Annual Reports
- Details
- Date: Saturday, 04 December 2021
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
The CFC Submission to the Animal Welfare Reform Discussion Paper
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- Date: Thursday, 02 September 2021
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
The Animal Welfare Reform – Discussion Paper is now open for public consultation. Apparently, there has been community consultation to come up with this discussion paper but this is news to me. If you read the start of the discussion paper, you can see that only a narrow group of stakeholders were consulted. Although this paper has the potential to impact recreational fishing, no one in the recreational fishing sector was consulted in the drafting of this Discussion Paper.
Carpageddon: Will it work?
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- Date: Thursday, 19 December 2019
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
If you're a Carp swimming in the murky waters of Lake Burley Griffin this festive season, should you be worried that you might not live to see another Christmas? Presumably, you may have heard about the oncoming Carpageddon. However, as we wait for the National Carp Control Plan to present its recommendations to the Government, the Carp must be wondering if there is any truth to Carpageddon, or just end up being just another failed doomsday prophecy.
If Carpageddon is the prophecy, then the prophet is Barnaby Joyce, whose response to a Dorothy Dixer from fellow National Party MP Kevin Hogan MP resulted in one of the more colourful speeches seen in Parliament:
We are afflicted with these disgusting, mud-sucking creatures—bottom-dwelling, mud-sucking creatures. The only form of control is a version of herpes; it is the only thing that will get rid of these disgusting, mud-sucking creatures. We will move forward on this because we believe that we should be getting rid of these disgusting, mud-sucking creatures in order to support some of the better animals of our waterways—the silver perch, the yellowbelly, the Murray cod, the Eastern cod and the catfish. We do not want to deal with carp; we have to get rid of the carp. When we have dealt with this virus, we are going to have between 500,000 and two million tonnes of carp.
It would be interesting to unpack this entire statement, but let's focus on three key claims:
- the CyHV3 virus is the only option to get rid of the Carp
- we will have 500,000 to 2 million tonnes of dead Carp, and
- the waterways will better support other animals including native fish.
Feedback from the National Carp Control Plan stakeholder workshop, Canberra, 19 February 2018
- Details
- Date: Sunday, 15 December 2019
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
This is an article I previously published in the Canberra Fisherman's Club's February 2018 Newsletter. I have reproduced it here as part of my series of articles on the proposed use of the Cyprinid herpesvirus (CyHV3) or (also known as the Carp Herpes Virus or Koi Herpes Virus) to reduce the Carp population in Australia's inland waterways. Please note that as this article was published in February 2018, the information and views I expressed in this article are based on my understanding and knowledge of the issues at that point in time.
In the May 2016 General Meeting, the members voted in favour of the Club supporting the release of Cyprinid Herpes Virus (CyHV3) to reduce the Carp population in Australia provided the Government adequately funds the clean-up of waterways of dead and dying Carp, habitat restoration and restocking of native fish.
To find out more about the possible release of CyHV3, Brian Hetherington from the ACT Fly Fishers, Jason Middleton from Canberra Anglers Association, and I attended a stakeholder workshop on 19 February 2018 co-hosted by the National Carp Control Plan (Matt Barkwick) and the ACT Government (Allison McInnes). The purpose of the workshop was to give an update on the latest news on the possible release of CyHV3 and to seek stakeholder feedback on a range of issues around the release. Peter Beutel from the National Capital Authority and Matt Beitzel from the ACT Government also gave presentations.
The 45th ANSA Burrinjuck Convention
- Details
- Date: Sunday, 10 November 2019
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
On 1 - 3 November 2019, 173 anglers from 14 fishing clubs across New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and even Adelaide lined up for the 45th ANSA Burrinjuck Convention at Lake Burrinjuck hosted by the Canberra Fisherman's Club.
CFC members arrived early Friday morning to set up the Convention HQ at Lawlers while Zachary Zhao and Alex Steele fed the King Parrots and tried to make friends with the local roos.
The 46th ANSA Burrinjuck Convention
- Details
- Date: Sunday, 10 November 2019
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
On 4 - 6 November 2022, 115 anglers from 7 fishing clubs across New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory lined up for the 46th ANSA Burrinjuck Convention at Lake Burrinjuck hosted by the Canberra Fisherman's Club.
A couple of the CFC members arrived Thursday evening so they could get an early start on Friday morning getting the gear out of the shed ready for when the rest of the team arrived so setup of the Convention HQ at Lawlers could begin
Fishing the 2019 ANSA Lake Lyell Convention
- Details
- Date: Sunday, 14 July 2019
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
Anglers and their boats lined up on the shores of Lake Lyell for the 12th ANSA Lake Lyell Convention.
The Convention was hosted by Sea Bees Fishing Club over 24 26 May 2019 at the Lake Lyell Recreation Park. The Convention is a catch and release length-based comp for Trout and Bass in Lake Lyell, Thompsons Creek Dam and Lake Wallace.
The 51st ANSA Narooma Convention: CFC claims Gold in the Beach, Silver in Estuary, and Bronze for the Champion Club
- Details
- Date: Sunday, 14 July 2019
- Submitted by Anthony Heiser
Cemetery Beach fished best on Friday afternoon. Afterwards, the fish got smaller and smaller each day. But it still produced Convention winning fish over the weekend.
The Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club hosted the 51st annual ANSA Narooma Convention on 8 – 10 March 2019. This year, the Convention was well attended, with eleven ANSA Clubs from all over New South Wales, including Sydney, Wollongong, Nowra, Canberra, and the South Coast. Glen and Karen Malam, Kevin Spriggs, Steve Bailey, Noel Dix, Chris Head, Wendie McDonald, Brian Stacy and I travelled to Narooma to represent the Canberra Fisherman's Club.