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Speaker 1: Well, it's been a while since we've caught up with

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Speaker 1: the Amateur Fishermen's Association of the Northern Territory and joining

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Speaker 1: me to give us a bit of an update on

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Speaker 1: some of the current issues and projects. Is David cheer Revolo.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, David, Good morning Katie. Good to

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Speaker 1: have you on the show. It's been a while mate.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's good to be here, good to have a chat,

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Speaker 2: and so good morning to you and to your listeners

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Speaker 2: and it's will be good to catch up on some

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Speaker 2: of the things that are happening at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I understand that there is a survey that

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Speaker 1: are you wanting fishows to take part in? What's this

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Speaker 1: one all about?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right, So I guess fishes and probably the

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Speaker 2: broader community would have heard by now about plans for

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Speaker 2: the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct. And that's not only

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Speaker 2: about a new industrial area at Middle Arm but also

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Speaker 2: a new port facility in the East Arm. And so

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Speaker 2: it's really important that people do have their say at

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Speaker 2: the moment. There's a survey which is a social survey

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Speaker 2: seeking to understand how people use the area, people use

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Speaker 2: the harbor and of course recreational fishes. That's a really

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Speaker 2: popular area for recreational fishing. It's an area that's really

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Speaker 2: popular for crabbing, and you know, if you think about

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Speaker 2: port development, that usually involves dredging and changes to habitat.

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Speaker 2: So it's really important that fishes do get on there

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Speaker 2: and have their say and register their values and then

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Speaker 2: how they're using the area at the moment.

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Speaker 1: And so where's the best place for people to go

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Speaker 1: to sort of have their say on that one, because

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Speaker 1: like you said, I know that it is you know,

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Speaker 1: it's something that a lot of people who use that

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Speaker 1: area are going to be sort of concerned about or

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Speaker 1: want to make sure that they have their voices heard on.

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Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely and on that AFAN both through the Darwin

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Speaker 2: Harbor Advisory Committee, which we're a member of and also

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Speaker 2: through a committee that's been appointed to advise on potential

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Speaker 2: social impacts, is advocating for fishes in this area. But

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Speaker 2: there is no substitute for fishes to have their say themselves,

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Speaker 2: but also for the broader community to have their say.

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Speaker 2: So the Have Your Say NT website is the place

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Speaker 2: to go to, which is have your Say dot NT

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Speaker 2: dot gov dot AU and you can follow the links

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Speaker 2: from there the survey. I've done it recently. It doesn't

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Speaker 2: take a really long time, but it does give you

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Speaker 2: an opportunity not only to do the survey by clicking

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Speaker 2: a few buttons, but also to write your own comments

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Speaker 2: and have you say in your own words.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I understand that there's also a bit of citizen

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Speaker 1: science happening at the moment. Fish tagging program underway.

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Speaker 2: How's it all going, Yeah, well, that's right. We're always

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Speaker 2: always working on our fish tagging program, which we've been

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Speaker 2: running for some over twenty years now with the Department

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Speaker 2: of Fisheries, and in some more exciting developments recently, we've

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Speaker 2: actually been partnering with some of our sponsor stores. It's

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Speaker 2: a lot of the independent tackle shops and some of

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Speaker 2: the marine shops around town where when someone does catch

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Speaker 2: a fan tag fish, we will send them a voucher

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Speaker 2: and they can go and pick up a Ready's beef

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Speaker 2: to too in store. So that's been one of the

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Speaker 2: exciting developments. And the other thing, of course, is with

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Speaker 2: the build up occurring and the Barra Mundy fishing hiding up,

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Speaker 2: both in dah And Harbor and especially shol Bay, we've

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Speaker 2: had quite a number of recaptures, so it's really good

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Speaker 2: to see that the fishing is htting up too.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is good to hear, and I mean there's

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Speaker 1: been quite a bit happening around the place obviously. I

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Speaker 1: know that there's been a bit happening when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the water and the rope of Gulf an important

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Speaker 1: area obviously with the a aquifer, given the fact that

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Speaker 1: it's an important spot for Barra Mundy.

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Speaker 2: Oh look, Katie, the Roper River is just an absolute gem.

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Speaker 2: It's the longest river in the Northern Territory, it's one

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Speaker 2: of the only and best free flowing rivers in Northern

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Speaker 2: Australia and it really is such a special special place.

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Speaker 2: It's obviously provide amazing barrow Monday fishing and the water

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Speaker 2: flows in that river are absolutely critical, which is why

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Speaker 2: it's something that we've been working on for a number

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Speaker 2: of years. A couple of recent developments I think that

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Speaker 2: will be important or interesting for your listeners is to

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Speaker 2: understand that one of the applications recently for from a

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Speaker 2: mining company, Australian Aluminite Resources, to double its water take

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Speaker 2: has actually been rejected. So they've had their initial water

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Speaker 2: allocation upheld for another four years, but the water Controller

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Speaker 2: considered that decision and announced earlier in the months that

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Speaker 2: any plan to double their water allocation has been has

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Speaker 2: been not considered, and they've been asked to go and

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Speaker 2: I guess get approvals from the EPA and do a

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Speaker 2: full environmental approval before before they apply for another water license.

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Speaker 2: So that's really positive, and that's something that once again

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Speaker 2: Oppan provided comments on that application for to make sure

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Speaker 2: that the recreational fishing voice has been heard. But it

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Speaker 2: is good news for people concerned about water in the Roper.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, What else has been happening? I mean, it

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Speaker 1: has been such a long time since you and I

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Speaker 1: last caught, but I'm sure that there is plenty going

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Speaker 1: on from our fans distinctive.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look sure, and more I guess on the waterfront.

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Speaker 2: There's been some reporting recently about the potential for the

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Speaker 2: Matteranca springs or aquifer to flow backwards, and that's come

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Speaker 2: as a result of an FOI that was done by

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Speaker 2: the Environment Center. And you know, I want to start

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Speaker 2: by saying, I think it's really important that there's higher

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Speaker 2: levels of community interest in the way that water is

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Speaker 2: managed and that's why, you know, we've been so passionate

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Speaker 2: about being involved in providing advice to the government on

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Speaker 2: developing a water allocation plan, and we've got a commitment

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Speaker 2: from the government at the last election to develop water

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Speaker 2: allocation plans for all of these major equifers. And you know,

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Speaker 2: whilst it is it is tempting, I think sometimes to

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Speaker 2: get caught up in the hype of these things, I

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Speaker 2: think it is really important to understand that it is complex.

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Speaker 2: You've got major stakeholders like our fans and the Northern

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Speaker 2: Land Council, and you've got scientists from CDU as well

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Speaker 2: as the government employees themselves working to develop a water

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Speaker 2: allocation plan and having a scenario where the water is

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Speaker 2: drawn down over one hundred years without a plan is

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Speaker 2: not the future we're heading towards. That's not what everybody's

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Speaker 2: working towards. We're working towards having a formal allocation plan

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Speaker 2: and we want to keep the rope of river flowing

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Speaker 2: and I'm really confident that that's the future that we're

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Speaker 2: going to have in the very near future.

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Speaker 1: So, David, do you feel as though people got a

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Speaker 1: bit sort of excited here or what do you reckon happened.

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Speaker 2: I think it's always tempting to try to grab a

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Speaker 2: headline with a figure. One of the things that is

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Speaker 2: a bit concerning is somebody who does spend a lot

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Speaker 2: of time working in it. It's a little bit galling

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Speaker 2: to think that, you know, we wouldn't have noticed this,

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Speaker 2: or that we wouldn't be doing things to try to

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Speaker 2: prevent it to happen, and of course we are. But

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Speaker 2: on the other side of it, it is really important

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Speaker 2: for the community to maintain their interest and concern, and

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Speaker 2: we're also encouraging the government to do the best job

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Speaker 2: that they can in communicating the processes that occur and

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Speaker 2: the levels of attraction that are occurring, because accessing the

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Speaker 2: facts can be really, really difficult, and we shouldn't be

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Speaker 2: accessing facts in a you know, a haphazard or sort

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Speaker 2: of gotcha moment. But that information should be available to

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Speaker 2: the community as a matter of course, Mae. We should

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Speaker 2: be able to look it up quite easily. So very

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Speaker 2: passionate about improving the accessibility to that information when a

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Speaker 2: new water allocation plan is introduced in the future.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's a very fair point to make. David,

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Speaker 1: how are things going out on the water. Mate, are

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Speaker 1: the fish biting?

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Speaker 2: Oh? Well, look the fish are biding. Had an opportunity

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Speaker 2: to head out actually with a Minister for Environment last

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Speaker 2: week we went out in Doe and Harbor to talk

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Speaker 2: about the water quality in Dawn Harbor after a good

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Speaker 2: report card on the water quality, and it just so

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Speaker 2: happened that the boat was very quickly surrounded by a

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Speaker 2: pelagic species was broad bar mackerel, travali and queenfish really

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Speaker 2: sort of schooling up from Stokeshill all the way down

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Speaker 2: to Larakir and they'n out through the harbor towards six

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Speaker 2: mile and you'd expect that on the neap tide that

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Speaker 2: the neaps are also really good for fishing in Shoal

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Speaker 2: Bay for Barramunday. Lots of reports of some decent catches,

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Speaker 2: but probably even more reports of frustrating scenes of people

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Speaker 2: seeing the fish on their sound but having challenged to

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Speaker 2: get them to tempt them to buy it. But it

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Speaker 2: is really positive that the fishing is heating up. And

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Speaker 2: I guess with all that water that was dumped around

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Speaker 2: Darwin yesterday that's probably going to stir things up a

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Speaker 2: little bit more. But it really is that time of

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Speaker 2: year now where people do start to fish more for

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Speaker 2: Barrow Monday with the increasing temperature. But also there's still

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Speaker 2: great pelagic fishing on offer, and apart from those storms,

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Speaker 2: we tend to get a little bit more stable weather

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Speaker 2: coming up too, So it is a really good time

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Speaker 2: for fishing in the territory if you can.

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Speaker 1: Handle the heat. Well, I think you've got to be

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Speaker 1: able to handle the heat, don't you live in the

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Speaker 1: territory in.

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Speaker 2: General, David, Well, yeah, look, fishes are used to the heat,

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Speaker 2: and obviously you just want to make sure that you're

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Speaker 2: drinking plenty of water, that you've got enough water for

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Speaker 2: everybody on board, and you know, the discomfort disappears at

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Speaker 2: the moment you hook up and having a great day

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Speaker 2: with your family and friends on the water. So yeah,

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Speaker 2: that's the least of our worries.

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Speaker 1: Your spot on mate, spot On, David Giravolo from a

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Speaker 1: fat It's always good to catch up with you. Let's

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Speaker 1: not leave it so long between the next interview, mate.

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Speaker 2: We'll talk to you soon, thanks, Katie, and I do

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Speaker 2: hope people jump on they have your say and do

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Speaker 2: the survey. It's open till the end of October.

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Speaker 1: Good stuff, good on you, David. Thanks for your time

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Speaker 1: this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thank you