Fishers For Conservation Inc. homepage

Love our oceans and rivers and understand that responsible, sustainable fishing is important to aquatic conservation?

Fishers For Conservation Inc. (FFC) is an Australian based non-profit incorporated association educating, supporting and representing recreational fishers. FFC counts as members people from all walks of life including commercial fishers, divers, tourism operators, aquatic scientists, NRM workers and plenty of average anglers with jobs like nurses and teachers. All memers are united by the goal of protecting the aquatic environment to ensure future generations can enjoy recreational fishing and other aquatic pursuits as we have in the past and do today. We support conservation and ecologically based management of the coastal, marine and freshwater environments. FFC is about fishing and respecting the environment you love.

Fishing and aquatic environment conservation can co-exist and to achieve this fishers must adopt sustainable and ecologically based practices and attitudes. FFC is about educating and keeping you informed about conservation issues and acting to ensure that our amazing aquatic environment is protected for us and future generations to appreciate. For more info on FFC see about us.

NEW! - Fishers For Conservation state pages for news, events and articles related to your state or territory - volenteers needed to post content - click on the map or hit the links Western Australia - South Australia - Northern Territory - Queensland - New South Wales - Victoria - Tasmania

Learn more and Take action: Latest

07/02/09 Recreational fishers’ attitudes towards the 2004 rezoning of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.Results indicate that recreational fishers can be strong supporters of conservation initiatives in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park if these initiatives are consistent with their values, and if efforts are made to engage them in the decision making process.

05/02/10 First meetings of the 13 Marine Parks Local Advisory Groups (MPLAGs) due to begin on Monday, February 8. MPLAG members, who were appointed late last year, will help develop management plans for each of the 19 marine parks. Members of the public are invited to observe all MPLAG meetings, the details of which are listed on the SA state page

 

 

04/02/10 Kimberley fishermen ask PTTEP Australasia to accept liability for any long-term damage to fish stocks. Fishermen in the Kimberley, who have commenced legal action over the Montara oil spill, say they are yet to receive a response from the company responsible.

 

03/02/10 Minke whales as fishing bycatch?! High proportion of protected minke whales sold on Japanese markets due to illegal, unreported or unregulated exploitation

 

 

Mako_shark.html01/02/10No Protection - recreational fishers blamed! - Minister Garrett has decided not to list the porbeagle, longfin mako and shortfin mako sharks under Australia's Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), despite current legislation requiring this when a species is listed under the Convention for Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS).

 

26/01/10 An Evaluation of Sustainable Seafood Guides: Implications for Environmental Groups and the Seafood Industry - pdf - In recent years, the number of sustainable seafood guides internationally has grown to approximately 200 (Seaman 2009). The traffic light system remains, as has the primary function—to influence consumers’ decisions toward purchasing seafood on the green list and away from purchasing from the red list to improve the sustainability of the ocean environment.

23/01/10 New review paper: Temperate marine reserves: global ecological effects and guidelines for future networks

Extract: Available evidence indicates that temperate no-take marine reserves have higher densities, biomass, and species richness of marine biota within their boundaries compared to areas outside reserves. Fish density and biomass in particular are higher in no-take than in adjacent areas, which is consistent with previous analyses (Mosqueira et al. 2000; Côtéet al. 2001; Halpern 2003; Micheli et al. 2004; Claudet et al. 2008). We also found that algal densities are higher inside reserves, which may indicate a trophic effect. In temperate systems, the common grazers such as sea urchins often reach high densities in the presence of fishing because their predators are removed from the system, and thus this result suggests a return to a more intact ecosystem state inside reserves (Behrens & Lafferty 2004).

19/01/10 report on overfishing - Thesis on Australian fisheries management released

A University of Tasmania thesis is now available online which examines several Australian fisheries in depth. Australian governments are committed by policy statements to apply the ecosystem and precautionary approaches. However the thesis finds that, in the case studies examined, there is little or no evidence that fishery managers have implemented comprehensive measures towards applying these approaches -- sometimes in contravention of clear statutory obligations. The author of the thesis, Dr Jon Nevill, argues that, to protect fish stocks and both recreational and commercial fisheries, fishery management agencies need to be replaced with agencies focused on the protection and management of aquatic biodiversity. Link: http://www.tucs.org.au/~cnevill/marinePhD.htm

check out the new Fish Focus Forum for in depth examination of interesting fish species and issues.

Help to stop the decimation of a species in the shadow of the World Heritage Listed Daintree in Queensland's far North. More info on the Grey Mackerel and what you can do here.

The largest desalination plant in the southern hemisphere threatens fishing in Spencer Gulf, South Australia - read more here

What you can do:
There are many ways to get involved with FFC via this web site. Read the information provided on sustainable fishing and aquatic conservation and explore some of the links provided. Send an email to a decision maker or participate in upcoming events. If you like what we do please JOIN THE FFC (free membership available) and let everybody know the majority of fishers support marine and freshwater environment protection. So get active, get educated, and add your voice to the growing movement for protection of our marine and freshwater environments.

Know somebody who would be interested in this site? Maybe a workmate, relative or fishing friend? Email a friend and let them know about this web site.

A bit different - try the Sandy the seal game

 

Find what you want quick - search this site or launch a web search with Google

Normal Google websearch Search www.ffc.org.au