the catch once it had been weighed. At the completion of each days dive the competitors were given soft drinks/water and a salad roll.

Presentation night

The presentation dinner was held at Rivendell Winery which proved to be a hit with great food and lots of laughs. Rob Wills whipped up a short video of the fin swim and a slide show of the week to

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watch while we had our entrees before we got into the serious business of who had secured bragging rights for the rest of the year.

Arnold Piccoli took out the open division while also claiming the veteran’s trophy. In the ladies section we had the unusual situation of Jayme-Lee Nielsen winning and also winning the junior section. Jaymee received some awesome prizes from Chris at Spearit (Aimrite Australia) whose company’s philosophy is to encourage and sponsor the youth in our sport. The super diver award (combination of spearfishing, film fishing and fin swim) went to Derek Dufall who pipped perennial favourite Adam Smith by one point.

Along with the trophies some great prizes were donated by our sponsors and the West Australian Spearfishing Commission would like to thank

Chris Robertson from Spearit

Ted Lougher from Extreme Spearfishing

Tim Nielsen from Adrenaline

John Featherstone from Riffe Oceania and Spearfishing Downunder

Barry Andrewartha from ISFN and Pelagic Spearfishing Supplies

David Hay from Sterling Leisure

Ron Walton from Hookah Dive

Aaron Hawke from Power Dive

Tony Huegh from Superfrog

Brad Gordon from Australasian Dive Academy

Torry Goodall from Coastal Water Dive AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Special thanks must go to Damian Lane from Dunsborough Outdoor Sportz who opened his shop (and house) to so many visiting divers. Damian was our “go to man” for everything from dive gear to restaurant options to opening hours of the shops, Thanks very much Damo!

I’d also like to thank Joe Petrovich for co-organising this mammoth task with me, whenever I ran out of time or simply couldn’t get to a task Joe picked up the slack, thank you.

Lastly but definitely not least our safety boat crews of Alastair MacNeill, Brian Loxton, Wayne Spencer, Mike Simon and Josh Hayley. You guys did a great job making sure other boats knew what was going on and keeping everyone in one piece. Without volunteers like you these events would not run.

Winning the nationals : Behind the scenes By Arnie Piccoli

Winning in 09 might have been the sweetest win I have had to date but it had all started many years before ,

I started spearing with a good friend of mine Dave Muller , the first 2 dives I had was with him and his old man at Rotto , We both were 16 at Rotto on that first dive together . Those 2 dives defined me and captured me into the sport . The first this side of winter was on the south side of Rotto , we dived a few spots , and being one of my first serious dives , I learnt alot about gear , guns and fish . They made their guns from wood , where as the ones in the shops that I bought had wooden stocks but everything else was plastic and pre-fabricated , they also used these large fins , ( GIANTS ) , and I had never seen most the fish I saw that day . I saw a Spanish Mackeral , plus a blue groper , and many species which I knew little of . But at the second spot , Rudi Muller shot a 15 kg blue groper , and when I got out of the water , I thought it was the most beautiful and largest fish I had ever saw . He then went for one last dive before going home , and all I did was sit in the boat and look at this great fish . That dive inspired me no end , and during the winter I worked hard on saving some money to buy these Giant fins that I had to have , and MADE my gun longer to match the 1200mm or 4ft guns that they had . By the other side of winter when we went out in mid October I was ready . This time we went out to the North side of Rotto , and he parked up on north point reef in 50 ft of water , this was my second serious dive , but youth and exuberance was my strength in diving this depth , and with all the talk of these big blue gropers that were around it didn’t take long till a 50lb Blue swam up to me , I hit it well behind the gill plate and even with a reel , I grabbed my line immediately and put the breaks on and tried to scull drag it to the surface , little did I know how powerful they were and that you had to shamfer your holes in your spear so as not to CUT your cord , and within a blink of an eye he had broken the cord and swam away . I got back to the boat , disappointed I had lost such a beautiful fish , let alone my spear , the rest of the day I had to use a spare spear of theirs that didnt fit in my gun that well , and proceeded to loose every fish from there on because I shot ridiculously high including the first WA dhufish I had ever seen that would have gone 15lb . From that day on I was sold on this sport , and I vowed I would never go diving unprepared again , so that I was ready for any situation .

I entered my first comp as a 17yr old , with my mate Dave in a 13ft bonwood boat , the comp was at Rottnest , we only made it to stragglers , we had a good couple of dives and came in on time , as it panned out Bob Muir the local legend and I both had 17 fish and he got there by 100 grams on total weight , so , at my first comp a fired one over the bow of Bob signalling he has a new competitor in the west , as he was unchallenged for many years since Barry Paxmen had retired . That certainly gave me the confidence to have a crack at him from then on and i think he only beat me one more time in WA after that .I blooded my skills in foreign territory after that , South Australia , that dreadful comp when 3 / 2 / 1 fish over 3 days won the comp , which certainly was the last time we all saw Bob Muir wield his craft , then in TAS , Tanam Sands in QLD 'the Sue Docker story' then one in NSW , AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

where again I learned so much from the winner , Paul Riorden , I won the last day there , doubling his second placed score . I felt at that stage I was starting to get it so to speak , so when it came around in WA in 86' I was onto it . But this is where the story takes the a turn . I won there and as happy as I was , I made a concious decision to pull back from spearing that I loved , for my other luv in . I had seen that the last 2 world Champions were 45 , this was when the 2 sports parted so to speak , when Hockey went one way and spearing the other , all of a sudden to do both took a lot of time and money and being in these unpaid sports I couldnt afford to do both anymore and so I Had to make the tough call in giving the spearing nationals away for the time being , knowing my window of opportunity in fitness in hockey was 35 , so now I knew , I would have to go on in spearing later in life .

I poured all my efforts into Hockey as most of you know , I did everything one could in that sport , captaining Aust many times and winning 5 world gold medals and a silver , more than any other person . So when I retired from the sport at 36 , my body was quite stuffed , tired maybe , and after 2 back operations I felt ready at 40 to give spearing another go . It was a slow start , a few minor places in other states , but my take on the sport was more to enjoy the company of those that I had left many years before and renewing friendships . I really enjoyed turning up worrying about nothing other than getting in the water and having a crack at my mates over 6 hours , then having a quiet ale afterwards with them talking all the shit that goes on in fishing comps . I was lucky in winning in 04 in WA , I say that cos , I was only in the mix in the first 2 days and it took winning the last day to cement first place , I was still working my way back from those operations and the fittness requred to really have a seriius go at these things . I didnt feel I had peaked yet even tho I was 42 at the time , and still remembering that past world champions have been 45 in age many times before . So when this one came around and with everyone expecting myself to do well in my home state , I finally did the work I needed in preperation , swimming in the pool , Obviously diving as often as I could , and for a change actually getting down there and looking around to get a heads up to what to expect . I say that as I actualy do little spearing down there as I am mainly there for work and as you know very few fish live where our abs are . So it was VERY rewarding to get the result I was chasing with all my friends around me and being at the age of 47 . It verifies my decision many years previously that you can still be OK at spearing later in life and it shows that you can still not only enjoy ones self but keep great friendships and have great times in this sport later in life , where else can you do that ?

So in conclusion , I am very fortunate to have had such a successful life in both sports , and want all of you to realise that if you work hard enough and have a sustained crack at it , you too can still achieve anything you want , you have plenty of time to try , I am proof of that !

Shark counting at close range

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

I love to see sharks in the wild BUT on the first day of the Nationals in WA I had a close encounter that was a nightmare. It was 4 hours into the competition at Hamelin Bay and I had some nice fish and was swimming back. I had about 2kms to go and had just speared a nice foxfish. I put the foxfish on my float and looked down to see a huge shark pass about 2 m underneath me. My first impression was that it was so big it must be a White Shark. It turned side on and did not have the distinctive pointed nose, white underbelly and I indentified it as a Whaler. It then swam right up to me and I was forced to push it away with my unloaded gun. It swim in a tight circle, opened its mouth and charged me. It all happened very quickly and my gun was unloaded as I stared in disbelief as the shark engulfed most of my gun and the spear passed through the side of its mouth. Then there was lots of head shaking, swimming on the surface and confusion. My rigcord was still attached to float and a huge shark. I could see a safety boat about 500 m away but could not attract the drivers attention despite screaming. I pulled the shark a bit closer to have a look at the spear and confirmed that I had a very angry shark and that it would be very dangerous to try and wrestle it to get me spear back. So I unclipped my float and swam to shore. If anyone finds a 4m whaler with a 1.1 Blackdog and Riffe Spear please in its mouth give me a call. The lesson I learned from this is be very calm and evaluate the risks and always keep your eye on the shark. If I did not have the then I was a statistic of another nasty shark attack. I think next time I would also reduce my risk by towing my fish out of the water on a boogy board as we always do in Queensland.

Great Australian Shark Count

Update as at 24/03/2009

The GASC has bounded into uncharted waters, with over 11500 recorded sightings logged on the AUF website. The GASC has won recognition from its peers with winning the coveted title of project of the year at the National Recfish Awards held in Canberra November 2008. The GASC has also attracted plenty of media attention particularly with the spate of shark attacks in the Sydney region over the summer period. This media attention can have positive flow on effects, highlighting the skills and resources that Freedivers and spearfishers have to offer to the community. A big thank you to all the guys who travelled to the Coral Sea on dive charters this season and contributed to the GASC over 2100 sharks from that region have been logged. The majority of these sightings were of Grey reef Sharks, but a good number of Silverfringe Whalers as well as a sprinkling of others such as Tigers and hammerheads. It’s always enjoyable to watch the large numbers of predatory sharks in the warm clear waters of the Coral Sea even better if you can keep them away from your fish.

Other notable sightings come from Ian Puckeridge on a recent trip to Elizabeth Reef where he sighted over 200 Galapagos sharks. Also on the same trip a large White and Oceanic Whitetip

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

feeding on a dead sperm whale. Oliver Wady and Eddy Skerry have been leading the charge with well over 2000 sightings between them. Keep up the great work guys. Hopefully the results of this project can be used in future submissions towards management decisions that have bearing on the allocations of our resource and show those managers that spearfishers and freedivers are a significant and loud lobby group.

Dear shark counter The Great Australian Shark Count has been a tremendous success thanks to your participation- we have now reached almost 11,500 shark sightings (see www.auf.com.au)- Congratulations and please keep involved as you are making a difference for sharks, community monitoring and sustainable fisheries.

We are now planning our first dedicated shark counting weekend for 2009 on 27-28 and 29 March and we want lots of divers and recreational fishers to be involved

The first 2009 dedicated weekend will focus on NSW and Grey Nurse Sharks (as well as other species) and we plan on involving all clubs and many divers up and down the coast and particularly those in the Blue Water Classic.

This will also allow us to do a comparison between sharks counted in 2008 and 2009.

Incentives For those who count sharks in the 28-29 and 30 March weekend you have a chance to win a random draw blue shark count (with AUF, Recfish and Shark Count logo) and sleek shark t-shirts (thanks to Adreno)

We also want other states to count sharks too please :-)

Key contacts if you want to get involved are: QLD Dave Welch - [email protected] - 0414897490 NSW Peter Saunders [email protected] - 0418269161 VIC Matt Koopman- [email protected] - 0408582422 WA Simon Longbottom- [email protected] - 0431663044 National Michael Rupnik- [email protected] - 0400367424 National Adam Smith- [email protected] 0418726584

Please spread the word that we are doing our bit to understand the marine environment and sharks

We have put in letters to federal and state Ministers asking for additional funding to support the GASC. You may wish to contact Peter Garrett (Environment Minister) [email protected] or Tony Burke (Fisheries Minister) [email protected] and let them know you support the future of recreational fishers and divers and stewardship and community monitoring of sharks. Regards

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Blue Wild Miami 2009

By Ray Powell

In febuary of this year I attended the blue wild weekend in Miami USA. What an event! The weekend comprised of workshops on products and safety initiatives. The quality of the guest speakers were second to none and the exhibits well who can get enough of what’s new in the diving world. I was staying with Sheri Daye one of the top female divers in the US. What a legend she is . Man the hours this girl put into the event and the job she done was incredible. With 3 too 4 hours sleep per night ( diet coke has 46mgs of caffine in it per can in the US ) and her days filled with meetings and organisational dilemmas there was no time for her to come diving with me . Soon I would be getting wet with the local top guy , Chad Pallan. he is a commercial spearo there. ( yes fully legal in the US if you buy a federal grouper permit approx 24,000 )

His mum is an incredible woman as well . She is 72 years of age and drives the boat for him in any conditions . We dived wrecks and rubble piles in pursuit of the GAG GROUPER . A prized catch with a limit of 2 per person if you don't have a permit. They are seasonal fish coming inshore to the wrecks during winter time to spawn. Every diver there waits for the GAG run. Divers might chase the migration from the Carolinas in the north to the keys in the south. The rewards a potential boat full of GAGS. The average size of the species is 9 to 12kgs with the odd bigger 15 to 18kg fish a prize catch. At 7.50 per pound whole they are good $$$$ if you get onto them.

Our day of hunting comprised of hitting several wrecks from 25m to 10m and a few rubble piles . These piles of concrete bits and pieces are a fish mecca. Loaded with giant goliath groupers , snook and snapper. The largest of the snapper being the XOS size Cubera. These spear benders haunt the deeper wrecks along with the ever present schools of giant barracuda , amberjacks and trevally species. Even the inshore harbours and water ways are full of fish. I dived the output of a power station which was a magnet for schools of juvenile fish and Manatees. Large barracuda patrolled the area hunting the smaller fish. The cuban divers love spearing barracuda in these back waters.

Sheri was getting a cold with the lack of sleep and added stress of the upcoming event. Dimitri and Joseba would be arriving soon . We were all staying at Sheri's place. What a divers house . She has more than me or any one I know for that matter. She sought our help in more ways than one. Setting up the event rooms , transporting raffle prizes. Even dressing up for Art Pinder's 80th birthday as Marilyn Monroe was part of our room and board. As everyone started to arrive the dinners and restaurant bills got larger and larger and later and later. Boy was the food good. I can really recommend the sushi in Miami. It is the best.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Now the event was at hand finally. The opening night and Art's birthday seemed to slip past in but a few hours. Waking up the next day with minor hangover I was excited and could not wait to get down to the IGFA fishing hall of fame in Miami. This is where the event was held. Throughout the complex world record fish replicas hung from the ceiling. There was every kind of fish from white pointer sharks to giant tunas too fresh water fish like the giant tiger fish from the Ziar river in the Congo. All the exhibitors had set up stalls around the hallways and the two speaker auditoriums. By 9am the place was a thriving mass of spearfishman all talking shop. The presentations had began and the workshops had been kicked off. Two days was just not enough.

I got to catch up with Terry Mass and check out his freediver recovery vest. He has put an incredible amount of time and effort into its development and too his credit the working prototypes were just fantastic. I am sure it will be in full production later this year. It will give peace of mind to worried mums and dads and no doubt save lives. After the first days event I was privy to taking part in a round table discussion group with some of the best in what they do. Julie Richardson ( freediver saftey initiative ) , DAN usa , Kirk Crack ( performance international , Dimitrius Kollias ( deep GR ) Sheri Daye and Terry Mass of coarse , several other influential industry leaders and myself . It was very positive and produced some exciting ideas. It was refreshing to see that the sport is growing at a rapid pace. But what comes with this increase in popularity is "preventable fatalities" .

The problems are the same world over . ie Blackouts and diver / boat incidents. Did you know that in the USA you do not need a boat licence ! Just stick triple 300hp on the back and off you go..... SCAREY ! As a result several deaths a year and more mutilations and crippling disabilities are on the increase. Something we have also here in Australia. You don't just hear about them. DAN has now had for some time a growing database of incidents and a dedicated team focussed on freediver related events. You can go online and register an event / incident near miss or otherwise. They need to know this information because with a better understanding of the demographics a better response , better training , better education will result in kerbing the incident rate and just maybe save few lives too.

Over the second days events I gave a presentation on spearfishing in the coralsea. I also had the pleasure of meeting a croaker killer. Yes this girl come up to me and asks my name and in reply she said " Hi my name is Kelsea and I am a croaker Killer! " I said "what ?" she said " yeah I kill croakers. That is what I do ! " Little did she know that she was talking with a fellow croaker killer . I made the sound and she laughed. She hunts white sea bass a similar species to our jewfish. We became great friends as she went through the pics on my lap top. kelsea reconds she is coming down under to decimate our croaker populations one day soon. Man this girl has got some fish too. I also met up with Julie Riffe. I had not seen her for years and it ws great to catch up. I made some top friends and could easily see myself living in Miami.

As a destination it has got it all. Great people , great night life and surprisingly exceedingly good AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

diving with so many options. Big tough fish and as challenging hunting as you want to make it. It has 3 major dedicated spearfishing stores and several smaller ones . A diving community and an active competition circut .But most of all it hosts THE BLUE WILD WEEKEND every year in Febuary. Put it down on your calendar I promise you it will be one of the best events you ever travel too in your life . It is like the world expo for spearfishing and much , much more . I will be back next year and hopefully some of you will follow.

Feb 6, 7 & 8, 2009 -- at the IGFA in Dania Beach, Florida "This Expo is for anyone that loves the ocean!" Spearfishing, fishing, lobstering, sailing, survival at sea, freediving, scuba, wreck exploration, marine artwork, diver safety, cooking fish, cleaning catch, , videography, product demos, and more!

Steve Callahan - Featured Speaker

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

.a month alone at sea in an inflatable raft after his sloop capsized. As Callahan says, "the sea remains the world's greatest wilderness....where you learn who you really are." Steven Callahan.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

BENEFITS FOR AUF MEMBERS

AND THERES MORE- SPEARING THE MENU- A NEW DVD AND SPECIAL OFFER

Spearing the Menu, Australia’s first spearfishing television program, is now available on DVD with a 15 per cent discount being offered to AUF members. The two-disc DVD set contains all seven episodes from the first series.

Spearing the Menu is the first program of its kind in Australia to promote the positive message of Safe, Sustainable, Selective Spearfishing. “We’ve really tried to get the message out that spearfishing is not only just a great sport, but also the most sustainable form of fishing,” says the show’s editor, Andy Hallam. “We want to play a part in changing the public perception of what spearfishing is.”

The Spearing the Menu team are a collective of experienced divers; three marine scientists (Sean Blake, Matt Koopman and Kyne Krusic-Golib) and a teacher (Andy Hallam).

Shot on location in Victoria and New South Wales, episodes cover diverse diving experiences such as the Great Australian Shark Count, chasing wahoo and dolphinfish off Coffs Harbour and diving for scallops and squid off the Bellarine Peninsula.

The show received excellent public support and a strong following after its first series and was nominated for the best Sports program in the 2009 Antenna Awards. Spearing the Menu was first aired in September to November of 2008 on C31 Melbourne, TVS Sydney, QCTV Brisbane and C31 AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Adelaide. It reached a peak audience in Victoria of 49 400 and averaged over 50 000 viewers each week in Sydney.

The second series is currently in production and is expected to air in June 2009.

For more information go to: www.spearingthemenu.com.au

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

NSW Report

Peter Saunders, USFA President \ NSW Chair

Well here goes another contribution to another sea change news letter. Firstly once again a big thank you to the committee of the USFA. Everyone is getting on and things are getting done even without a secretary. A little bit hard without one, so if anyone is looking for a job to do by all means apply. Many hands make light work

Well the competition for NSW USFA for 2009 kicked off at the Sydney Champs. What a competition with one of the biggest turn ups of divers in years with the Sunday being incorporated as a Alliman for metro and Taylor shield for southern zone. The Sydney champs was taken out by Garth Byron with Oly Wady hot on his heels, with the majority of the prizes taken by Southern zone divers,

The next dive was at Canada Cop Terrigal what a hard dive and the conditions, a lot of competitors turning up with visibility zero. A great win by Pucko with Metro divers and southern zone divers followed behind some great fish bought in for no visa.

Next dive South Coast Champs was won be the up and coming Jack Lavender followed closely by Garth, I think these two are probably the in-form divers at the moment with a few others close behind

The USFA have been reviewing the uniforms for the State Team and a new shirt has been selected for the team, and will be presented to all team members who attend the Pacific Coast Championships at Shoal Bay in April. I would also like to give a special mention to Mark Colys who was the Team Manager. I understand he assisted through the Nationals in WA particularly with the weigh in. Thanks Mark

Issues with marine parks have recently been broached again in this state with the NPA releasing their proposed increased marine parks, and a recent incident involving the taking of slipper crays at Jervis Bay by an AUF member. It would appear that the marine parks rules are not in line with the DPI Fisheries rules and a number of species of fish and crustacean are not permitted to be taken in habitat protected areas unlike other parts of the waters of NSW. The USFA remains committed towards dealing with this and any marine park issue in NSW but in the short term I would encourage and remind all divers to carefully check the laws in place, as ignorance is not tolerated

Finally in September 2009 there will be a function at Revesby Workers Club to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the USFA. Its hard to believe its been 10 years since we held the highly successful 50th Anniversary which saw over 400 divers, both young and old from across the country spending a great night celebrating this historic occasion. Both Mel Brown and I are working towards the 60th Anniversary and I encourage all divers to attend what will be an exciting commemoration of our spearfishing organisation. I look forward to seeing you all there .

Spearheading the Education of Skindivers

By Darren Higgins

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

The Underwater Skindivers and Fishermen’s Association (USFA) recently published the Guide to Spearfishing in New South Wales a free 58 page handbook written by divers for divers.

The handbook was created with both novice and experienced spearfishers in mind. The aim was to ensure that all active divers or persons proposing to take up spearfishing would be equipped with the right information to make informed decisions that involve conduct, safety and regulations.

The Commonwealth Government and NSW State Government support and endorse the guide. Similarly, Recfish Australia officially acknowledged the handbook as an award winning publication in the 2008 Recfishing Awards.

Since its release last year, ten thousand copies have been distributed statewide to USFA members, readers of Spearfishing Downunder Magazine, NSW DPI channels, USFA affiliated clubs, retail dive stores and casual enquirers. The feedback from government, the dive industry, USFA members and the skindiving community has been overwhelmingly positive.

To satisfy continuing demand for the publication, a grant has just been applied for through the NSW DPI Recreational Fishing Trusts that if successful will see another ten thousand copies of the guide produced to replenish vital supplies. The Recreational Fishing Alliance of New South Wales has also requested ten thousand copies of the publication as part of a communication initiative to educate and inform anglers.

The guide is the basis for education that in future will enable a diver’s knowledge to be accredited as part of a program the USFA is currently considering. The core idea is to ensure that all members of the spearfishing community behave in a legal, ethical, safe and sustainable manner to the ongoing benefit of all those who enjoy the sport. News from Victoria Matt Koopman, Vic Chair

Southern Freedivers membership and participation in competitions continue to rise. membership is at around 90 members, and more than 40 different people have participated in club comps during 2008-09 so far. Presentation night is on 27th June so keep an eye on the forum for confirmation of the location.

The next edition of the VRFish magazine, Fishing Lines, will have a feature article on spearfishing in Victoria. It was a great opportunity to plug the Southern Freedivers, the AUF and to increase awareness of dive flags in a magazine that is read mainly by angler. Copies will be made available at club meetings.

Leigh Elliot and Ben Scullin (VRFish) resurrected an old project proposal to fund the manufacture of dive flag awareness signs to install at boat ramps. This was knocked back a few years ago, but we are confident now that we will get the funding. If successful, signage will be placed at all major boat ramps around Port Phillip Bay.

The Victorian Recreational Fishing Guide 2009-2010 has been released. It contains the changes to regulations that were introduced in March this year. Some of the changes to bag and size limits do

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

affect us. You can get the guide at tackle stores or dive stores or online here http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/DPI/

Help protect Victoria’s most valuable shellfish - abalone.

It is important that divers, anglers, boat operators, surfers and anyone else accessing the ocean in Victoria’s south-west continue to observe the Department’s biosecurity protocols, which aim to minimise the risk of spreading the abalone disease, known as Abalone Viral Ganglioneuritis. The disease poses no known or likely impacts for human health.

The protocols will be widely promoted throughout the Victorian coastline and encourage divers to:

Wash vessels, wetsuits, dive equipment and their hands with soapy freshwater;

Remove all marine organic matter from vessels and equipment; and

Dispose of abalone shell, meat and gut with their household waste.

Recreational abalone fishers are also reminded that the Closed Area between the Craggs and Killarney remains in place, as well as the size limit increase from 12cm to 13cm. The increased size limit applies from the mouth of the Hopkins River to the South Australian border.

These interim measures were introduced to assist the recovery of abalone populations impacted by the virus.

Foreshore signage will remain located at major access points to the Closed Area and state-wide biosecurity signage will be maintained and expanded.

For more information please call the DPI Customer Service Centre on 136 186 or visit www.dpi.vic.gov.au/abalonedisease.

Map showing area of closure.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

An abalone infected with Ganglioneuritis

Victorian State titles – By Leigh Elliot

The 2009 Victorian Spearfishing Championships were recently held on the Mornington Peninsula over two days of competition, hosted by the Southern Freedivers. Local Victorian competitions have copped a pretty average hand of weather so far this year and this was to be much the same for the Championship. The forecast was for 3-4ft and fairly strong winds for the whole weekend which deterred a lot of the more recent additions to the comp scene, we did however have a welcome visitor for the competition, Dave Welsh from Queensland.

Competition was scheduled for the Saturday and Sunday of the March long weekend with Monday a reserve for weather. Weather on the first day of competition was true to the forecast with a large wind chop on the exposed beaches. The competition was deemed safe with the soft sand of Koonya making a secure place to enter and exit the substantial shore break and chop. These conditions did however sort the men from the boys with two to three metre visibility. It was here that two of Victoria’s top divers Ric DeVries and Drew Fenney were able to show there true colours. After coming of the back off a good effort in WA (winning the second heat) Ric managed to scrape up 12 species and Drew 10. Not a bad effort considering the next closest competitor was Brett Illingworth on 6 species and half a dozen people failed to find a fish in the very tough conditions.

The second day saw a slight improvement in conditions, with a dropping swell and abating winds. This was seen as a perfect opportunity to test all ’s fitness and dive one of the peninsula’s most agonising rock hops (due to the 2.2km+ walk to the water edge), Fingal Beach. All 15 competitors survived the 2.2km walk down to the water and were greeted by reasonable conditions. With a small 2-3ft swell and marginally better visibility with four to five meters in most areas. Entry and exit was more difficult than the first day with rocky platforms comprising the shoreline. A number of divers lost and broke gear with the final gear tally totalling; 1 lost fin, 2 snapped fins, 1 lost , 1 lost mouth piece and 1 lost mask! Drew triumphed on this day, beating Ric by one specie in a close competition. A number of impressive captures were taken on this day including two Elephant fish and a 2kg Silver Drummer (reasonably uncommon in Vic).

Congratulations to the 2009 Victorian Champion Ric DeVries, with a one fish win over last years champ Drew Fenney, it was a great effort in tough fishing conditions! Trent Crane also did extremely AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

well taking out the Junior Championship in his first year of competition diving. For his effort Trent has won himself a 100cm Assassinator Cammo speargun kindly supplied by Pescau Marine, Email; www.pescaumarine.com.au Ph; (02) 9727 7697. Thanks to everyone involved.

Final results 1. Ric DeVries 2803.55pts 2. Drew Fenney 2704.5pts 3. Murray Peterson 1692.9pts 4. Leigh Elliott 1685.7pts 5. Louie Papadopolous 1352.4pts 6. Franky D 1127.5 pts 7. Jason Horne 1115.8 pts 8. Dave Welsh 990.3 pts 9. Joseph Bednarak 821.4 pts 10. Trent Crane 819 pts (JNR. Champion) 11. Brett Illingworth 674.1 pts 12. Aaron Crocombe 553.1 pts 13. Nghia Vu 449.9 pts 14. Ziya Mustafa 426.3 pts 15. Luke Donnison 324 pts 16. Salcuk Budak 322.8 pts 17. Paul Crane 317.8 pts 18. Tom Fraser 249.1 pts 19. Ivor Nakic 211.7 pts 20. Greg Sperring 210.5 pts 21. Paul Dorfstatter 209.6 pts 22. Marek Toman 105 pts

Competitors in the Victorian State Titles

VALDES PAIRS DIVE COMP AND BBQ SOCIAL SUNDAY MARCH 29

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

The Southern Freedivers invite you to attend the Valdes Pairs Spearfishing competition on Sunday March 29th, 2009. It is planned to be held in the Mornington area but this is weather permitting. Everyone will need to check with the convenor/organizer the day before to ensure that the exact location.

The spearfishing competition is open to all Southern Freedivers members and is a 4 hour pairs comp. (1 of each species per pair and one float per pair) The competition will be between the hours of 9 am and 1 pm. A BBQ will follow at the Mornington Park near Mornington Pier. (Melways Reference is Map 104 10 D) There is BBQ on location and we ask that everyone brings along their own food. There is a number of take away food places walking distance from the park. The BBQ and presentation will be between 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

For further information contact Rob Torelli on 0417 55 99 85 or competition convenor Drew Fenney on 0418 996 545. (Please do not call regarding the location before 12 noon on Saturday March 28 as it is weather dependant). Feel free to call Rob regarding any other logistics prior.

The Southern Freedivers Club is doing well at present and this day has always been a traditionally social day so bring along your family and friends and let’s hope for good weather, good diving and a fun day out.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

QLD report

By Dave Welch and Chad Lunlow

THE NORTH QUEENSLAND SPEARFISHING TITLES 2009

AND NEMROD ROUND

To be held on Saturday May 16th in Townsville NQ

TSC cordially invites spearfishing competitors to the 2009 NQ Titles aboard Destiny Blue a twin screw flybridge Cougar catamaran that is capable of cruising at 18-20 knots under load and can take 25 people.

The competition will be held at one of the reefs of Townsville such as Broadhurst, Centipedede or Backnumbers Reef.

Entry fees will be $180/head, Juniors and Ladies $150/head.

This includes breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and two soft drinks per person.

As usual the competition is weather dependant and the final go ahead will be notified by Thursday 14th May. An alternative date will be advised should cancellation occur.

Charter costs have risen dramatically and the Club is aware that current economic conditions may restrict diver numbers, therefore if insufficient entries have been received by May 1st, the competition will be cancelled and all fees will be refunded.

All competing divers must be financial members of the Australian UnderwaterFederation Queensland ‘AUFQ’ and must abide by the AUFQ A-section rules.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

The Club will be happy for any divers to join us just for a social dive, and TSC members could take this opportunity to have a social dive and catch some of the species for the “Top 10” award.

Great Australian Shark Count

The AUF has generously donated a GASC wet suit for our presentation and has asked all competing divers to record their shark sightings on the AUF website.

Weigh in

At the conclusion of competition the weigh in by designated weigh master will commence on board the vessel. All divers should attend their fish being weighed.

Eligible Species:

It is the responsibility of each competitor to make themselves aware of Qld Govt regulations regarding minimum legal sizes, protected species and catch limits for all finfish. To be eligible for the weigh-in all fish speared must have a minimum weight of 1kg.

Please note that a total daily bag limit of 20 coral reef finfish now applies.

Presentation and Trophies

The presentation will be held on route back to Townsville or in port.

Unforeseen Weather

In the case of unfavourable weather a decision will be made by TSC by Thursday 14th May.

Each club or individual entering the competition should contact Scott Heilbronn on 0407 203 846 after 7:30pm to confirm if the competition is going ahead.

Queries concerning the competition should be directed to the following TSC members.

Dive Officer Scott Heilbronn on 0407 203846 or [email protected]

Adam Smith on 0418 872658 or [email protected]

Brendan Meale on 0437 825448 or [email protected]

John Picard on 4779 4427 or [email protected]

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

QLD Calendar 2009

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Nationals WA Bluewater Classic Easter 10th-13th Sat 16th May Qld Titles

14th-22nd 28th and 29th NQ Titles Townsville 6th-7th

AUFQ AGM 28th Interpacific WA Sun 17th

Vic state titles 27th apr-2nd may Backup day Eden Champs

7th-9th 6th-7th

Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Cloughy Challenge Cairns Nemrod Cairns Nemrod

12th and 13th Sat 31st Back up Date 7th

27th Club dive

Contacts Craig Barnett 04 1774 1774

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

R e c o r d s (click to view)

Latest Record Random Record

Divers Name: W. CARTER Divers Name: M. McDADE

Weight: 1.980 kg Weight: 7.150 kg

Common Names: Tarwhine Common Names: Barramundi Cod

Scientific Name: Rhabdosargus sarba Scientific Names: Cromileptes altivelis

Date Captured: 24-05-2008 Date Captured: 20-09-1995

NO IMAGE ON FILE

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

MEDIA RELEASE

Immediate distribution 26 February 2009

Recfish Australia Criticises Queensland Conservation Council

Recfish Australia, the peak national body for recreational fishing has hit back at James McLellan from the Queensland Conservation Council over claims that recreational fishing „plays a big part in declining fish stocks.‟

Reacting to an interview on ABC Radio‟s Country Hour, Len Olyott, Chief Executive Officer of Recfish Australia said; “No one is saying that recreational fishers do not have an impact on fish stocks, we do. However, it‟s not true to say that we play a big part in declining fish stocks. I would ask Mr McLellan to produce his evidence which proves that this is true.

Most Australian recreational fisheries are managed sustainably. Most recreational fishers do the right thing and believe in sustainable utilisation of fish stocks. We are tired of being branded as mindless fish killers. Recreational fishers have been at the forefront of conservation since long before many contemporary conservation organisations. We spend time on the water, we introduce our children to the natural environment and we care for our environment.

I encourage Mr McLellan to contact me so that we can discuss ways in which the Conservation Council and recreational fishers can work together to improve the sustainable management of our natural resources.”

Olyott also dismissed claims by Dr Colin Simpendorfer that recreational fishers cannot identify different fish species. “Given appropriate identification guides, fishers can distinguish different fish species. We are not stupid; we just need the right tools. Recreational fishers, in particular spearfishers, are contributing to the biggest, community-driven shark monitoring program in the world.

The Great Australia Shark Count is an initiative of the Australian Underwater Federation and is finding out where sharks occur and the range of species that inhabit our coastal waters. The main problem is a lack of funding for this project; existing funding sources such as Caring for Our Country simply do not recognise fish as part of our cultural and environmental heritage. In fact, fish or fishing is not mentioned once in the 90 page business plan for Caring for Our Country Funding.

Recreational fishers represent a vast resource of passionate and knowledgeable champions for the environment. Work with us, not against us.”

ENDS Media enquires to Len Olyott 0427073356 or Bruce Schumacher 0418499322

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Professor Kearney reviews the National Parks Association document “Torn Blue Fringe”

BACKGROUND:

All of you should by now know about the National Parks Association (NPA) report, “Torn Blue Fringe Part 2”, calling for MORE Marine Parks on the Coast of NSW, especially around Sydney, the North Coast and the Twofold Bioregion (Tathra to the Victorian border). This was released on December 5th 2008

This finally stirred the sleeping giant of Sydney anglers and the comments on NSW fishing websites (given in email #48) have been ferocious. There have been numerous “anti Marine Park” meetings especially on the North Coast, with crowds of up to 1,000.

ACoRF is the acronym for “Advisory Council on Recreational Fishing”. It is a NSW based, 16 member council that advises Minister MacDonald (Department of Primary Industries) on Recreational Fishing issues. It has come under some criticism from some quarters that it is not representative, as its members are appointed by MacDonald as opposed to being elected. I suspect that the members, in the vast majority, have the interests of the Rec fisher in mind.

Sometime after the last meeting of ACoRF, on December 11 2008, a small group of ACoRF councillors decided to have the Torn Blue Fringe report reviewed. They selected Prof. Kearney.

ACoRF is to be congratulated for providing Recreational Fishing funds to extensively review a report provided by the National Parks Association that threatens to close off more areas to fishing based on no science and no credibility.

This has led to an interesting political situation whereby a NSW Government body (ACoRF) administered by a NSW Government Department (DPI, Minister MacDonald) is in direct conflict with another Government Department (DECC, Minister Tebbutt). Prof. Kearney‟s review slams the NSW Marine Parks Authority .. now under DECC and Minister Tebbutt.

Below is what ACoRF asked Prof. Kearney to address in his review of the NPA report “Torn Blue Fringe Part 2”. Below that is the executive Summary by Prof. Kearney to ACoRF’s request. a report that is flawed in every respect.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. International, national and State commitments that should impact the wise management of the State‟s marine resource use and conservation (Objectives 1, 2 and 3 of this Review) have been used selectively or ignored in Winn‟s Report.

2. Specific commitments to the proper conservation of marine systems that have been ignored or misrepresented by Winn in the advocacy for more marine parks are detailed throughout this Review.

3. NSW is committed to the conservation of marine resources, including to the NRSMPA, but Winn‟s assertion that these commitments require, or even suggest that NSW needs more marine parks and greater restrictions on fishing within such parks, is in stark contrast to reality. The documents that describe the actual commitments by NSW to marine parks indicate that the activities that should be managed are those that have been identified to be threats, and area restriction should be assessed as the most cost-effective means of management of the threat before it is implemented.

4. Winn‟s overestimation and overstatement of the effects of fishing strongly suggest bias against fishing at the expense of balanced consideration of the conservation necessary for NSW marine AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

systems (see discussion of Chapter 1.6). Imprecise, and biased, interpretations of the status of the exploited fish species in NSW in Winn‟s Report highlight, albeit inadvertently, data which actually show how extraordinarily resilient the fish species of NSW are to fishing.

5. More detailed analyses of the data Winn presents show that marine parks are extremely unlikely to be cost-effective tools for the management or conservation of the fish species in NSW (see particularly discussion of Chapter 1.6). Clear demonstration of the effectiveness of each and every existing park for providing protection against properly identified threats is necessary for existing parks and is essential before any consideration is given to advocacy for more parks.

6. A section of Winn‟s Report is entitled „Economic Benefits of Sanctuary Zones‟, but it provides no data or examples of the costs of establishing and managing sanctuary zones. Cost-benefit analyses that should form the fundamental blocks on which to base a true assessment of economic benefits, are completely absent. The numerous claims of inadequate management of fishing by NSW DPI, e.g. “Fisheries management in NSW has largely failed‟ (page 103), are contrary to the evidence provided.

7. Winn‟s Report typifies the unjustified bias against fishing by many marine park advocates and how this bias can diminish commitment to properly identifying and addressing the threats to biodiversity and ecosystems. By failing to identify specific impacts it even diminishes commitment to identifying and assessing any problems that might result from some forms of fishing. Threats to coastal biodiversity, other than fishing, such as pollution and introduced species, are initially acknowledged by Winn but their management is either ignored or marginalized in the Report. For example, Winn acknowledges that pollution has been the major contributor in the loss of half of the State‟s seagrasses, yet what he proposes is to have more fishing closures. It appears that a preoccupation with restricting fishing has over-ridden consideration of the real threats by Winn and by the NSW Marine Parks Authority. Winn‟s Report draws attention to the failure by the Government to meet its commitments to proper marine conservation, particularly in estuaries.

8. Winn‟s claim that marine parks in NSW will provide resilience against the negative effects of climate change is not supported by any credible evidence. In fact, based on the information given by Winn, it is difficult to imagine a management system that offers less protection against climate change than marine parks as they are managed in NSW. Furthermore, as the current parks are acknowledged by their managers (Marine Parks Authority 2008) to not address the key known threats, such as pollution in its many forms and introduced species, it is absolutely wishful (possibly the result of biased advocacy?) to assert that marine parks in NSW offer effective resilience against the major threats that may be exacerbated by climate change.

In conclusion, The Torn Blue Fringe (Winn 2008) is written from the perspective of an advocate for more marine parks and as such it misrepresents or selectively ignores much of the scientific and policy literature on the needs for marine conservation and marine parks in NSW. By so doing it actually draws attention to the failure by the NSW Marine Parks Authority to cost-effectively addresses the properly identified threats.

The overestimation of the impacts of fishing and the associated advocacy for further restriction on fishing appears to have been used to create a distraction from identifying and managing the real threats to NSW marine ecosystems, fisheries resources and biodiversity.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Australian Underwater Federation Inc Susan Dockar A.U.F. Memberships P.O. Box 195 Menai Central N.S.W. 2234 Ph/Fax: (02) 9543-4907 Email: [email protected]

Representing all Freedivers, Spearfishers and enthusiasts

Full Name: (print)……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

(Surname) Given Names

AUF Membership No………………………………………..……… New……. Renewal

Spearfishing and/or Freediving Club…………………………………………………………………………..

Address: (No. & Street)…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Suburb:……………………………………………………………..State:……………...Post Code:………….

Phone: (…..)………………………………………..Mobile:……………………………………………………….

Fax:: (…..)…………………………………………email:…………………………………………………………

Occupation: …………………………………………………….Date of Birth:………./…………/……………

Male: Female:

NOTE: A.U.F. m/ship + National and State Spearfishing Commission memberships due 1st July and expires 30th June each year. SPEARFISHING Membership Fee Schedule (Junior Under 18 years) Junior Others

(a) AUF ($ go to CMAS/administration/membership card/Govt. representation) $8.00 $10.00

(b) National Spearfishing Commission ($ go to National team/National communication) $- $10.00

(c ) State Spearfishing Commission ($ go to State issues/representation/communication) $8.00 $10.00

------

TOTAL ALL OTHER STATES $16.00 $30.00

Please find enclosed Cheque/Money Order for $……………..Note: Cheques payable to: AUF Membership Account

Forward to: AUF Memberships – P.O. Box 195, Menai Central, N.S.W. 2234

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

WA Antony Sercombe, Troy Dunstan, Jonathan Joyce, Zoran Djuric, Robert Ernst, Cameron Moir, Peter Wilson, Aleks Ceklic, David McDonald, Jamie Buckingham, Frano Miletic, Dave Robson, Jai Crosby, Nathan McMurdo, Daniel Persson, Darren Walker, Troy Duncan, Riki Weeks (some others have renewed after 1-2-3- years break.)

QLD

Levi Brown, Tony Allen, Mathew Byrnes, Stephen Menzies, Roy King, Thomas Bateman, Andrew Bateman

VIC

Morgan Tantau, Michael Pannone, Mustafa Kayacik, Mustafa Adak, Oska Liebert, Aaron Chan

SA

Peter Taylor, Dale Parish

NSW

Shaun Adlam, Jeremy Kelly, Richard Dublanka, Jordan Haggett, Daniel Montes de Oca, Mark Arena, Robert Forrester, Leigh Mozdzierz, Nicole Tyler, Brad Montague, Brian Perez, Gary Baxter, Lann Dawes, Andrew Moderer, Brock Cope, Simon Brandtman, Jessie Cripps, Aaron Saunders, Dale Hill, Ryan Taylor, Leslie Siemak, Craig Bernhardt, Luc Daigle, David Smith, Justin Ryan, Jody Yeaman, Reggie Sinclair, Jason Makins, Jordan Wolfenden, Minh Tri Tran, Sean Parkes, Izac Yeaman, Don Evenden, Jack Martin, Sigang Chen, Tim Bowerman, Jarrad Mawbey, Bryce Hodgson, Tarran Cuthbert, Ben Russell, Christopher Farmer, Mathew Gropp, Peter Deas

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World

Australian Underwater Federation Inc.

SPEARFISHING SAFETY RULES

These Safety Rules are intended to minimise the risk of injury or mishap to divers engaged in Spearfishing. Divers are encouraged to adopt these rules without exception and to promote them amongst divers who may not be familiar with them. It is the responsibility of all A.U.F. members to make our sport as safe as possible.

While engaged in Spearfishing you should:

* Tow a safety coloured float (yellow, orange or red) with an International Code “A” flag (signifying diver below) displayed in a vertical position above the float.

* Attach game to the towed float so that the game is carried away from your body.

* Carry a knife that is attached to your body and which is readily accessible.

* Carry a plastic safety whistle and a reflective signal mirror.

* Wear a weight belt fitted with a single hand operated, quick release buckle.

* Never load or carry a loaded speargun out of the water.

* Ensure that speartips are suitably sheathed while not in use.

* Ensure that you are not under the influence of any drugs or medication that may impair your senses, judgement or physical ability.

* Cease diving if for any reason you are not feeling well.

* Take liquids to ensure that you do not suffer the effects of dehydration.

* Avoid hyperventilating by taking no more than 2 or 3 deep breaths before holding your breath.

* Always dive with a friend or tell someone where you will be diving and your estimated time of return.

* Obtain a current weather report for the time that you will be diving.

* Be on the alert for boat traffic and ensure that you are visible to passing vessels.

AUF Mission: Bring Sport, Conservation and Awareness to the Underwater World