Mark,
I have no problem with operators who provide 'dogtooth sashimi' as part of a CnR ethos.
After all, most anglers got into fishing for food first, so if a part of the trip is to enjoy eating some of the species present that would be way to difficult for the average person to come in contact with, should that not then be considered OK?
The thing that pisses me off is that people are now starting to have to think as extremely as the political and animal rights activists are.
OK, so for CnR to be treated seriously, we may have to then forfeit our right to enjoy a feed at sea like most advanced travelling anglers do from time to time.
I guess if it means the difference of being totally blocked out by a Green Zone or to have CnR allowed under strict provisos, then that maybe what we have to do.
The other dummy spit from my direction is 2 fold:
The disunity of the rec angling public to get off their arse to provide a unified voice.
#2 is the Governments and the extreme activists who play on this disunity to get what they want.
For God's sake, what was a bloody ex musician doing at telling ME where I can fish when this all first came out?
Also, where is the S C I E N C E to say why we must, for the betterment of mankind, lock up an area of the Coral Sea that is half the size of Queensland? Oh, and don't be fooled that because there are blue zones at present that these will remain the same in years to come. Anyone who fought on the Great Barrier Reef, Great Sandy Straights or Moreton Bay Marine Parks (which I did, especially the Moreton Bay park) will see this as a game changer.........when a review comes, such as the GBR Marine Park, which then grew it's green zones from 3.4% to 34%!!!!!
Crikey, I'm rambling...........it just annoys me that I enjoy fishing, I enjoy eating fish, yet for me to look at the wild frontier areas that make up the bulk of an anglers dreams to visit and fish may have just been reduced in a fairly large way all around Australia. Look at the map. It's a surveyors nightmare........
Aaron.