Hervey Bay Gossip

The Hervey Bay region may soon play a vital role in raising Queensland’s aquaculture potential through a draft marine aquaculture plan for the Great Sandy region announced today.

The Draft Great Sandy Regional Marine Aquaculture Plan is a joint initiative of the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries and the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry to ensure any future aquaculture activities in the region are carefully planned.

Primary Industries and Fisheries Minister Tim Mulherin said the Draft Plan recommended the best sites for certain aquaculture methods ensuring any future activities comply with stringent controls for the area.

“The Draft Plan identifies a number of potential sites for rack, line and ranching methods of aquaculture, which are used for oysters, pearls, and scallops.

“All of the recommendations take into account the marine park principles and rules and come from extensive research and local consultat ion that considers the environment, our commercial and recreational fisheries and tourism industry,” Mr Mulherin said.

“In addition to the Draft Plan, a new Draft Policy to guide future aquaculture applications for the State has also been developed.

“Both the Draft Plan and Draft policy provide recommendations that take into account all parties who are interested in our coastline.”

Member for Hervey Bay and Minister for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation Andrew McNamara said the potential benefits from farming these high-value products would be a significant boon to the region.

“A prospering aquaculture industry has the potential to offer the Hervey Bay region great economic benefits,” Mr McNamara said.

“However, preserving our environment and looking after our marine life will be of great importance when we consider aquaculture development in area.”

Mr Mulherin said the Draft Plan and Draft Policy were now open for public comment and encourages the community to provide feedback.

“I would like to encourage anyone with an interest in the future of aquaculture development in Queensland to review and comment on both the Draft Plan and Draft Policy by 5pm, October 20, 2008,” Mr Mulherin said.

Information, including the consultation meeting schedule, background papers and the Draft GSRMAP and Policy are available by contacting DPI&F on 13 25 23 or visiting the website - www.dpi.qld.gov.au/fishweb.

When was the last time you wandered out of the house at night and were able to look up and see a starry sky?

If you live in Hervey Bay you can do that most nights but sadly that’s not the case for most urban dwellers and astronomers now estimae that as many as two-thirds of the world’s population no longer see a starry night sky where they live because city lighting is blocking out the stars.

There’s an interesting report about it here on the Wall Street Journal.

Hopefully it will be a long time before the stars are blotted out by lighting here in Hervey Bay.

A report in yesterday’s Courier Mail suggested that there has been “an estimated 50 per cent drop in the number of grey nomads heading north this winter” … mainly due to the tough economic times. That story is here

According to the news story the impact of this drop in the usual winter migration has been felt by caravan parks … especially on the Gold Coast. That may not be the case here in Hervey Bay though.

A trip along The Esplanade shows that The Beachfront Caravan Park at Torquay is quite full as are the ones at Scarness and Torquay.

After a mostly beautiful weekend when it was just great to get out and enjoy the sunshine it seems that, even though today has dawned crisp and clear, we might have showers and the possibility of a thunderstorm ahead of us today.

Another great day on the beach in the middle of winter in Hervey Bay.

The forecast is for a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 19 with the possibility of showers. There’s a Strong Wind Warning current for the coastline from Moreton Bay through to Mackay and including Hervey Bay.

At 6am this morning the temperature in Hervey Bay was 8.5C with nothing but a very slight breeze blowing.

Times are tough here in Hervey Bay and on the Fraser Coast; families and small businesses are struggling to survive as costs go up but income either remains the same or falls and now council rates are going up.

You would think that in times like these you might see some real attempts by the Fraser Coast Regional Council to rein in costs but it seems that such thinking is just plain delusional.

Here’s the story of an $80,000 vehicle for the council’s chief executive complete with very expensive added extras that, if you believe council are standard equipment but the motor industry says are not.

You might also wonder how someone who was only the interim CEO could have the confidence to order such a vehicle three months before he was confirmed in the job.

It will come as no surprise to local residents that rainfall along the Queensland coast in the last 24 hours has reached record levels.

Here in Hervey Bay we’ve had 22.8mm between 9am and 4.30 and some roads around town are partially covered by water. Potholes are also beginning to appear so it would be wise to drive a little cautiously if you’re out and about tonight and tomorrow.

The rain is expected to clear tomorrowand temperatures should reach 20C ahead of a more pleasant weekend.

At the Point Vernon end of The Esplanade last night the moon shining on the waters of Hervey Bay made a memorable site. Earlier in the evening the sunset over Point Vernon was stunning.

At the Torquay end of The Esplanade two people died around 11.30pm in what has been described as a “multi-car” pile up caused by a driver who police allege was both drunk and unlicensed. The driver has been charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

Just about a month ago we told about Hearty Foods, a new business here in Hervey Bay that had just opened it’s doors. You can find that story here.

Hearty Foods opened to supply fresh, ready made gourmet meals to both residents and visitors of Hervey Bay and business has really been booming. Business has been so good for Alex and Chantal thay they’ve expanded the range and now supply gourmet pies, vegan pies and high protein meals for bodybuilders and athletes.

You’ll find them at 7 Banksia Park Drive, Scarness and if you visit their website you can download their menu. They’ll deliver to homes and tourist accommodation throughout Hervey Bay or you can call in to their shop.

If you saw the local Channel 7 news on Friday night you will have seen the story about the new webcam installed on top of the Widelinx building just off Boat Harbour Drive Hervey Bay.

It would have been a nice but unremarkable story if the reported had restrained herself and not doused it with a lot of spin in an attempt to link it to the current rash of pedophile stories that are going around and so give it some notoriety. Sadly, in her effort to spin the story in that way the reporter failed to do much research into webcams - instead she went for the Shock! Horror! value and didn’t bother about the facts.

Fact
There are webcams just like the one on the Widelinx building all over Australia … and all over the world for that matter. They’re on beaches, high-rise buildings, tourist attractions and anywhere else that will attract interest. In fact there are already several webcams installed in Hervey Bay so this one is really nothing new.

There’s one on top of the Boat Club building at Urangan, it looks as though there’s another one on the same pole as the eagle’s nest at Point Vernon and there’s a fixed webcam on the wall of Aquavue at Torquay.

Webcams help to boost tourism, they show potential visitors … and potential residents … what it’s like to visit and live in the towns where the cameras are located and this one that has drawn so much criticism is going to do something more.

Fact
Our town is growing and one of the major traffic arteries - and throttle points - is covered by this cam. In a few years people will be logging on to that camera before they head for work to make sure that the roundabout isn’t blocked.

Fact
Ordinary users of the camera are limited to one-minute sessions and after that they are put back to the end of the queue so as more people both in and out of town use the camera there will be less chance for the camera to be misused.

Fact
This camera is going to be an invaluable tool for the local police. Today Automated Security - the business that installed the camera - have agreed to provide a direct feed to the local police and give them the power to over-ride the camera in case of emergency. All IP addresses of anyone who accesses the camera will be logged so that it will be possible to trace everyone who accesses the camera and everything that the camera sees will be recorded and made available to the police.

Instead of being some tool for perverts to use to spy on people this camera will become an important tool in the hands of the police.

When you know the facts suddenly this webcam in Hervey Bay isn’t so bad after all.

Olive Riley from Woy Woy in NSW became the world’s oldest blogger when she began recording her memories in February last year. She passed away yesterday aged 108.

Her last post to her blog was made on June 26.

You can read the full story here