BLOG: Changing Perceptions

IN the wake of the political backlash by recreational fisherman against the convenient partnership of the incumbent government and the greens, especially in QLD, I had an interesting conversation that sums up our plight very succinctly.

I was at a social gathering in which I met an extremely pro Labor-Green voter who actively participates at political rallies and is a member of some local political advocacy group; the kind of person who takes politics and their vote very seriously.

This was the perfect opportunity to get some opinions on whether they actually knew anything about marine parks and recreational fishing as opposed to blindly supporting policies they knew very little about.

First off, I was very surprised that this savvy political supporter found it very difficult to separate commercial fishing with the rec sector. They cited an experience they witnesses first hand at Jervis Bay where they saw a commercial trawler emptying its nets with obviously undersize fish caught in the harvest. The response from them was “this can’t go on. How long can we continue to deplete our stocks before something is done”. I felt blamed as a rec fisherman for this and quickly distinguished what I do as a pastime.

Then I asked the question if they actually knew what marine parks meant? Once again, I was surprised to hear the description of a marine park was full lock-out for all stakeholders, not a multi-zoned area.

The last glaring issue was the lack of knowledge on rec fishing. They didn’t know how many people marine parks would affect and how. I asked whether they agreed if a thorough scientific approach with all relevant stakeholders would be a good way to establish these parks. I highlighted I was not opposed to marine parks, just the way they have been established with little credible evidence. Even they were disappointed to hear that implementation thus far has been dodgy at best.

Basically, this was a real eye-opener. I would consider this to be a decent reflection of a large percentage of voters out there who don’t actually know how their vote will impact on people’s lives.

Once I spent the time to explain the difference between recs and commercial operators, the difference removing commercial nets from places like Botany Bay and Lake Macquarie has had on recovering fish stocks, explained the notion of reducing our civil liberties and marginalising our freedom to come and go as we choose, discussing sensible fisheries policies such as stringent size and bag limits, I saw the light bulb go off. However it was too little too late, the vote had been cast.

It seems to me our real adversary is a lack of knowledge. If we can educate people that fishos are in fact environmentalists by virtue of our chosen sport and passion for the outdoors, we can begin to stem the flow of public opinion.

Anyone had similar experiences?