Latest / Noob Spearo Podcast / NSP:323 The Vision Behind the Australian Spearfishing Association | Tom Sandstrom, Rhys Clay & Sam Mumford

Transcript

NSP:323 The Vision Behind the Australian Spearfishing Association | Tom Sandstrom, Rhys Clay & Sam Mumford · Noob Spearo Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey, legends, Shrek here.
• 0:03
  Welcome to Bull, the New Spirit podcast.
• 0:07
  The home of interviews with spearfishing legends.
• 0:11
  Absolute characters.
• 0:14
  And just down good Spiro people.
• 0:17
  This is definitely the podcast where we celebrate the spearfishing lifestyle.
• 0:22
  Today, it's something a bit different.
• 0:24
  We are talking about the Australian Spearfishing Association.
• 0:29
  So this is a brand new governing body for Spiros in Australia.
• 0:35
  Designed purely to help us, represent ourselves better when it comes to fisheries consultation, marine parks consultation.
• 0:43
  Bag limits, size limits, anything to do with spearfishing, at a greater level.
• 0:48
  A SA is going to help represent us and our interests far better.
• 0:52
  Most of us as Spiros are extremely averse to politics.
• 0:56
  I think of any kind we get in the water, mostly to escape garbage.
• 1:00
  So bear with me, bear with Rhys and Tom Sandstrom today.
• 1:05
  Actually, they're gonna be talking about this in a car on the way to 1770.
• 1:12
  But it's a conversation about the Australian Spearfish Association, why, why they've started it.
• 1:20
  And, , why it's of benefit to Spiros in Australia.
• 1:24
  And I think there's takeaways for people further abroad, but, it will give you hopefully an idea.
• 1:32
  And a bit of a vision behind what's happening.
• 1:35
  I'm not gonna harp on about it too much.
• 1:39
  Rhys and Tom do a far better job.
• 1:42
  In this chat, I do have two shoutouts I want to go to.
• 1:46
  Before we get into the episode.
• 1:49
  Bert, who's just actually stayed with me.
• 1:53
  He's just headed off to Norfolk Island to stay with Jamie.
• 1:57
  I dunno if you remember him, deeply immersed on Instagram, absolute legend.
• 2:02
  Bert's heading over there to hang out with him. He stopped by my place.
• 2:07
  For four days and built me a spear gun rack.
• 2:11
  And all sorts of crazy stuff.
• 2:13
  And hung out.
• 2:15
  Really cool to see Bert.
• 2:17
  As usual.
• 2:19
  And then I've also got another voice message here.
• 2:23
  From my old mate No Shins.
• 2:25
  And I'll let No Shins tell a story.
• 2:29
  But have a listen to Bert.
• 2:32
  And then we'll get into notion's.
• 2:34
  Voice message.
• 2:36
  Yeah, from eating flake to hunting doggy, this episode 321.
• 2:41
  By Matty Parker, was just magic.
• 2:43
  It was real good to see two guys that loved the ocean, sitting down and having a yarn.
• 2:49
  And sharing their passions.
• 2:52
  And really liked that one line where you went about the an apprentice.
• 2:56
  And it's so important that you do go through that apprentice phase because you learn so much.
• 3:02
  Through it and later on you would appreciate the effort you put in.
• 3:06
  While you're doing that.
• 3:09
  But anyway, guys, Isaac, keep bringing on these good episodes.
• 3:13
  Love it.
• 3:15
  Happy hunting.
• 3:16
  And only for best.
• 3:18
  Cheers, Bert.
• 3:20
  Good day, Mr. Daley. It's your favourite shinless diver from the West Coast.
• 3:24
  I just bought a bunch of stuff off of Adreno and used code noobspearo at checkout.
• 3:30
  Got 20 bucks off.
• 3:33
  I thought it was a perfect opportunity to give thanks to yourself and a couple other legends.
• 3:38
  So quick shout out to the legend who left a voice message on our sail and Spear podcast.
• 3:43
  About ear care.
• 3:45
  They came in very clutch for me passing my free diving course this week.
• 3:50
  It was all blocked up, all my, my ears weren't equalising.
• 3:53
  And yeah, I just gave it a flash out. Put a bit of coconut oil in the night before.
• 3:59
  And yeah, everything worked perfectly. I passed my course, set a new PB dive.
• 4:04
  And I'm fucking frothing that one second.
• 4:07
  Shout out to Eddie from Townsville Skin Club.
• 4:11
  If you have met Eddie, you know how much he loves to dive.
• 4:15
  And he's also the most consistent person.
• 4:18
  To turn up to training.
• 4:20
  He was the first person to give me advice on hydrodynamics of flipper kicks.
• 4:24
  Which was another huge clutch on passing my free diving course.
• 4:28
  Cheers, Eddie.
• 4:31
  Look forward to catching you up with ya in two weeks time when I come over.
• 4:35
  For a visit.
• 4:37
  Finally, the biggest shout out goes to you, Shrek.
• 4:40
  If it wasn't for Sale and Spear, I would've never found the pathways to becoming the best bureau.
• 4:47
  I have ever been.
• 4:50
  Or even considered diving some of the locations.
• 4:53
  I got to in the last 12 months while I was doing my lap of Oz.
• 4:57
  From being someone who never listened to one of your podcasts to looking at every week.
• 5:02
  To see if there's a new one.
• 5:04
  I can't thank you enough for creating this awesome community.
• 5:08
  I did see on Facebook today the Norcat trip out of North Queensland's come up.
• 5:13
  I'm gonna see if I have time off.
• 5:15
  And I might see you there.
• 5:17
  Peace out.
• 5:18
  Big homie.
• 5:21
  Alright. That was No Shins.
• 5:23
  And before that, Bert.
• 5:25
  I hope you enjoyed listening to those legends.
• 5:28
  Thanks for being part of this community.
• 5:30
  If you ever want to leave a voice message, go to noobspearo.com, head up into the menu.
• 5:36
  Give back.
• 5:39
  And then go to leave a voice message.
• 5:42
  And, um, up to three minutes. I'd love to hear about it.
• 5:46
  Near miss, , what you're frothing on about the podcast, you name it.
• 5:50
  It'd be great to hear from you.
• 5:52
  noobspearo.com is the place to do that.
• 5:55
  Let's get into today's episode.
• 5:57
  Tom Sandstrom, Rhys Clay. Two good mates, two instructors of mine as well, and, absolute legends of blokes.
• 6:03
  Here we go.
• 6:05
  Intro, Coffs Diving and Species.
• 6:08
  G'day Noobers, welcome back to the Noob Spiro podcast.
• 6:12
  Longtime listeners of the show may notice my voice has a little bit more of an Aussie twang than Isaac's, and I talk a fair bit slower.
• 6:21
  Now, let me just introduce myself.
• 6:24
  My name's Rhys.
• 6:27
  AKA, Novis Adventures.
• 6:29
  And I'm currently on the road to the little old town.
• 6:32
  Of 1770.
• 6:34
  And I'm joined by Tom Sandstrom, who's the current president of the newly formed Australian Spearfishing Association.
• 6:42
  Actually, sorry, he's the director of that said organisation.
• 6:46
  And he is the former president of the C'S Blue Water Spearfishing Club.
• 6:53
  He's also a Toppi O Top diver.
• 6:56
  And just a good all-round guy.
• 6:58
  And of course, making a return appearance on the show, Samuel Mumford, AKA Sam, the Waterman.
• 7:03
  Okay, so, uh, we're gonna try and keep it as organic as possible.
• 7:07
  And we're just basically just gonna have a conversation.
• 7:11
  We've got about a four hour drive.
• 7:13
  Ahead of us.
• 7:15
  So it's gonna be a little bit looser.
• 7:17
  Today, I'd say.
• 7:19
  But I've got some notes here and we'll just roughly run through them.
• 7:22
  But, firstly, I was hoping you could maybe introduce yourself.
• 7:25
  Tom, tell us about where you're from.
• 7:28
  And how you got into spearfishing.
• 7:31
  Yeah. Um, I'm from Dorigo originally.
• 7:34
  Which is on the mid north coast of New South Wales. A little bit west of the coast.
• 7:39
  And I currently live in Moonee Beach just north of Coffs Harbour.
• 7:43
  And I got into Spearfishing as a young fellow 'cause dad spent a lot of time in the water and, um, learned how to be half decent at it.
• 7:51
  Once Shrek and Turbo got the podcast going back in the day and, um, realised that there was a wealth of information there.
• 7:58
  And it sort of sped up the learning process.
• 8:00
  And yeah, most of my diving's been around the Coffs area and, um, a little bit up the coast.
• 8:06
  At 1770 where we're headed.
• 8:08
  Yeah. Very nice.
• 8:09
  Yeah. So, um, one thing about you, Tom.
• 8:12
  That stands out pretty quickly when you get to know you, is that spearfishing for you.
• 8:17
  As a family affair?
• 8:19
  I know there's quite a lot of different Sandstroms that are in the spearfishing scene.
• 8:23
  Did you want to talk a bit about that?
• 8:26
  Yeah. Oh, well, I just, I come from a big family.
• 8:28
  There's seven kids.
• 8:29
  And, um, we all quite enjoy being in and around the water.
• 8:32
  But yeah, my, my two brothers that I dive with mostly Ollie and Liam live quite close to me.
• 8:37
  And then, yeah, we've got a brother Bill in Tazzie that dives down there, and then Max in Newcastle.
• 8:43
  Is, uh, too busy at the pub to dive.
• 8:45
  But yeah, it's, it's sort of, they're my main dive buddies.
• 8:49
  And these days almost just dive solely with us three.
• 8:53
  And then every now and then we'll have Angus in CS or Zack Knot comes out with us a bit.
• 9:01
  And then on trips like this.
• 9:03
  Get to go and mix it up with you guys.
• 9:05
  Yeah. Very nice.
• 9:06
  Yeah, look, I can relate to you there.
• 9:09
  Because the person that I learned to spear fish with was actually my younger brother.
• 9:13
  And there's something about that diving with someone that you have that connection with.
• 9:17
  It's just, there's something magic about it.
• 9:19
  Hey.
• 9:21
  Like especially if you've got a good relationship with your siblings.
• 9:24
  As a lot of people do.
• 9:26
  Growing up in Australia, I dunno, it was, it was really magic for me learning to fish.
• 9:30
  Spear fish with my dad and fish, fish shish kebab fish.
• 9:34
  With my dad and my brother.
• 9:35
  So yeah, I can, I can really relate to you there.
• 9:38
  Main reason I wanted to do this podcast.
• 9:41
  Was I felt like I'd just done a road trip recently down the coast.
• 9:45
  I basically got to see a whole lot of the mid north coast and there wasn't really any new.
• 9:51
  Good diving at all. I mean, I'd stick clear of the area. Too many sharks, dirty water.
• 9:55
  That's all we need to know.
• 9:57
  About mid North Coast.
• 9:59
  So there really wasn't, as you can tell, Tom's super keen.
• 10:02
  To give away all the secret information.
• 10:04
  But just remember everyone.
• 10:06
  He's from GaN, uga.
• 10:08
  Yeah.
• 10:10
  And, uh, yeah, so we won't be talking about C Harbour.
• 10:13
  But, yeah, look, I personally.
• 10:15
  I do a road trip probably once a year down the east coast of Australia and probably my favourite part.
• 10:21
  Of the road trip.
• 10:23
  Is that North coast area.
• 10:25
  For diving.
• 10:27
  It's just so varied and the shore diving is quite accessible there.
• 10:31
  When the swells down.
• 10:32
  And the other thing is, if you are coming from up Queensland ways, it's really surprising how many islands.
• 10:38
  And reefs and stuff there is.
• 10:41
  Like, it's, I call it the barrier reef of the South, but.
• 10:45
  Could you tell me a bit more about what the diving's like in your local area?
• 10:49
  Yeah, there's lots of islands.
• 10:52
  It's not like Mackay and those sort of places where it's littered with islands, but the Solidary island group.
• 10:58
  Is a pretty magic spot.
• 11:00
  And yeah, loads of inshore reef miles and miles of ground.
• 11:04
  It's, yeah, the tropics meet the temperate waters, so we get a, a big mix of species.
• 11:09
  You get the odd coral trout show up here and there.
• 11:13
  You get, um, we've got plenty of coronation trout.
• 11:15
  You get, uh, red throat emperor.
• 11:17
  Plenty of spano and that sort of thing.
• 11:20
  And then all your mackerel, wahoo, sambos, curly snapper.
• 11:24
  And then you get the odd southern species turn up like, or fish and, stuff like that.
• 11:28
  So yeah, it's, that's pretty cool.
• 11:31
  And we get.
• 11:32
  Abalone as well.
• 11:33
  Yeah.
• 11:34
  The odd abalone.
• 11:36
  Not heaps.
• 11:37
  But yeah, they're definitely around.
• 11:39
  Yep.
• 11:40
  And we get that mixture of sort of kelp ground and a little bit of coral reef.
• 11:44
  And then rocky reef.
• 11:45
  That's, um.
• 11:47
  Don't, don't you get coral trout.
• 11:49
  That far south, don't you?
• 11:51
  Not heaps, but a fellow Blake Hale from Ra shot a trout off far earlier this year, or end of last year.
• 11:56
  It was only a kilo and a half.
• 11:59
  But still a pretty cool fish.
• 12:01
  For Coffs Harbour.
• 12:03
  Do you find with those tropical fish when they get into those temperate reefs?
• 12:07
  Do they look a bit different from the reef? The fish you'll find up here.
• 12:10
  In 1770?
• 12:12
  No, they, they all still more or less look the same.
• 12:16
  Behave a little different. I think they're sort of maybe outta their comfort zone for some reason.
• 12:21
  And, and they act a little bit skittish.
• 12:23
  Or maybe it's that we don't see them very often and when you look at 'em.
• 12:28
  You mean it.
• 12:29
  Yeah.
• 12:30
  So they they pick up on that pretty quick.
• 12:32
  Yeah.
• 12:33
  Right.
• 12:34
  Yeah.
• 12:36
  The other thing also with your area is a, it's kind of renowned.
• 12:39
  As the pelagic hotspot.
• 12:41
  Of New South Wales.
• 12:43
  Tweed.
• 12:44
  Tweed heads.
• 12:45
  Yeah.
• 12:47
  Twe.
• 12:48
  Where our other guest is from.
• 12:50
  Yeah.
• 12:50
  So talk to me a little bit more about that.
• 12:53
  Do you, how much of your diving is reef diving?
• 12:56
  How much is pelagic stuff?
• 12:58
  Oh, personally, I'd much rather target reef fish and spend most of my time doing that.
• 13:03
  But, um, yeah, for sure we get a pretty good number of mackerel.
• 13:06
  Almost year round really.
• 13:08
  But obviously the warmer water brings better numbers.
• 13:11
  And then, I mean, last year was terrible for wahoo, but the year before that you could walk on the things.
• 13:16
  So it, it does definitely turn it on at times.
• 13:19
  And yeah, good wahoo, dollies, all that sort of thing.
• 13:22
  But, uh, it's, yeah, nothing on Tweed gets great gag fish.
• 13:26
  Yeah, so you heard it first guys.
• 13:28
  Just keep, if you are coming from down south, just keep driving a few more hours up.
• 13:32
  And you'll be.
• 13:34
  And Sam will.
• 13:36
  28 kilo mac or big Whoa.
• 13:38
  Yeah.
• 13:39
  And there is even rumours of a mackerel swimming around.
• 13:43
  40.
• 13:44
  Yeah.
• 13:45
  With a, speargun attached.
• 13:47
  There's not a rumour.
• 13:49
  It's confirmed.
• 13:51
  Yeah.
• 13:52
  Actually, I don't know if you remember Tom.
• 13:53
  But I, I met you.
• 13:55
  I think it was probably four years ago.
• 13:58
  I came down and done the Coff's Blue Water Classic and that was actually the first time.
• 14:02
  We met.
• 14:03
  And, uh, a little bit of a funny story from that event.
• 14:07
  So Queensland, where I'm from and New South Wales, they have slightly different time zones.
• 14:13
  That New South Wales government have done daylight savings.
• 14:18
  So their clocks over summer are one hour behind.
• 14:22
  Is that right?
• 14:23
  Or one hour in front.
• 14:25
  The head behind.
• 14:26
  I don't know.
• 14:27
  No one knows.
• 14:28
  It's a mystery.
• 14:29
  Confuses everybody.
• 14:31
  But anyways.
• 14:32
  So, so behind Queens, but flash is always behind.
• 14:36
  Yeah.
• 14:37
  I'm always.
• 14:37
  That's it.
• 14:38
  First day of the comp, we thought, let's go out to the fads and let's be the first people out there.
• 14:45
  So we set our alarm for 4:00 AM.
• 14:48
  But it was actually 3:00 AM.
• 14:50
  And we launched the boat and we headed straight out there.
• 14:53
  And we proceeded to sit out at the fad for about an hour and a half.
• 14:57
  Waiting for the sun to come up.
• 14:59
  And, uh, yeah, it.
• 15:01
  Was, it's amazing.
• 15:02
  First time you've ever been early.
• 15:04
  For anything?
• 15:05
  Correct.
• 15:06
  First and last time I've ever been early.
• 15:08
  For something.
• 15:09
  Yeah.
• 15:10
  I, my lesson there.
• 15:11
  Yeah.
• 15:12
  Hey.
• 15:13
  The thing that struck out to me was I was pretty amazed, just recently I went for a short dive.
• 15:18
  Down your ways.
• 15:20
  I was pretty blown away by the coral that's down there.
• 15:23
  Are you aware of anyone who's been studying that coral?
• 15:27
  Has that, proliferated or grown a lot more since you're a kid?
• 15:31
  Or has it always been.
• 15:33
  Think it's about much the same, the, northern side of North Solitary Island.
• 15:37
  It's got a cool little sanctuary zone called Anstea Bay, and I think it's probably s something to do.
• 15:42
  With how the EAC hits that island, but it seems to be a hot pot for corals.
• 15:46
  And enemies and, tropical species.
• 15:49
  That's a really cool part of the Solitary Islands marine park, but yeah, no, it's, I don't know.
• 15:55
  I guess it's just that, that part of the coast that juts out enough for, the EAC to bring visitors.
• 16:01
  From up north and they land on the reef there.
• 16:04
  And they seem to flourish.
• 16:07
  Yeah, it was pretty mind boggling.
• 16:09
  Like I'm swimming through a kelp reef.
• 16:12
  And then I'm, then there's Coral.
• 16:14
  And I remember you told me, if anyone's in the area, make sure to message Tom 'cause he'll give you all the.
• 16:20
  Ignore.
• 16:20
  He'll tell you to skip a few hours down the coast and he'll give you the spots.
• 16:24
  A couple hours drive south of him.
• 16:26
  But, I remember I short of, and I'm swimming through kelp forest and I get to the coral reef.
• 16:31
  And you mentioned to me to check the coral for crayfish, but there was a lot of coral.
• 16:35
  I dunno if it was a bit of a bum steer, but I probably saw about a hundred different plate corals.
• 16:40
  And I checked every single one of 'em.
• 16:42
  And, uh.
• 16:43
  And managed to miss the caves.
• 16:45
  So it worked.
• 16:47
  Yep.
• 16:47
  That's exactly right.
• 16:48
  Yeah.
• 16:50
  Hey, let's talk a little bit about.
• 16:52
  Um, the area you are from.
• 16:54
  Is renowned for having extra large crayfish.
• 16:57
  And I, on my swim out, I found a cave that was a pretty likely looking cave.
• 17:00
  And I had a look in it.
• 17:03
  And there was a crayfish.
• 17:05
  I didn't even bother grabbing it.
• 17:07
  He looked like he was probably about three kilos.
• 17:09
  Did you want to have a little chat about those XL crays?
• 17:14
  Yeah, we, I dunno what it is about the area, but, the eastern lobsters.
• 17:18
  Around walleye and that sort of thing, it's hard to find a legal one.
• 17:22
  They're all oversized.
• 17:23
  And you'll get caves, just chocolate vodka with a dozen massive lobsters.
• 17:27
  And, um, yeah, I, I dunno why our area particularly.
• 17:30
  Seems to harbour them, but that's pretty cool site.
• 17:33
  To see a hole full of lobsters that big.
• 17:36
  Yeah.
• 17:37
  Did you want to, quickly talk about some of your caves you found in your time?
• 17:41
  I, I'm allergic to lobsters.
• 17:44
  And so I don't really target 'em that much.
• 17:46
  My brothers don't mind it, but.
• 17:48
  Yeah.
• 17:49
  Right.
• 17:51
  I, um, I'm pretty happy to go bode when we're chasing lobsters.
• 17:55
  The boys know the, the lobster spots.
• 17:58
  But don't put a huge amount of effort.
• 17:59
  Into chasing them.
• 18:01
  And, um, it's sort of, if I'm swimming along and we're targeting fish in the shallows.
• 18:06
  On one of the inshore reefs and I happen to see a lobster.
• 18:09
  I'll let the boys know.
• 18:11
  But I'll keep swimming looking for fish.
• 18:13
  Typically.
• 18:15
  Yeah.
• 18:16
  Right.
• 18:16
  And um.
• 18:17
  Have you guys found some crazy honey holes over your time?
• 18:21
  And are the crays always there?
• 18:23
  Are they seasonal?
• 18:24
  Definitely seasonal.
• 18:26
  Yep.
• 18:27
  But yeah, like you find cracks that'll have 20, 30, 40 lobsters in it.
• 18:31
  And, um, or if you find a crack with kittens in it, there might be a hundred little lobsters in there.
• 18:37
  But, yeah, for sure seasonal.
• 18:40
  I think they walk out to deeper water.
• 18:43
  Yep.
• 18:44
  Dunno a huge amount about them to be honest.
• 18:46
  But, this time of the year, sort of the mid to the back end of winter.
• 18:50
  They seem to.
• 18:52
  Come back in.
• 18:52
  Hey.
• 18:54
  Back in.
• 18:55
  And then Christmas time everyone seems to do pretty well on 'em too.
• 18:59
  Yeah.
• 19:00
  Right.
• 19:00
  Yeah.
• 19:01
  Yeah.
• 19:03
  I learned a little bit about the New South Wales Rock Lobster from James Sacker, who was a guest on the podcast.
• 19:08
  And he's the man to.
• 19:09
  Yeah, he is.
• 19:10
  Definitely the man.
• 19:11
  Talk.
• 19:13
  More about lobsters than Oliver know.
• 19:15
  Yeah.
• 19:16
  Yeah.
• 19:17
  And so, yeah, definitely. Um, for anyone who's gonna be diving New South Wales.
• 19:20
  There's definitely a season for them.
• 19:23
  And it's, a lot of people will say winter, but.
• 19:26
  It seems like the back end of winter seems a lot better.
• 19:28
  On my road trip, I did get a few, I managed to have lobster for dinner every night, which was pretty sick.
• 19:33
  But, there wasn't huge numbers of them.
• 19:35
  So I'm hoping to go again probably this month and get my, my eastern lobsters.
• 19:40
  'cause do you find.
• 19:41
  Oh, actually you can't eat 'em, sorry.
• 19:43
  But in.
• 19:44
  Take me next time.
• 19:46
  Yeah.
• 19:47
  I will take you.
• 19:47
  Sam.
• 19:48
  We'll.
• 19:49
  I, man, it's.
• 19:51
  It upsets me.
• 19:51
  That you drove past my house and didn't even mention.
• 19:55
  True.
• 19:55
  Yeah.
• 19:56
  True.
• 19:57
  Very.
• 19:58
  That's all right.
• 19:59
  Yeah. App, apparently the slip of lobsters are better.
• 20:03
  Better on the chew.
• 20:05
  And we, yeah.
• 20:08
  Obviously we got the.
• 20:09
  Tropicals.
• 20:11
  Species too.
• 20:14
  From what I hear, the ornates are really good in a pasta.
• 20:17
  Or something that you can disguise them.
• 20:20
  Yeah.
• 20:22
  Um, and the slippers and the easts are.
• 20:24
  Easterns are much nicer.
• 20:26
  Corals are pretty good too.
• 20:27
  The corals are probably my favourite of the tropicals.
• 20:30
  But, yeah, for us guys' up north, it's pretty neat when we go a couple hours south.
• 20:35
  And we start getting those easterns.
• 20:38
  'cause they're kind of the forbidden fruit for us, that we don't find them where we are.
• 20:41
  So, I don't know. There's some, there's some sort of allure.
• 20:44
  To those rock lobsters for me personally.
• 20:47
  Yeah.
• 20:48
  So could you, tell me about some of the notable catches you've had over your, over your years?
• 20:53
  Yeah, for sure.
• 20:55
  I really enjoy targeting the reef species locally.
• 20:58
  And I love shooting things.
• 21:00
  That are a bit different.
• 21:01
  One of my favourite fish recently was a red throat.
• 21:05
  Beautiful.
• 21:07
  On shore reef, I dunno, of many people that have got them.
• 21:11
  I've seen a couple line caught over the years, but they're for sure few and far between.
• 21:15
  You see the odd really small one, but it's pretty rare to see one.
• 21:18
  That's worth shooting.
• 21:20
  Um, that was pretty exciting. It wasn't anything particularly difficult.
• 21:25
  It wasn't real deep.
• 21:27
  I think it was 13 or 14 metres and we were working a gravelly sort of area looking for tusk off.
• 21:33
  The edge of a bit of a bombing.
• 21:35
  And I looked over my shoulder and I thought, that's a strange looking fish and tuck myself under a rock.
• 21:41
  And it came in a bit closer and worked out what it was.
• 21:44
  And it, um, it turned out.
• 21:46
  One look.
• 21:47
  And that was all it took.
• 21:48
  And, yeah, it was.
• 21:50
  That was a cool day.
• 21:51
  We got some nice pearls and tusks and a red throat off that spot.
• 21:55
  Are out.
• 21:56
  That's epic.
• 21:58
  And then, um, I always like getting the first wahoo of the season.
• 22:02
  They're always pretty exciting.
• 22:04
  We get we get some good fish turned up, but as with everywhere you lose.
• 22:07
  Far too many of them to sharks these days.
• 22:10
  Unfortunately.
• 22:11
  Yeah. And so for anyone listening who doesn't know what a Red Throat Emperor is.
• 22:15
  Australia, we're really lucky. We've got some really beautiful fish.
• 22:19
  But I almost feel like Red Em, red Throat Emperor, probably the most beautiful fish in Australia.
• 22:24
  What do you guys reckon?
• 22:26
  Yeah, they're, they're one of my favourite. I think, yeah, a lot of people like it.
• 22:29
  The Red Emperor, which are a bit bigger and usually a bit dumber, but harder to find in deeper water.
• 22:36
  But redthroat, you can get 'em in deep water, you can get 'em in the shallows.
• 22:41
  They can school up and be, a bit easier to shoot at times, but usually they make you work pretty hard.
• 22:45
  And they're similar to big Guy or Mo, and that they make you work a little bit to shoot 'em.
• 22:50
  And that's, yeah, that's what I find enjoyable.
• 22:53
  Enjoyable about them.
• 22:55
  When you say beautiful.
• 22:56
  You mean beautiful looking or tasting?
• 22:58
  Just.
• 22:59
  Everything, you know, like they've just got that allure to them, you know?
• 23:03
  Big head, big red throat.
• 23:06
  They're just cool looking fish.
• 23:08
  And yeah, I think they're really nice.
• 23:09
  One of my favourites.
• 23:11
  Yeah.
• 23:12
  Absolutely.
• 23:12
  And you're also talking about tus fish earlier.
• 23:15
  Is that Venus Tus fish.
• 23:17
  You were talking about?
• 23:18
  Venus down our way.
• 23:20
  Yeah.
• 23:21
  We don't get black spot. I'm not sure why they don't come down.
• 23:25
  I haven't heard of anyone ever seen them.
• 23:28
  A few people have got a theory that Blue Gropper.
• 23:33
  Yeah.
• 23:33
  Blue Gropper sort of eat the same food.
• 23:36
  And they're blue gropper protected in New South Wales, so they outcompete.
• 23:40
  The tuske, the black spot tuske.
• 23:42
  So they don't venture south.
• 23:45
  But it could be.
• 23:47
  Yeah.
• 23:48
  We have,
• 23:50
  We have like an invisible line obviously as the border and it's like one side of the border.
• 23:54
  Like I've pulled tusk ski off the reef multiple times and then I've never even seen one like on the reef.
• 23:59
  That's maybe like 500 metres south of there.
• 24:02
  Yeah.
• 24:03
  Oh, well that does lend a lot of strength.
• 24:05
  To that theory, doesn't it?
• 24:06
  Spearfishing Advocacy and ASA.
• 24:10
  So, uh, for anyone unfamiliar.
• 24:13
  Did you guys wanna quickly talk about blue Gropper.
• 24:16
  And the blue gropper situation in New South Wales?
• 24:20
  Yeah, they, they're one of those fish that's somewhat susceptible to spearfishing pressure.
• 24:24
  'cause they're not, I mean, they, you start shooting them in Queensland, they get pretty wise to it pretty quick.
• 24:29
  But, um, they were in a bit of strife.
• 24:31
  In, I guess it was seventies, late sixties or seventies.
• 24:34
  I can't remember when the rule came in.
• 24:37
  Yeah.
• 24:38
  But yeah, they got, shot up pretty bad and their numbers were in decline.
• 24:43
  And, they were protected from spearfishing and greatly reduced line fishing.
• 24:47
  I would argue that their numbers are, disproportionate and that because we target everything else in the ecosystem.
• 24:54
  And they're protected, they're probably in far greater numbers.
• 24:57
  Than they maybe need to be compared to the rest of the ecosystem.
• 25:00
  I don't know that we need to have open slather for 'em, but surely we can develop.
• 25:04
  Some kind of system where they're harvested equally with the, the rest of the resources.
• 25:08
  Yeah.
• 25:11
  Like, yeah, like Sam said.
• 25:12
  A tag or.
• 25:14
  I, I totally agree.
• 25:15
  With you there.
• 25:15
  Hey.
• 25:17
  Yeah.
• 25:17
  Yeah.
• 25:18
  I, it's, with anything, once it's been taken off the table, it's pretty hard to get back on.
• 25:23
  Yeah. We're really hoping that a bit of sanity comes to fisheries management.
• 25:27
  And someone who, a politician could just wear a mask and go for a dive anywhere on the mid north coast.
• 25:33
  And you will see 10 blue gropper before you see anything of another species.
• 25:37
  Crazy when something negative happens towards blue Gropper and everyone in Sydney jumps up and down.
• 25:43
  About how protected they are, and you're like, you like live in a city.
• 25:47
  And your politicians for for a living.
• 25:50
  You've got no clue.
• 25:51
  What's going on.
• 25:53
  And really for anyone unfamiliar, when you have an imbalance in an ecosystem like that.
• 25:58
  Where you have every other fish can be taken, but that fish.
• 26:02
  It's gonna cause problems.
• 26:03
  With sharks.
• 26:04
  Same with sharks.
• 26:06
  They're a resource.
• 26:07
  Let's eat 'em.
• 26:08
  Yep.
• 26:08
  Yeah, that's right.
• 26:09
  Like we are not saying wipe out these populations, we're saying do it in a sustainable and ethical.
• 26:15
  Yeah.
• 26:17
  I think, I think we're all conservationists.
• 26:19
  At the end of the day.
• 26:20
  We want to continue to use the resource.
• 26:23
  Correct.
• 26:24
  Yeah.
• 26:24
  Yep.
• 26:26
  And I dunno, Flake was good when you were a kid at a fish at ship shop and.
• 26:31
  Yeah, now you eat flat air tails instead.
• 26:33
  Yeah. And the sad thing is that with that thinking, it can actually make other fisheries less sustainable.
• 26:38
  'cause it's gonna put more pressure on other fisheries.
• 26:40
  So, um, yeah. I really hope that we can get a bit of sanity.
• 26:44
  Into this conversation.
• 26:45
  Because it is just nuts.
• 26:47
  Just.
• 26:48
  That's a, that's a good segue.
• 26:50
  Into what we're trying to achieve with the ASA.
• 26:53
  Oh, cool.
• 26:54
  Yeah.
• 26:55
  And advocacy for spearfishing in Australia because we've got this divide in representation.
• 27:02
  And the Australian Spearfishing Association's being developed so that we can have all the SPIs under one banner in Australia.
• 27:09
  And when we go to advocate for spear fishers, we've got all those numbers together.
• 27:14
  And, instead of having one group in New South Wales with two or 300 members, one group in WA with 400 members, another group in Queensland with 300 members.
• 27:23
  With, we're all gonna be under one banner and a, a much stronger United voice and, um, hopefully taken a bit more seriously.
• 27:30
  And, you know, the, the existing governance bodies, pretty well only represent the people that, well, I mean, they represent all of us.
• 27:39
  But they've only got the numbers from the people that are in, active clubs and, you know, they do a great job with advocacy.
• 27:45
  But the numbers are, are really low.
• 27:49
  And they're predominantly competition driven.
• 27:54
  There's a huge portion of the population out there that we've got nothing to do with clubs and, and have got no want to have anything to do with clubs.
• 28:02
  'cause that's, you know, it's, it's competition to some people.
• 28:06
  And it's a lifestyle to others.
• 28:08
  And if we can bring all those, other SPIs out there in the country under one banner, it's gonna be.
• 28:15
  Be very powerful.
• 28:16
  Hey.
• 28:18
  Yeah.
• 28:19
  It's gonna be good for everyone.
• 28:20
  That.
• 28:22
  Yeah.
• 28:23
  That's amazing.
• 28:23
  Yeah.
• 28:24
  So did you want to quickly set the scene, I guess, of how it currently works.
• 28:28
  And then what you guys are looking to achieve or have achieved?
• 28:32
  Yeah, for the last seven or eight years there's been, in New South Wales anyway, there's been sort of two, two bodies.
• 28:38
  That represent spearfishing.
• 28:40
  And they don't get along.
• 28:42
  And there's another wing of one of those bodies in Queensland and then WA sort of does its own thing.
• 28:47
  And there's a few different bodies that do represent spearfishing.
• 28:50
  Some of them are pure spearfishing, some of them represent underwater hockey, free diving, scuba diving.
• 28:57
  And there's a slight conflict of interest there as well.
• 29:00
  And what we're trying to achieve is get everyone under one banner and purely represent spearfishing.
• 29:06
  And, um, it's been hugely successful so far.
• 29:10
  There's still, still work to do and a transition period over the next sort of 12 to 18 months.
• 29:15
  But, it's all trending.
• 29:17
  In the right direction.
• 29:18
  And we've got huge support around the country.
• 29:22
  And it's, it's looking like we're gonna have thousands of members rather than a few hundred.
• 29:25
  So it's, yeah, it's pretty exciting.
• 29:28
  For us.
• 29:29
  We've put a lot of work into it.
• 29:31
  And, um, it's all starting to pay off.
• 29:34
  Yeah. Well, I just wanted to take a quick moment to say my thank you.
• 29:37
  To you because I'm involved in the Sunny Coast Skin Divers Club.
• 29:41
  And, you know, all of the clubs around Australia wouldn't function without these governing bodies.
• 29:47
  That sit on top and support all of our clubs.
• 29:49
  Thank you for fighting the good fight and, you know, we appreciate everything that, that you and everyone else does.
• 29:54
  I actually met Vince the other day.
• 29:56
  Yeah.
• 29:57
  He's one of the other directors.
• 29:57
  He's an absolute.
• 29:59
  Yeah, he's a, he's a top bloke.
• 30:00
  Isn't he?
• 30:00
  Hey.
• 30:01
  Question for you.
• 30:03
  Since you are the president of the ASA and Director.
• 30:07
  So we're set up.
• 30:09
  So that we don't have one person.
• 30:11
  Calling the shots.
• 30:13
  We've got, at the moment, we've got three directors, Liam Rey in Cairns.
• 30:18
  One of them.
• 30:19
  We're in the process of working out which one of the two guys in WA that are suitable for the position wanna do it.
• 30:26
  And that's, and so we'll have someone in WA we've got, yeah.
• 30:33
  Oh, there, yeah.
• 30:35
  There's a bit more to bit more to work through before we say it all publicly.
• 30:39
  But yeah, it's, all looking really good.
• 30:42
  All the records and things.
• 30:44
  Are looking really good.
• 30:46
  The history that the rich history of Australian spearfishing is something that we didn't wanna leave behind.
• 30:51
  So all that, previous work and records and all that sort of stuff had to be brought across.
• 30:56
  And, um, we've pretty well got to the bottom of all that now.
• 30:59
  And, yeah, it's a really cool organisation.
• 31:02
  And we've got, we've got a bunch of other stuff that we're gonna offer to Spiros that aren't involved in clubs.
• 31:09
  Yeah. And yeah, the, the app that we've sort of developed is gonna be really cool.
• 31:13
  And it's gonna be something to add value to those that aren't interested in having insurance.
• 31:21
  And I think we're probably gonna capture a few recreational line fishers.
• 31:25
  In that membership too, just 'cause the app.
• 31:28
  Will be handy to have.
• 31:30
  Cool.
• 31:30
  There's some, some, a lot of stuff going on.
• 31:33
  We'll put a little pin in the insurance part actually and come back to it.
• 31:37
  I just had a really dry joke.
• 31:39
  That I wanted to do real quick.
• 31:41
  So.
• 31:43
  The jokes the best when you tell on around.
• 31:46
  It's gonna be a joke offline.
• 31:48
  Yeah.
• 31:49
  Yeah.
• 31:50
  So, um, since you are the, one of the directors of the ASA.
• 31:54
  And I'm the president of the Sunny Coast Skin Dives Club.
• 31:57
  Does that mean you are my boss?
• 32:00
  So in, if anyone can't tell me and Tom are, we're very analytical.
• 32:04
  We are very, we're very dry.
• 32:07
  Robotic kind of people.
• 32:09
  I've, no, I've personally been told that I may have a touch of the 'tism.
• 32:12
  And so there is a lot of, there's some strong energy.
• 32:15
  Between us.
• 32:17
  So yeah, it's like two robots.
• 32:19
  Sexual energy.
• 32:20
  That too.
• 32:21
  Yeah.
• 32:22
  Um, okay, let's, let's go back to insurance.
• 32:24
  So, let's say I'm an average punter.
• 32:27
  And I'm thinking, why do I need insurance? What do I need that for?
• 32:32
  Um.
• 32:34
  Well.
• 32:35
  Insurance is completely personal choice.
• 32:39
  It's, and, and the honest answer is you don't necessarily need it.
• 32:43
  You're really selling it.
• 32:45
  You're, no.
• 32:46
  But if you, if you want to compete in any, or not even compete, be involved in any sanctioned events.
• 32:51
  Within a club, the member competing or taking part.
• 32:54
  Needs, insurance.
• 32:56
  And then the association that are running the event need insurance and protection.
• 33:01
  There's management and association liability that we have in place, which is a very boring topic.
• 33:08
  But essentially anyone in any club that's under the ASSA is protected.