'Stick your parks up your arse' was a comment received from a fisher on Facebook this week regarding the petition to stop illegal fishing in parks.

Each time this happens it's another signal about how wrong things have become. 

This petition isn't about denying people the right to fish. Quite the opposite in fact. 

But disrespectful attitudes towards people who are involved in 'non-consumptive' use of fish is rife. It's out of control. This is what leads to illegal activity.

Another person commented 'it is not VFAs [sic] fault'.

But VFA is not a person. It is a statutory agency set up under a piece of law. It would not exist without a set of objectives. This isn't about offending a person/people it's about a government department being able to enact the laws it was created for. 

When a department can't meet an objective doing what it usually does, then it has to find an alternative way of doing it.

The fact is, VFA does act like a person (or people) with fishing interest. It has moved from being a statutory body to becoming a lobby group for recreational fishing. However, recreational fishing this is only one part of six objectives it is set up to achieve under the act. 

These are exactly the reasons why we need a more serious commitment to protection of our marine parks and why we are calling for the implementation of buffer zones.  

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