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MOONBI 83 6 International Recognition During the last few months FIDO has won a much higher international profile. It is ironic that it was easier for John Sinclair to meet leading officials in the American administration than it is to meet the Queensland Environment and Heritage Minister. FIDO Helps African Greenies In January, John Sinclair received an invitation from the Campaign for St Lucia to visit South Africa to advise them on the environmental impacts of sandmining and how to avoid them. The area under threat is a region of high dunes in Zululand in northern Natal where an RTZ subsidiary plans to mine in an area which has amongst the richest biodiversity of fauna on the face of the earth. Sinclair visited South Africa from 18 march to 5 April and was able to explore the area which had been long mooted as an area which potentially rivalled Fraser Island' WH credentials. Actually the area is more closely parallel to Cooloola with a line of densely forested high barrier dunes fronting the coast and behind that a mosaic of grasslands and wetlands which supported a rich range of large fauna from hippos and rhinos to crocodiles and an extensive range of antelope. The prodigious bird life included flamingos, pelicans and waders. Although located at a latitude equivalent to Ballina, NSW, immediately off-shore there is a very rich coral reef teeming with marine life while immediately to the west is a large protected Mkuze Game Reserve with giraffe, zebra, wilderbeest, buffulo, cheetah, hyenas and many more. The voluntary conservation movement in South Africa has consistently been strong and long on philosophy and support for conservation but its campaigning skills had atrophied during the 45 years of authoritarian government which intimidated and punished any critics during the years of apartheid. Pioneering Protest: As in other countries, conservation is in the forefront of the democratic movement and is pioneering ways of achieving the public interest with the least social disruption. Thus the Campaign for St Lucia, the largest conservation issue in South Africa's history is helping to show the South Africans useful ways of of influencing public opinion and political policy. The Fraser Island experience is helping to make a significant contribution to the whole process of public advocacy and decision making in a country where democracy is striving to become revitalized. FIDO is pleased to be able to help and MOONBI will keep members posted as to the progress of this exciting issue in a very diverse and interesting area which seem destined to join the Great Sandy Region on the World Heritage List. Sinclair Wins A ward Most MOONBI readers would be aware that John Sinclair has recently been awarded the "Nobel Prize for Conservation", the Goldman Environmental Prize. He was presented with his award in the hall in San Francisco where the United Nations Charter was signed in 1946 on 19 April. The Goldman Foundation makes an annual award to a grassroots conservation campaigner for each of the six inhabited continents with Oceania being included with Australia. Sinclair is only the second Australian to win this prestigious award in its four year history. The other is Dr Bob Brown who has long been at the forefront of green politics in Tasmania and Australia. Sinclair has established a special trust to ensure that the prize money can only be used for conseivation particularly for furthering the best use of Fraser Island and fostering grassroots conservation. In accepting the award in San Francisco, Sinclair said: I feel honoured to be presented with this illustrious and distinguished Goldman Prize. In accepting this prize I ask you to see the love, the friendship, the inspiration, the trust, the encouragement and the determination my Jami ly, friends ,fellow conservationists and even total strangers have given me during the long and continuing campaign to protect Fraser Island. This Goldman Prize is acknowledging their tirekss support as much as it honours me. I sincerely thank each and every one of them for their contributions. · Perhaps the greatest strength I have drawn on though, has been from the incredibk incredibk Fraser Island itself I have learnt to understand, appreciaJe and love this very special place. The workl desperately needs places like Fraser Island to be preserved in perpetuity. The urgent need to stop the degradation of the global environment requires more and more /,ocal activists to address everything from maintaining the Earth's life support systems to preserving the diversity of all forms of life. The Goldman Foundation's support for grassroots environmental action is one of the most positive steps yet initiated. Rather than sticking to the safe, secure and known paths I earnestly encourage anyone interested in the environment to be more adventurous in pursuing their conservation objectives and be prepared to explore the unknown. Apart from advancing the conservation of earths dwindling natural environment, the battle has its own rewards. Fraser Island has enriched my life with new and fulfilling experiences, introduced me to stimulating and interesting people,forced me into areas of endeavour I may otherwise never have attempted and taken me to new and exciting places particularly into the majestic beauty of some great natural areas. I have enjoyed many rewarding wilderness experiences, been inspired by great natural beauty and indulged in much laughter. The mutual goal for everyone should be for a better, more sustainable world. The pursuit of that goal though, can provide many personal bonuses. We can enrich the world and be richer for having tried.

MOONBI 83 7 Study of Park Management. Sinclair extended the trip in North America to receive the Goldman Prize to examine management issues in the world's most heavily visited World Heritage National Park, Great Smoky Mountains. This park currently receives about 20 million visits annually or 80 times more visits than Fraser Island. This along with other inspections of other heavily used national parks in America and in South Africa will be useful to FIDO and other voluntary conservation organizations when proposing future development strategies for major natural areas in Australia. With management of Fraser Island being so critical this.insight will place FIDO in a much better position to give informed advice. MOONBI 84 will carry more news of the Goldman A ward and the lessons Sinclair sees for management for Fraser Island resulting from his recent overseas experiences. Logging Compensation Part of the decision by the Goss Government included spending $38 million during the three and a half years as a growth and development package for the Maryborough and Hervey Bay Region. Since this program was implemented it has created 200 new jobs in the region during the first year All 67 workers who were retrenched as a result of the cessation of logging have been able to find alternative work. To date more than $2 million has been spent on assistance to displaced workers and this is expected to increase to $3.2 million over the next two years. The settlement includes the transfer of BORAL's mainland timber allocation to Hyne and Son, a strategy which FIDO had long advocated. This provides more long tem1 security to Hyne and Son employees and any further retrenchments of workers there will not be due to the Fraser Island decision. Any other reductions in workers will only be a result of commercial rationalizations. It was interesting to note in the Economic Impact Assessment carried out by Gnffith University that 107 private sector jobs have been created or secured as a result of the program and that this does not include the 80 jobs to be created as a result of the woodchip contract awarded to Hyne/Sumitomo Pty Ltd last year which will process pine thinnings from the mainland plantations. Kingfisher Briefly Data Stinks: After further prevarication the DEH finally released to FIDO in January the long sought data on the Kingfisher Resorts sewage discharges It revealed that while the Resort had exceeded the statutory limits on one of the two occasions on which it was measured. The main problem is that the sewage engineers are not monitoring some of the most critical data. Kingfisher Resort's problems seem to be escalating as the economy of Japan crashes, thus raising questions about the promises of investment by the infamous Recruit Corporation which is flirting with the Foreign Investment guide-lines Staff Problems: On 18 January it was announced that three key staff including the manager, Roger Moyle, Manager of Retail Operations , Robyn Moyle, and Accountant for the previous 18 months, Greg Lee, would leave their jobs at Kingfisher Resort. Corporate Queensland Chairman, Michael Hackett, moved himself to Fraser Island and took over operations. Public Complaints: One of Hackett's first tasks in his "hands on" role was to quieten down the succession of public complaints made through a spate of letters in the "Chronicle". The main complaints concerned peole having very unhappy experiences on "day trips" to Fraser Island. Hackett went on the record as saying "We simply dropped the ball by failing to plan adequately .... (Large numbers of visitors) forced us to bring on a large number of untrained or inadequately trained staff from the local area who were unfamiliar with our operations. Proper orientation and communication channels were not established by management. "We'll Replant The Trees": Not surprisingly the PR conscious Kingfisher Resort was one of the first respondants to the matter of the Eurong sandblow fiasco. Hackett was quick to jump in without being aware of the environmental implications by saying that his staff were prepared to replant the weeds which Sinclair had uprooted in the same place.

Why FIDO Remains Opposed We were recently askoo to set out why FIDO doesn't like Kingfisher. This is why we are unhappy: We have opposed this development since we first became aware in 1986, that it may be established. Our opposition in the proposal stage and now as well as during the court case is based on both the site being a most unsuitable location, and the fact that it is incompatible with the best land use of Fraser Island. It is causing needless adverse environmental impacts on Fraser Island as well as being aesthetically unsuitable and the home of countless bloodsucking insects. Specifically, we would point out that: 1. The resort failed to honour or observe the Environmental Impact Study done in 1986, and as such makes a farce of any of the resort's claims the for environmental credibility; 2. The resort has vigorously resisted all requests to install a tertiary treatment plant for their sewage which is currently discharged into Great Sandy Strait; 3. The resort removed mangroves from public land between their property and Great Sandy Strait. Finally, we should point out that ecotourism requires BOTH the option of ecologically sustainable environmental practices AND the role of taking people to explore the natural environment. Kingfisher Bay Resort qualifies on the latter point but not on the former and therefore we don't regard their service as being a satisfactory model for ecotourism.

MOONBI 83 8 Death of Dugongs Seagrass During 1992, Hervey Bay suffered a really significant loss of its sea grass. Although the speculation on the causes are inconclusive the most popular theory is that it is s a result of severe flooding. However, there has been much more serious flooding in the Mary River during 1988 when the "beach" outside the Kingfisher Resort was caked with several centimetres of silt from a succession of floods that inundated Gympie within the space of a few weeks. Those floods caused no significant loss of seagrass in Hervey Bay. The 1992 floods in the Mary River were nowhere near as severe as those. The question is why the sea grass beds died in 1992 and caused the loss of over 1800 dugong. Most have evacuated Hervey Bay and many have since died. Most of the rest are destined to die. The finger is increasingly being pointed to the Burrum - Isis River catchment and the incredible silt lode it carried in run-off from the cane fields. The impact though extends to more than dugong. The loss to fishing is likely to be as least as significant and as far reaching. The only conclusion to be drawn is that if we want to preserve the outstanding natural values of the Great Sandy Region we will have to look further afield. In Brief Next Issue - The Three R's: MOONBI is holding much material which could not be used in this issue. We have a wonderful article by Queensland's Champion Recycler or Recycling Champion and FIDO member Harry Johnston. We have an analysis of the Orchid Beach decision. Time and resources for publishing precluded their inclusion in this issue but we hope to produce a new issue ofMOONBI to respond to the Draft Management Plan if circumstances demand. Medical Evacuations (Five S's): A 12 year old girl was hospitalized after being bitten on Fraser Island by a spider. She said she felt the bite as she brushed her hair. One of the other medivacs involvolved a man so severely sunburnt that secondary infection had set in the blisters. Another person bitten by a snake at Wathumba had to wait four hours to get to Nambour Hospital. The delays with the latter raised questions on the efficiency of medivacs. FIDO is concerned that there is less and less self-reliance in the people visiting Fraser Island and too many people are going there with an expectation of an abunoance of available services. Seaman Lost Overboard: A lengthy search on sea and beach in January, failed to find a trawler skipper who was missing from his trawler off Fraser Island . Mr Mickey Mouse Out of Business: Would have-been Fraser Island sandminer and current head of Queensland Tourism & Travel Corp, Peter Laurance, could not pay interest and a $22.5 million debt was therefore forced to sell his last substantial asset, a Cairns Caravan Park for $6 million. Limit on Vehicles Wins Support: Although initially FIDO won no friends by advocating limits on four wheel drive vehicles on Fraser Island more and more people are accepting it. The latest is former National Party official, Colin Walker, who reminisced recently about the magic of having visited Fraser Island's top end by foot 40 years ago and how that had been lost by the overwhelming number of vehicles. He concluded a lengthy column in the "Chronicle" in January by saying "You don't have to be an Albert Einstien to know that (restrictions on vehicle traffic) as unpalatable as it may be to some, makes sense." 4WD Impact Study: Currently the most positive move being made by the DEH on Fraser Island is to have an environmental impact study carried out on the ORVs there. The study is being carried out by Alan Chenoweth and Associates. We await the results with interest. Island and other coastal area managers may then be in a better position to assess how they can better manage some critical areas. Research on Island: Fraser Island could become a major centre for research into the global decline of frog populations. Another potential subject of research is what has become of the one legendary populations of Death Adders on Fraser Island and elsewhere. There appears to have been a more dramtic population crash of Adders than of any other species of snakes in Australia. FIDO Can't Make Ends Meet FIDO urgently needs more money to make our ends meet. Recently we have not been able to to afford to meet all of our obligations despite our minimal costs. So far, we have spent more than $8,000 during the last three years specifically on trying to have an environmentally acceptable Management Plan adopted for Fraser Island and the rest of the Great Sandy Region. Our obligations and commitments in this regard are now greatly exceeding our revenue raising capacity. FIDO is an entirely voluntary organization. No member is paid for any work done on behalf of the organization, although we do try to reimburse out of pocket expenses if we can afford to. This organization has never received Government financial support and we have only been able to achieve our revenue through membership subscriptions, donations, selling merchandise and conducting small business enterprises. We began conducting safari tours to Fraser Island in 1971 becoming one of the pioneers of ecotourism in Australia. We would appreciate any finanial support which you may be able to gather for our ongoing and continuing campaign. All inquiries on FIDO membership should be directed to PO Box 5301, WEST END Q 4101 Our Hon Secretary, Ms Billie Watts, (07) 237 9612 (W)