Here’s some fun…
The Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST) mandates that all used fishing equipment brought into the country be sterilized in the country of embarkation. But, if you read the fine print on their website, you can either get this done by a registered vet in your country, or get them to do it when you land. So me being me I wanted to go through the process and try to get it done in Melbourne.
Iceland gave me a hint of where to start. More than a hint actually. The form that they use specifies that the disinfection process be done by a certified vet. Ok. So I called my local vet thinking surely I can’t be the only person that’s done this before. Aha. Right. Yeah nah. Over the phone I could almost see the vet nurse’s “WTF?” expression.
And so it began.
I spoke to pet supply stores, the RSPCA, other vets, even the Melbourne Aquarium. Everyone was nice. Interested. But ultimately all leads went down a dead end. That is until I contacted Michael Burgess at VRFish – the Victorian Recreational Fishing body.
He gave me the contact details of a company called Panaquatic. The owner, Dr Paul Hardy-Smith is arguably Australia’s foremost aquatic veterinarian.
I rang Panaquatic and spoke to Tara. Also a brilliant aquatic vet. And while they’d not done this before, they were dead keen to have a go.
So on a crisp Melbourne late Winter morning, Tara braved the cold and disinfected all my gear for me.
Waders. Boots. Gloves. Rags. Line. Flies. Even my little forceps copped a dunking.
Dr Paul is also a keen fisherman and has a collection of antique rods and pics of his fishing trips to New Guinea in his office. One of a huge Barra catch. It looked well over 1.5 metres.
Tara, as well, was interested in fly fishing. Asking where and how would she get started. My response was pretty lame – “oh just contact a fly fishing club.”
Yeah good one, Rich.
Sorry Tara. I can put you in touch with various people. Yarra Valley Fly Fishers. Essendon Fishing Club. Cameron Parker, a well known local guide. Hookup Bait and Tackle in Ferntree Gully. The FlyFisher in Melbourne CBD. There are lots of ways to get started. Email me if you’re interested.
This is Tara getting ready to sterilize my 5wt.
I hope I don’t get the rubber glove treatment at the airport. Once is enough thanks.
My waders looked like they needed a little lie down after the dunking.
Many thanks to Dr Tara and Dr Paul. You guys are legends.
Everyone else – seriously, water born diseases are a huge risk to Australia and other pristine wildernesses like Iceland and New Zealand. I had a chat with Dr Paul about the proposed introduction of the Carp Herpes virus into Australia. He is heading up to Canberra to help advise our politicians on the issue. But in broad terms, viruses and foreign weeds and algae’s can decimate entire food chains. We need people like Dr Tara and Dr Paul otherwise we won’t have anywhere to fish.