AAT General Meeting 28th August 2022

MINUTES OF THE GENERAL MEETING
10am Sunday 28 August 2022
Great Lake Community Centre, Miena

Present

Gary France Chair, Howard Jones Vice Chair, Terry Byard Exec Committee, Malcolm Crosse Exec Committee, Jonathan Wadwell Exec Committee, Phillip Charlesworth NWFA, Nick Baldock NWFA, Peter Wisniewski NWFA, Adrian Hope Tas Fly Fishing Assoc, Keith Symons Independent South, Wayne Bellette Tas Fly Tyers Club, Peter Coventry Devonport Anglers Denis Edwards Retiring Exec Officer, Tony Wright Executive Officer, Chris Wisniewski IFS,

Guests: Paul Molnar and Don Thompson Hydro Tasmania Apologies

Mark Rockliff Independent NW,

Battery of the Nation projects

Paul and Don made a presentation on redevelopment of Tarraleah power station to increase generation capability up to three times the current capacity. The key points were that all battery of the nation projects for Hydro Tasmania were dependent on the establishment of the Marinus link without which none would go ahead. The main components of the Tarraleah upgrade were increasing the capacity of the intake at Lake King William, increasing the capacity of water flow to the power station through underground tunnels instead of above ground canals, and the replacement of the generation turbine. The future development of pumped hydro at Lake Cethana was dependent of the establishment of Marinus 1 and 2 cables. The modelling and simulation of impacts of developments on rivers, dams and lakes had significantly improved and provide the proponents with much more surety on the assessment of projects.

The reason for the necessity of the Marinus link was that Hydro intended to import cheaper solar generated power during the day when the mainland had a significant excess that they could not use then return more expensive power during peak demand periods of an evening.

Paul and Don were thanked for the presentation and associated information provided

Minutes of last GM

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 29 May 2022 held at the Great Lake Community Centre were tabled. It was resolved that the minutes be accepted.

Matters Arising

• The composting facility at Plenty was raised from the previous minutes. It is understood that the matter has been referred by the EPA to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

• Rehabilitation on the Tyenna River by SFM an update to be sought from Neil Morrow IFS

• Boating behaviour and etiquette practices to be progressed with MAST. Terry Byard to follow up.

• The recommendation that IFS, Hydro and AAT meet regularly be instituted. Request to be made that Hydro attend each meeting.

• Rural Water Use Implementation Plan. It was acknowledged that the Director of IFS sits on the committee and initially is was suggested that AAT seek a seat on the committee. I was resolved that AAT would seek briefings and progress reports from the Director of Inland Fisheries

  Proposed J Wadwell Seconded W Bellette.

• The Duns project was discussed at length and H Jones provided information on work

  done and progress to date. A report was included in the meeting documents tabled.

• AAT budget had been discussed at the AGM. An email had been forwarded to the

  Minister requesting a meeting to discuss the matter.

Inland Fisheries Service Report

Chris Wisniewski spoke on current IFS matters and answered questions from the floor including:

• The grant deed for the IFS grant was tabled. The deed needs to be discussed by the executive particularly Item 7 and 8 that refer to the deliverables by AAT. The executive to ensure AAT has the capacity to fulfill expectations.

• The IFS had received significant funding for angler’s access projects. It was being proposed to upgrade roads in the 19 Lagoons area. Quotations for the work were currently being sought. To upgrade the pull over access area at Shannon Lagoon.

• An agreement had been signed with UTAS providing a data sharing agreement for the economic valuation assessment.

• National Gone Fishing Day was set as the 9 October 2022.

• A report was made on the Arthurs Lakes camp sites.

• Out of 400 tagged fish released in the Derwent River only 5% had been caught. The

  stocking and survey was instigated by Bridgewater anglers due to declining fish sizes.

• The Arthurs Lake survey had shown the average weight of fish was 400 grams with

  numbers increasing.

• The recent easterly rains had made significant improvements in water levels, quality

  and performance of lakes in the Eastern regions. However, Gordon dam was significantly down due to low rainfall in the west. There was discussion on fish stocking and reasons and logic behind what was being done. The conclusion was that water quality was key to the success of any stocking activity without which stocking is pointless.

Other Business

• The dissolving of the NWFA was discussed and it was considered that affiliation with AAT should be open to individual clubs and anglers in the regions.

• Gary France discussed the work currently being done regarding animal welfare and fish handling.

• The analytics of webcam access was included in the meetings papers showing a high percentage of Victorians accessing the webcams.

• The current balances of the four bank accounts were tabled and a discussion was had on possible funding if AAT government funding is not continued for 2022- 2023.

Correspondence

• A report on water quality and related issues was attached to the meeting papers.

• Details of the Angler diary on the IFS app from Jonah Yick IFS were attached.

• Malcolm Crosse spoke in relation to the wind turbines project proposed for St

  Patrick Plains and included in the papers were a raffle document related to the

  proposal.

• Details relating to the Great Lake Adventure Trail were included.

General Business

• Jonathon Wadwell advised that considerable work needs to be done to upgrade several webcams from 3G to 4G and that new batteries were required for those on solar power.

• Peter Coventry raised the issue of fish availability for the stocking of junior fishing ponds and the size of fish currently being sourced. It was seen that satisfactory performance at these venues was critical to clubs’ future involvement.

• Phillip Charlesworth raised rainbow stocking in the Leven Canyon, access to the Mersey River above the Union Bridge where the landowner had stopped access. Disability access to the Leven was also raised. It was resolved to talk to Neil Morrow IFS about these matters and seek a status update.

• Terry Byard provided an update on current negotiations regarding the Lake Sorell Crescent Water Management Plan. He advised that the parties were now clearly in two camps and had agreed to disagree. He advised that a precautionary approach needed to be adopted and AAT would not support irrigation extraction below the critical level in the current plan except for surety requirements. He commented that NRE needs to choose whether it meets its environmental obligations or otherwise. A new plan is to be developed and released for the 2023-24 irrigation season. Terry also updated the status of the Silver Plains campground in that access was not available due to the cancellation of the lease which in turn meant the boat ramp was not available.

• Adrian Hope advised that an objection had been lodged in respect of the Forico wind farm regarding the position of two wind turbines at Talbots Lagoon.

  Next meeting is the GM Sun 6 November 2022