Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie spoke with AFANT Chief Executive David Ciavarolo for an update on the state of Territory boar ramps

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Katie spoke with AFANT Chief Executive David Ciavarolo for an update on the state of Territory boar ramps · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, you may or may not have heard that in
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: some good news works to repair the Corobrie Billibong boat
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: ramp and now complete with the ramp open for the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: public to use. And joining me on the line to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: tell us a little bit more about this is the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: chief executive of the Amateur Fishermen's Association here in the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Northern Territory, David Chierivolo.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, David.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Now, David, you and.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I spoke just a couple of weeks ago about the
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: situation with the Carobrie boat ramp.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: What work is now complete? What have they done exactly?
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well quite right there, Katie. Things are getting pretty
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: die there, as there had been for some time, and
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: so it was good news to have the government commit
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: to doing those repairs. And what we've seen over the
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I guess it's at a ten days to last Friday
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: or Friday just gone, was that the damage section of
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: the ramp had been torn up and has been replaced
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: so freshly, freshly concreted, and it looks a lot better
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: than it was. It was quite a bit of work.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: They had to damn off the boat ramp completely and
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: dry out that area and clear it up and then
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: lay fresh concrete. Now, the word from the contractors is
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: that the new ramp goes slightly further out than it
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: did before. But you know, the water level is still
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: very low there at this time of year, so it
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: is important for people to continue to exercise some caution
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: when they're launching and retrieving.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, because you and i'd spoken about, you know,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the potential for crocodiles and people having to get right
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: into the water obviously when launching their boats. Do these
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: works mitigate some of those concerns.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Well, we certainly hope so, and the reports from the
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: contractors and from the government have been that these repairs
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: certainly have fixed the ramp at least to its old
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: extent and possibly a little bit further.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: But we have had some.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: Reports coming over the weekend of a few people having
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: some issues at the boat ramp, and we're just trying
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: to work out now whether that's due to the very
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: low water levels that we have in the Billabong. So
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: it's getting towards the end of the season, you know,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: sort of mid November last year, or even probably first
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: or second week in November last year, we actually had
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: those first big rains that flooded the Billabong and raised
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: the water levels. Yeah, so the water levels are really
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: as low as they ever get right now, so people
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: do need to exercise a caution and we'll also be
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: taking reports from fishes to check in on how their
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: experiences are going.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, So what were some of those concerns that
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: were still raised over the weekend.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Was it just due to the water level.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: Well, we're just trying to get to the bottom of
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: that now. As I said, it is very low water
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: conditions at the moment. We've had really really hot temperatures,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: so people notice that we've had that heat wave. It's
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: been unavoidable over the last two weeks or so. And
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: with those increased temperatures you get some pretty extreme evaporation,
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: so you can almost watch the water level go down
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: and corroborate this time of year, so the water level
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: is very low and there are some no whether they
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: are natural rocks and other objects, or whether they are
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: part of a previous ramp that was there many many
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: years ago. You know, it is potential ver is shallow
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: water on the approach of the ramp. So just reminding
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: people to exercise caution. But soon the rains will be here,
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: the water level will be higher, and I'm sure things
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: will be much better. But certainly if people had been
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: down there, positive or negative, we'd invite them to jump
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: on our Facebook and let us know how their experiences
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: were over the weekend.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely, and it's always good to know so that
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: then you've got a fair idea of exactly what's going
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: on at so many of those different locations as well, David,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: it'd be hard to keep an eye on absolutely.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: All of the Well, that's right, and you know, we
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: really rely on the eyes and ears of the community,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: so we can then look into that and then provide
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: that advice back to government and say, hey, we've had
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: the community report an issue to us. You guys need
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: to be aware of this and get onto it. So
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: it's certainly something that we do very regularly and always
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: encourage people to jump on our on our Facebook, suit
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: us a message, or jump on our website, use our
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: contact form and let us know their experience, but also
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: let us know also if they went down there and
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: all went well, they'd be good to know.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Hey, you and I spoke also a couple of
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: weeks ago. I'd mentioned to you that there've been a
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: couple of people called through about some of the concerns
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: at East arm Boat Ramp. Have you had any further
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: info about that and whether that work is underway at
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: the moment.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we've been following that up and you're quite right.
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: The ramp had become quite slippery. It's really sort of
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: part of the course in October for ramps to get
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: slippery as the water temperature increases and we have those
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: big spring tides in October when the water level goes
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: out a long way, we get these areas where there's
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: been opportunities for our growth, and that's certainly been the
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: case at Eastam. What we think has been peculiar there though,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: is because we've had a couple of the pontoons become
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: damaged some good couple of months ago now and be removed.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: There's another area of concrete that textured and also is
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: usually underneath the pontoon, and that apparently is very slippery,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: so certainly people need to avoid that. We've checked in
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: with the department and they've advised us that they've got
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: the next set of springs in all the big set
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: of springs in early December is the date they've scheduled
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: in for early morning cleans. They're going to be conducting
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: those cleans in the early hours of the morning. And
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: the pontoon which has been damaged there for quite some time,
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: apparently part of these global supply chain issues we've been
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: hearing about. They're waiting on some parts from overseas, and
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: the word that we've been given is that those pontoons
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: are not expected to be repaired until mid January. So
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: that's pretty disappointing information for the community who really do
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: rely on this boat ram.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so sorry, so just repeat that last point.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: So it's not actually that part is not going to
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: be complete until early January, did you say.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, early to mid January is the word that we've
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: been given, and apparently that's due to parts that are
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: on order for the repair of the pontoon. Now, look,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: certainly we've raised this a number of times with the
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: government and the community would be well across this, but
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: the design of that eastern boat ramp is just not
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: not really up to scratch. Because you've got a good
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: most tiede boat ramp, it's got the pontoons there, but unfortunately,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: when the wind blows those pontoons get knocked around. I
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: think last time we had gusts only up around twenty
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: six knots, which is obviously uncomfortable to be on the water,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: but it's not nothing like a cyclonic kind of condition.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: And so we've sort of entered a bit of a
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: phase where when there is rough weather they even sometimes
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: have to bring them in as a preventative measure. So
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: obviously there's some long term planing that's required for there.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I understand the government is looking into the feasibility of
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: those things because obviously repairing it every few months during
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: the wet season built up a monsoon is not ideal
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: and it's not providing the level of amenity that the
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: community would expect either. Yeah.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and you know, well, you want to make sure
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: that it's not something that you're going to have to
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: sort of be upgrading or looking after every few months.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: If there does need to be more work done there,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: then obviously it needs to happen. But by the sounds
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: of ch they're sort of looking further into that.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Oh. Look, absolutely, and you know we're always the first
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: to stand up and urge sensible strategic investment in recreational fishing.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: We know that recreational fishing supports a lot of social
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: and cultural benefits in the community, huge economic benefits for
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: the territory. But it also means that we do have
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: to spend the money wisely and invest in smart infrastructure
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: and make sure that yeah, we're not piling on the
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: repair bill, but building things in a way that they
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: can stand up to territory conditions. And clearly over the years,
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: the East Arm ramp is showing that it does have
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: some issues. That the facility is fantastic when it's working,
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: but with I guess the regular damage to those pontoons
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: and then it being taken out of mission for periods
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: of time, that's not ideal for the users and obviously
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: not ideal in terms of the upkeep costs.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, David, a message that's just come through from
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: one of our listeners. Is there any update on the
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Dundee boat ramp. Apparently lots of calls for upgrades to
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that one, is what that message has just come through.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, and this is one that we'd really hope
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: there would have been more progress on. So we called
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: for the government to form a working group and seek
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: formal and professional advice on options for the Dundee Boat
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Ramp last year. The Minister's responsible, the Minister for Planning Infrastructure,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: the Minister for Recreational Fishing or Fisheries at that time
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: did form that working group and we were on it
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: and there were also expert engineers and consultants on there.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: We provided advice to government. My understanding is that advice
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: should have gone up to the Minister and so we'd
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: certainly be expecting some decisions to be made on that
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: and we are urging, urging and discussing with the ministers
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: behind the scenes to make sure that this is budgeted
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: for next year's budget, because there are it is absolutely
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: necessary to upgrade that ramp. At the same time, there
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: are some challenges with that site, and I don't think
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: it's ever going to be an all type boat ramp
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: as that was advertised. I don't think that's actually possible.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: It's got a high ongoing maintenance cost, and it is
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: an area where there is a lot of natural silt
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: and sand sedimentation, and so the consultancies that have gone
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: into that have really revealed that it was always a
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: bit silly to say that that was going to be
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: an all tide ramp, but needless to say, it could
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: be optimized, it could be improved, and some recommendations have
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: gone to government around that well.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: And it's an incredibly popular spot, isn't it.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's hugely popular. There are times when it's the
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: most popular boat ramp in the Northern Territory. And then
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: it kind of is fixing this duel between Dina Beach
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: and Dundee Beaches, which are the busiest ramps. It just
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: goes to show that it is such an important area,
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: such an important ramp, and look territories, most fishes and look,
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: it's natural for people to complain about things, and people
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: take good reason to complain about Dundee and its performance.
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: But most fishes know and have expectations that they'll have
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: to watch tides and conditions in the Northern Territory. We
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: all know that, and we all have to fish in
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: those conditions. But this has been beyond that historically. The
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: new maintenance contract has made a difference and it's made
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: it more serviceable around that two point eight meter level,
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: but it is requiring a lot of ongoing maintenance and
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: it's a level that cannot necessarily be guaranteed. So we're
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: really hoping that the government comes out and makes an
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: announcement very soon around the recommendations that were provided by
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: that working group. I don't want to create any perceptions
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: that there is a silver bullet just waiting, because I
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: don't think there is one. But it could be improved,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: and it really should be improved, because again, this is
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: hugely important for tourism in Northern Territory.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Well, David, please keep us up to date when they
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: do actually come out and make some further announcements in
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: that space before I let you go, mate, any locations
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: where the fish are really biting at the moment from
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: everybody who contacts you.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Well, we had some We had nice naps over the weekend,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: beautiful clear water, so there was some pretty good pelagic action.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: But I've seen quite a few barramundy being caught as well,
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: so I think I think this is the time of
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: year when the water is definitely hotting up. I'll be
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: keeping my eye on Shoal Bay especially. Obviously people need
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: to pick their tides, but it's good to see at
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: the moment we haven't had the rain, the water temperature
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: still not outrageous, so we've got that mix between pelagic
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: fishing and Barramundey fishing for a little while, but that'll
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: switch right over into just barrow moundy fishing in the
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: coming weeks, so a good time to be out there.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: What I would say is watch those afternoon squalls we
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: are starting to get because we do get them this
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: time of year, so just keep an eye on the
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: conditions as well.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, good stuff, well, David Chirovolo, It's always great to
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: catch up with you mate, Thanks so much for your
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: time this morning.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, thank you.