The 26th and final Toyota Fraser Island Fishing Expo was staged on picturesque Orchid Beach from May 16-22.
Toyota Marketing Manager for Queensland, Simon Clarke, said that it was great to see the event succeed from both a participation and an environmental perspective.
“The event sold out the week prior, with approximately 480 of the 1500 competitors having never participated before and more than 260 boats and over 650 Toyota vehicles registered at the event,” Simon said.
“We were really impressed by the support and success of the recycling program this year, further reinforcing the desire of the competitors to genuinely minimise their impact on the world heritage listed island,” he said.
80’s rock icons 'Mental as Anything' headlined the nightly entertainment, which also featured Toyota Ambassador Tania Kernaghan who made a surprise guest appearance on the Thursday night.
Toyota made a special point of thanking competitors for making the event so successful and providing such strong support to the brand.
A sustained approach
The Expo once again enabled the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries Long Term Monitoring Program to collect vital information on key fish species from waters off Fraser Island.
Overall, more than 250 fish of selected species were measured, and from these species, a large proportion of the frames were used to determine the fish’s sex and age information. This information is vital in ensuring the sustainability of Queensland’s fish stock.
The Catch, Weigh and Release category was once again very popular with more than 780 fish entered into this category. Chief Judge, Gary Howard, estimated that over the last few years several thousand fish have been released through this program which is a real credit to the competitors focus towards sustainability.
Keeping it green
Toyota once again teamed up with the Queensland Government to help promote the 12 month recycling trial that was launched at the Toyota Clean Up weekend on Australia Day.
Since the launch of the recycling trial on the Australia Day long weekend, Fraser Island visitors have diverted a total of 14 tonnes of recyclable material from landfill. This has helped to avoid around 7 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere.
This focus was eagerly adopted by the competitors who made use of their yellow recycling bags issued at the Expo. Recycle bins were placed at the Expo site and in the car park for campers to use during the Expo for their recycling.
It is anticipated that three tonnes of recyclable waste has been saved from landfill as a result of recycling efforts during the Toyota Fraser Island Fishing Expo.
Drive Track
Toyota conducted more than 200 test drives for the week on the beach, allowing potential buyers to test drive a range of Toyota vehicles in actual off-road conditions.
A feature at the drive track was a Landcruiser 200 Series towing a Kedron caravan to demonstrate the vehicle’s outstanding off road towing capabilities.
And the winners are…
During the week over 15,000 more than $250,000 worth of prizes were up for grabs.
Major prize winner of a Toyota HiLux 4x4 (complete with the range of Toyota Genuine Accessories) - Michael Fahey from Karana Downs.
Random prize winner of the Toyota Yaris YR (complete with Toyota Insurance and Toyota Extracare - thanks to Toyota Financial Services) - Shane Jones from Goodna.
Random prize winner of the CruiseCraft Explorer 500 boat and Yamaha F100D outboard package - Terry Harvey from Regents Park.
Random prize winner of the Arnhem land Barra Lodge Fishing Trip - David Roualt from Goodna.
