Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with AFANT's David Ciarovolo about issues to be raised at the organisation's AGM

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Katie spoke with AFANT's David Ciarovolo about issues to be raised at the organisation's AGM · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Because joining me on the line right now from AFANT,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: the Amateur Fishermen's Association here in the Northern Territory, David Chieravolo,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you, David.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, David.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: The AGM, the Annual General Meeting, as I understand, is happening.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Is it tonight, Yes, it is. It's tonight. Registrations are
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: from quarter past five for a six o'clock start, and
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: that's at the Travel Lodge Resort Darwin on Kavanagh Street.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: So everybody's welcome to attend if they are interested in
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: recreational fishing, we'd love to have them along.
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  Speaker 1: And you usually get quite a large crowd there, don't you.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, look, it certainly varies with the issues of
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the day, and I think increasingly people are obviously getting
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: more and more of their information online and from social media.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: But we're excited this year to be inviting our regional representatives,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: our club delegates and regional members to attend online and
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of course our dar and people will be there in
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the room and if you're not a member, you're still
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: welcome to attend. We've got some really hot issues being covered,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: ranging from cotton fishing access and also the management and
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: research of some of our key fisheries.
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  Speaker 1: Now this cotton situation, it's something that's been raised. A
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: couple of listeners have been in contact with us already
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: this morning and have asked why is failing recreational fishes
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  Speaker 1: and allowing this cotton project to go through.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, I think it's quite clear that there's always
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  Speaker 2: a challenge to communicate the work that's being done. And
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  Speaker 2: earlier this year we were invited by the government to
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: work with them and to help advise them on developing
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: a new surface water harvest strategy. So people talk about cotton,
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  Speaker 2: and of course, whilst cotton is I guess the face
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: of it, the real issue we're talking about here is
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  Speaker 2: water and at the moment, under the government's current policy,
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  Speaker 2: up to twenty percent of floodwaters could be harvested at
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  Speaker 2: any time, and that's based on what they call a
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: precautionary principle. Now we actually think that that is miles
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: too high when it comes to floodwaters because to be
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  Speaker 2: able to collect such an amount of floodwater, you're talking
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: about a lot of infrastructure, dams, levees, we is all
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: that kind of thing. Now we secured a commitment from
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  Speaker 2: the government at the last election not to dam any
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  Speaker 2: free flowing rivers in the Northern Territory, and that's of
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: course an important start, but a lot of water could
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: still be harvested on flood plains and from other tributaries
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: or valleys and gullies, and it's really important that we
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: do have good regulations in place. And as I said,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: that twenty percent starting point, which right now is already
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  Speaker 2: the current place, it's not about it's not about backing
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  Speaker 2: in anything. It's actually at the moment that's the rules
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: that are in place. We think that that's set way
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  Speaker 2: too high. We've been providing that advice to government and
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  Speaker 2: they'll be coming out with a policy on that we
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: believe early next year, which will then go out for
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: public consultation. So it's certainly not the case that we
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: haven't been active in this space. We've been very active
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  Speaker 2: in this space, doing a lot of work dotting the eyes,
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  Speaker 2: crossing the ses and engaging with a lot of the
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: other agencies. And tonight, as people will see, we've got
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: I guess a few sides of the story. So we'll
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: have the CEO of NT Farmers, Paul Burke. They're talking
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: about cotton industry plans, and we'll also have presentations from
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  Speaker 2: CDU on some of the impacts that can happen from
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: extracting surface water.
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  Speaker 1: And will our recreational fishes then have the opportunity to
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: have their voices heard if they are really concerned about this.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, look absolutely, and we've been engaged with lots of
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: fishes on this already. Of course, people are members of
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: first always get the opportunity to ask your question. If
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: we've got more time, there's time for questions from the
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: public as well. But the next step, of course, will
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: be to see what the government draft policy is and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: that's the real opportunity to look at and assess whether
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  Speaker 2: it's gone far enough to protect the environment or not.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: And let's be really clear here and and fishing in
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory, we're not talking about sustainability. We are
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: talking about abundance. The Northern Territory is famous for its abundance,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: not for being managed down to some drip fed sustainable level,
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  Speaker 2: but being at a level that is naturally abundant. And
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  Speaker 2: that is what we're aiming for. That is our pass
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  Speaker 2: mark and nothing less. So look, no one make any
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  Speaker 2: mistake that for us, it's all about ensuring that we
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  Speaker 2: have that natural abundance that the territory is so famous for.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: All right, now, I know that you're also going to
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  Speaker 1: have the Minister for Recreational Fishing, Paul Kirby. He's going
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  Speaker 1: to be there to provide a bit of an update
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  Speaker 1: on the government's fifty million dollar Recreational Fishing Future Fund,
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  Speaker 1: and also he's going to be announcing some key funding
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  Speaker 1: commitments apparently on some of those projects for twenty twenty two.
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  Speaker 1: What are you hoping for, David.
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  Speaker 2: Well, look, the fifty million dollar announce and the course
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  Speaker 2: was a big deal when it was first made back
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  Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, and we really do need to see
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  Speaker 2: the delivery of that in full. Obviously, we've seen some
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: big announcements this year around Point Stuart, but we know
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: that there are improvements that need to be made to
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: the Dundee Beach boat ramp. We know that the tendor
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: was passed in for the daily River upgrades that we
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: were expecting to see this year, and we're hoping for
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  Speaker 2: a new jetty in Darwin as well. So there are
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: some really big ticket items that we really hope to
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  Speaker 2: see some announcements on. Of course that's the minister's prerogative,
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  Speaker 2: but our fingers are crossed for some important announcements tonight
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  Speaker 2: because there is really that expectation that the government will
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: follow through on its promises.
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  Speaker 1: Well, David Girovolo from FANT, you'll have to keep us
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  Speaker 1: up to date and let us know how tonight goes.
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  Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time this morning.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Katie, thank you