Noxious & Grey List Update.

The PCS Committee & Society Members have been busy contacting The West Australian newspaper, Today, Tonight, A Current Affair & other media outlets.

As a direct result of this I received a phone call from Dr Stephanie Turner from the Dept of Fisheries.

After being contacted by The West Australian newspaper who told her of the volume of letters, emails & phone calls received from people who are concerned over this issue.
She told me that after Nov 6th the species on the Grey List WILL NOT automatically be moved to the Noxious list.
The meeting on Nov 6th will be a discussion by "Fish Scientists" and representatives from the "Pet Industries Assoc' of Australia " on the species on the Grey List.

This will not be an overnight thing, as it will take months, if not years as it will need to get passed by various working parties & Committees.
Early next year a conference will be held over East which will include input & recommendations by the various States.
There will also be a WA Stakeholders Group meeting where we hope the opinions of people such as LFS & PCS etc can be voiced.

Stephanie told me that the Dept of Fisheries will be making a statement next week & will send us a copy.

We will lock this thread & keep it just for updates.

Please make any comments on Main thread

Many thanks to all those who sent emails & letters, please do not let this rest, keep sending them.

If enough people shout loud enough, for long enough someone will take notice....

Thank you .

This is the latest post from The President NSWCA who is obviously kept more informed than we are in WA.
Posted on TropheusFanatics Sun Oct 26th.
Thanks Aline.



In response to many emails and PMs here is the state of the nation - as far as 'grey' lists go - as of tonight.

There was indeed a meeting on October 16th with representatives from the Rural Sciences, Commercial trade and Hobbyist arenas (these were definately outnumbered).

During this meeting the fish on the grey list were assessed against a marking scale and the majority tipped over the benchmark of 10 points into 'noxious' territory. I am led to believe however that the cut and dried process did not take into account the large number of these as having the potential to only exist in a small radius and for the most part would probably die out over a few years not living up to the true meaning of 'noxious' to the environment.

It is the National Ornamental Fish Implementation Group's responsibility to assess and review the findings of the technical working group.

On November 7 this National Group is required to make their recommendations to the Ministerial Council and as we are aware the outcome will have ramifications for all of us.

I have been informed however, that due to the amazing response from you dear Hobbyists and your emails and letters, a Senior Agricultural Manager has commented that there was no communication strategy in place to capture the hobbyist view point and that there should be recognition of the value and knowledge of the trade at this level.

There has been a recommendation made that stakeholders workshops be held to rectify this and that the grey list remain in play until this has occurred and the outcome more evenly awarded.

What does this mean - it means that for now we appear to have gained a small stay and will be offered the opportunity of a voice smile.gif .

Under no circumstances should all fish on the grey list have their status changed and there will always be fish that do not currently appear on any list that should be assessed. There are proposals for the grey list to remain as is for this reason, and that all that appear there be carefully quarantined and maintained within the parameters set.

If for some reason the decision reached does result in a negative outcome this will be at National level and that each State and Territory may have recourse at local level.

Let this be our wake up call - if we are serious hobbyists let us effect appropriate change with clear direction - and not allow apathy to overtake us and catch us sleeping again.

Transcript

This is a transcript from AM. The program is broadcast around Australia at 08:00 on ABC Local Radio.

You can also listen to the story in REAL AUDIO and WINDOWS MEDIA and MP3 formats.


National campaign aims to keep exotic fish out of Australia's waterways
PRINT FRIENDLY EMAIL STORY
AM - Saturday, 7 October , 2006 08:26:00
Reporter: Tim Jeanes
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Exotic fish owners beware; the colourful creature in your tank could become Australia's next big environmental problem.

That's the message from a new national campaign to stop exotic fish becoming pests in Australia's waterways.

There'll be tighter controls, after a recent survey found that only about half the exotic fish on sale in Australia were permitted species, as Tim Jeanes reports.

(sound of toilet flushing)

TIM JEANES: Folklore would have it that this is how ornamental fish are flushed into the environment.

But the reality is a little different, says Will Zacharin, the Chairman of Australia's Ornamental Fish Policy Working Group.

WILL ZACHARIN: Flushing them down the toilet's probably a furphy, but certainly we've got recorded accounts of people pouring exotic fish out of their tanks into rivers, and streams and other waterways, and we end up with established populations of Tilapia, White Clouds, goldfish and other things in our natural streams.

TIM JEANES: There are more than a 1,000 species of ornamental fish in Australia. But a recent survey's found only about half are permitted species.

They're part of a $350-million a year industry that sees an estimated 15 million exotic fish imported annually.

Will Zacharin says a national approach to the industry is now needed.

WILL ZACHARIN: Why we want to take a national approach is because all the jurisdictions have had a different approach over the last 30 to 40 years.

There are noxious fish lists in most States and the Territory, but they are different across jurisdictions. We've got ornamental fish travelling across jurisdictions.

Some fish were on the permitted species list, 40 years ago. They're not there now. So we just really need to clean up our act in terms of the regulation and control mechanisms for exotic fish in this country.

TIM JEANES: A strategic plan on the issue will be considered this month to bring tighter controls on the industry.

This would include a national noxious fish list, and licensing of large importers and breeders.

Will Zacharin says it's a serious environmental issue.

WILL ZACHARIN: They compete with our native species. A number of these species are very aggressive, and are able to explode in terms of their population numbers very quickly, and end up wiping out a lot of the native species and putting some of our rare freshwater species at threat of extinction.

TIM JEANES: While most people agree that's a bad thing, some forms of introduced fish can be seen as a positive.

For example, in Tasmania, a significant industry has grown around the introduction of overseas species of brown, rainbow and brook trout, which are deliberately put into some waterways for recreational fishers.

Jon Bryan from that state's Conservation Trust says the ongoing introduction of the trout is a vexed issue.

JON BRYAN: From the point of view of the environment, they have had a clear impact on the Tasmanian freshwater environment, and can be seen as a feral animal in many ways.

They predate on our native fish, they predate on our so-called mountain shrimp, anaspidacea, which is a prehistoric shrimp dating back to before the days of the dinosaurs, to the point where that's practically removed from a lot of freshwater systems, where they were probably once quite common.

So there's no question that trout have an impact.

TIM JEANES: Why then have the Tasmanian Waterways restocked with this fish then?

JON BRYAN: Well I guess you could look at it a bit like sheep on a grazing property. I mean, you can argue that the grazing property should all be turned into bush, but of course our society doesn't find that acceptable, and neither do I.

The trout is seen as a recreational resource.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Jon Bryan from the Tasmanian Conservation Trust, ending that report from Tim Jeanes.