Winner of the Eric Moller Award 2010

The members of the Bribie Island Sportfishing Club Inc. would like to nominate Peter Griffiths for the Eric Moller Award for 2010.
 
We believe that Peter would be a most deserving recipient of ANSA QUEENSLAND'S most prestigious award, for his contributions over the years to the Bribie Island Sportfishing Club, ANSA QLD, and to recreational fishing in South East Queensland.
Peter joined the Bribie Island Sportfishing Club in 1994 and quickly got himself involved in all club activities. Since that time, he has rarely missed a club meeting, rally weekend, social outing or interclub competition, and has enthusiastically particpated in all ANSA activities held in the south east of Queensland. In July 1995, Peter was elected to a committee position within the Bribie Club, and has held at least one position on the club executive since that time. He is currently the Club Recorder, Weighmaster and Masters Keeper. He has always been a very active member of the club and has been instrumental in keeping the club active, and helping members enjoy their time in the club. In summary, Peter is the sort of member that every club has to have to remain successful. Any club that Peter joins will benefit greatly from his participation.
 
Over the years, he has been willing to get involved in all activities surrounding ANSA Clubs in South East Queensland. When the first ANSAFEST event was in the planning stages, Peter was one of the people who was called upon to provide a sounding board on the viability of the many events planned. He was instrumental in helping to bring the event forward from some basic ideas to a finished event that was very successfully received by all members who attended. For those who know Pete, it was no surprise tht he quickly volunteered to be one of the flyfishing instructors, and he also used his woodworking skills to make a well received display on making your own lures. He again participated actively in the following ANSAFESTS that were staged in Rockhampton and at Sommerset Dam where he taught a great number of people the fundamentals of flycasting, He has become very well regarded in the flyfishing scene in south east Queensland for his willingness to assist other anglers to improve their skills, and has been called upon to act as an instructor at a number of tackle days, club events, marine open days and flyfishing demonstrations. The "do it yourself' lure board that Peter created has since been handed to the ANSA Queensland executive and has been a regular display at the annual Yeppoon conferences.
 
In late 1996 Peter was one of the members of the Bribie Club who got involved in a discussion about the lack of suitable saltwater flyfishing competitions. Before long, the club decided to do something about it and in short order, the Bribie Island Sportfishing Clubs "Moreton Bay Longtail Tuna World Flyfishing Challenge" was a reality. From the beginning, this event was set up to promote saltwater flyfishing for longtail tuna, and the key outcome was to ensure that all participants received as much information as possible to help improve their skills in flyfishing. To promote this, those who were successful in catching tuna, were called upon to tell their stories and to share their successes over the weekend. It was not unusual at the end of the weekend to see people bring out their fly tieing vices and show the others how to tie the most successful flies. Peter was one of the driving forces to get the Longtail Tuna Challenge up and running, and has worked tirelessly to keep it fresh and successful over the years. From the outset, it was determined that this event would celebrate its successes by awarding a limited number of trophies that would be highly valued by those who received them. Peter volunteered to produce these awards using his skills of trade. The inaugural winner of this event was Senator Shane Murphy from Tasmania. Senator Murphy was so impressed with his trophy that it went on display in his office in Parliament House in Canberra. The Longtail Tuna Challenge is now the longest running saltwater flyfishing event in the country and continues to owe a large protion of its success to Petes efforts and enthusiasm.
 
Peter has continued to fly the Bribie Club flag over the years and has been an integral part of our many events. He has helped run the two very successful Pumicestone Passage Tagging weekends and has been a very enthusiastic tagger for many years and has easily qualified as a frequent tagger. He has helped run a number of tagging promotional events at Brisbane Boat Shows by assisting with the tagging of the fish caught by competitors at the show fishing competitions. He has used these events to talk to people about the tagging program and to help promote ANSA Queensland. Whenever there has been a reason for Bribie
Members to visit another clubs general meeting it is taken for granted that Peter would be willing to attend to meet and talk with his fellow ANSA members. He has rarely missed any interclub weekend held within the south east corner and is always ready to participate in the State Titles held each year. In fact, every time that the Bribie Club has won the light tackle section of the State Titles, it has been when Peter was a member of the winning team.
 
Peter has also been willing to work and fight for recreational fishing in Queensland. At the time when the Bribie Club was very active in Sunfish and the North Moreton Branch in particular, we could always rely on Peter to assist with any activity. Whether it be attending the general meetings, helping to set up and run information sessions, public meetings, and the often necessary protest rallies, Pete was always there to assist and could be relied upon to be the voice of reason at times when discussions got heated, or out of hand.
 
He was of great assistance to recreational fishing during the debacle of the Grey Nurse Shark Protection legislation. When Bribie Club members were told by the then Chair of the North Moreton Branch of Sunfish that they would not fight this legislation because it was not winnable, Bribie Club members went it alone and started a campaign to fight the implementation of the grey nurse shark protection zones. We organised the only two public meetings held during the consultation period and Peter was heavily involved in all aspects of the meetings held at Scarborough and Manly. During the meetings he spoke to numerous people with common sense and often successfully argued against the rubbish being put forward by Fisheries spokespeople and the radical preservationist lunatic fringe trying to push for this protection. Those public meetings helped to gain a strong public support against the protection zones. A last minute meeting held between Fisheries, DPI Minister Paluscuk and recreational (Bribie SFC) and fishing industry representatives resulted in having two of the six proposed protection zones struck from the legislation.
 
Most recently, Peter was an integral part of the Moreton Bay Access Alliance group that represented recreational fishing interests during the rezoning of the Moreton Bay Marine Park by the Environmental Protection Agency. As part of the Alliance he attended meetings, workshops public information sessions and also helped run the MBAA stand at the Brisbane Tinnie and Tackle Show. During that weekend, he spoke to many fishermen and their families and also had to contend with a number of greenies and EPA staff who did their best to derail the efforts of the MBAA partners. He helped gather large amounts of information from recreational fishers over the weekend that went a long way towards producing a report on the fishing efforts and spending activities of recreational anglers within the Moreton Bay Marine Park area. Peter also helped organise and participated in a major public protest convoy which became the lead story on all television news reports at the time. This convoy helped enormously in getting our message across to the mainstream public about the rezoning of Moreton Bay.
 
Since that time, Peter has continued to work on issues affecting our fishery. He has attended and participated in recent public meetings regarding the Area for Further Assessment off Fraser Island and will no doubt continue to work towards protecting our rights of access, and for a better fishery well into the future.
 
When it comes to fishing, Peter is a very talented angler who is prepared to fish in just about any location. He regularly fishes in most ANSA Divisions, and has captured some very impressive fish in all of those Divisions.
 
He has achieved his Masters Awards in Sportfishing, Lurecasting, Flyfishing, and Gamefishing and in many of these Divisions, has gone on to achieve his Masters 20 and above Awards. He has also achieved a good number of 250 point Masters fish as well. It has not been possible to accurately list his masters captures simply because he is the keeper of those records within our club, and asking for the details would have alerted him to this nomination. In recent years he has not concentrated on killing fish to add to his Masters achievements so could have easily increased the numbers of Masters fish that he has captured.
 
As stated earlier he has achieved his frequent tagger status having tagged and released over two thousand fish in the tagging program. He has also participated in the Catch Effort Program by collecting the full data from fishing trips he has participated in to help add to our information database.
 
He is a regular participant in all State Titles events and has been very successful in the light gear section. He has been a member of the Bribie Team each time that we have won the State Titles and has put in long hours in often trying weather conditions to bring back some great captures to help with the scores needed to successfully challenge in this event. In addition to his many masters fish captures, Peter has also managed some very impressive records from a club, state and national level, including a 47 kilo yellowfin tuna on 15kg in the Sportfishing Division, a 1.83kg yellowfin bream on 2kg in Lurecasting Division and a 10.5kg Spanish mackerel on 8kg flyfishing tippet. These examples are offered to show that Peter has achieved some great captures across multiple divisions. He continues to make some great captures, but these days chooses to release the majority unless he has an immediate use for the fish.
 
Peter has been a regular attendee at the annual ANSA Queensland Statewide Conference for many years. He has attended as the official representative of the Bribie Island Sportfishing Club and has represented us very ably. Some time ago, he approached the State Executive with a proposal to produce the "keepsake" trophies for the Eric Moller Award and also the Ron Dempster Award to help ensure that these plaques were of a standard sufficient to represent the prestige of the awards being presented. This offer was accepted and Peter continues to organise these awards. Last year, he made the new trophy to be presented to the recipient of the Phil Brooks Memorial Tagging Award for the member who achieves the most number of fish tagged in each year. Peters efforts in this and other areas is acknowledged within the ANSA Queensland Annual Report by listing him as a "Friend of ANSA". The Bribie Club is proud of the efforts that Peter has put in for fishing and ANSA over many years and believes that he would be a very worthy recipient of the Eric Moller Award.

Signed for and on behalf of the members of the Bribie Island Sportfishing Club.

Jeff Sorrell President

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