The ORIS National Big Game Tournament in aid of the Puttinu Cares Foundation

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The ORIS National Big Game Tournament in aid of the Puttinu Cares Foundation
brought to you by
The Malta Fishing Forum

For simplicity purposes and to streamline keeping abreast of this year's tournament, to make it more transparent and informative this is the new official tournament topic where everyone will be kept informed of the developments and comeptition details as they unfold.

More information with be posted by the tournament organising team.....  

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Weekly round up - Jan 23rd

Every week I will provide an update of where we are in terms of organisation, the actual event, confirmed sponsors, etc.

For this update I can tell you that we have secured two main fishing tackle entities as official partners for this event.  These are MisterFish, and Buona Pesca Trading.  What I can say is that they have greatly contributed in terms of cash and fishing related items towards the Tournament.  We should shortly be in a position to list all the items these two generous companies have contributed.  Most of the items will make up the Pirize list for this year's tournament.  Oris will be again the protagonists donating a similar watch for 1st place, with either the President or Vice President of Oris Watches doing the honours with presenting 1st prize.
We have contacted various entities which helped last year's event be a success, and they have alreasdy pledged their help and support towards this year's tournament.  

We are still awaiting confirmation from other entities such as one official partner Bank, and one official telecomms partner.  We should be in a position to either confirm or otherwise by this week.  

We have now also secured the services of a professional Photographer to capture those unique moments during the briefing, the tournament and the awards ceremony.  

We have written to Marsascala and Buirzebbugia Fishing clubs to partner up with us in this Tournament.  I will be contacting the Marsamxett club officially as I have only spoken to their representatives but what I can say at this stage is that when I spoke to them they already showed enthusiasm and commitment.  Remember, for last year's competition, we had 12 boats competing from the Marsamxett club, which is thanks to their committee for showing enthusiasm and commitment.  

We have scheduled a meeting for 8 February to meet the Fisheries Control Division to discuss the permissable fish catch for this tournament.

Weekly Round-up Jan 28

Activities continued in ernest this week, with a number of mailshots going out to potential sponsors, design of the Tournament Logo, planning activities, etc.  We are in the process of gathering quotes for the commemorative magazine, which we will issue sometime in May.

Full page adds for the magazine are picking up pace.  Remember, the magazine is our main source of income for this event, and we need companies to take out full page adverts.  What I can say is that one company alone has already booked 5 adverts, thats €2,100 @ €420 per advert.  That company is Misterfish.  That is not the only contribution MisterFish is making towards this noble cause.  Another company that has pledged its full support is Buona Pesca Trading.  We should be in a position to announce the full contribution of these two companies in the very near future.  We will all be pleasantly surprised with their generosity and commitment to both the MFF and Puttinu Cares.  Of course, we cannot forget Jos. Debono Jewellers, local agents for Oris watches, without who's help and commitment we could never dream of having a tournament of this level.  I'll talk more about this in the coming weeks.  

I will not mention names, but some members have really got into the spirit of things here.  We had one member sending out mailshots to many of his business contacts, and already we've had a positive commitment from one of them.  Others are helping out with the design of the logo, printers, marketing write up, and sponsor contacts.  

We anticipate that next week will be very similar to this week.  The following week we'll be actively approaching some big gun sponsors, meetings with the Authorities, and tying up some loose ends on the organisation.  

I mentioned in my previous post that I need a contact name from the Bugibba Fishing club, I still don't have a name yet.  Could anyone who knows please forward a contact name to me.  Also, if there are any other fishing clubs of which I am not aware of, please let me know. Valletta, Marsascala and Birzebbugia fishing clubs I already know of, Gzira am awaiting a contact name, the rest I leave to you.

Commemorative magazine 3rd March
Through our continued efforts, we have managed to sell 23 full page adverts on the magazine from a total of 33.  The official partners, who in aggregate contribute in excess of €2,000 either in cash and sponsored items, recieve a one page full colour advert free of charge.  In total we already have 5 official partners supporting the MFF in this initiative.  We still need another 2.  I will announce the official partners tomorrow, and will also announce the degree of support we are recieveing from each.  I feel now we are on the home run.  Only another 10 adverts to go, and we will have sold all advertising space on the magazine.  We still need to find the time and approach some companies who have helped us before to support us.  I'm pretty confident now that we should hit our target mark of presenting Puttinu cares with a cheque of €10,000 towards their charity.  Of course, it all now depends on the amount of boats we have participating in the tournament.  But I can tell you that the prize lineup for this year is very attractive.

Prize Lineup  

To date, we have as prizes in no particular order the following:  An Oris ProDiver Watch, an Okuma MK30 II speed Makaira reel, a Raymarine A70 D Chartplotter including mediterreanean maps, a Lineaeffe KAM1000 silver reel and Lineaeffe Big Tuna 50lbs rod, a Lowrance HDS-5 Chartplotter, an assortment of lures and fishing tackle.  Many more prizes will be added once we finalise the deals with the sponsor companies.  

Magazine Content

I had posted earlier that anyone wishing to contribute content to the magazine could contact me and discuss the write up.  Todate, I have 9 individuals contributing in the following categories:
 
Kubrit/plamti/tumbrell     Colin Seafox
Alongi                             Joe the Gaffer
Kahli bir-rixa             Adrian Nelson-Placebo (atricle submitted)
Spinning                     Martin B
Spear fishing             Edward - EmicMalta
Klamari   
Rod Fishing                   Robby017   
Kavalli                     Jonathan
Qarnit                             
Deep bottom fishing     Moonwalker
Rods and Tackle             Clutch_kick
Fuel Flow Meters            Skip

Could you please ensure that you submit your articles by Friday 25 March please.  

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UPDATE 17 March

Participation Fee
During a committee meeting held last Monday together with the Federation it was decided that this year's participation fee will be €35 per boat for 1 skipper and 2 crew members.  If the participating boat has more than 3 people on board, the a fee of €20 per person extra applies.  (I was not present for this meeting as I was abroad on business, but totally agree with this)

Awards Ceremony and BBQ
We are trying to offer the best value to all participants and their families to enjoy a night complimented by good food and together celebrate success.  We are in an advanced stage of negotiations to host a BBQ and awards ceremony on Pretty Bay Beach the week following the Tournament.  Our aim is to keep the price per person as low as possible, definitely below €10 per person.  Will let you know more once we agree on the final price and choice of food available.  The plan here is to work out the price of the BBQ per person.  The forum will not make any money out of this, Puttinu cares will not get any benefit out of this as well, as the cheque and account will be closed.  So whatever is the price quoted, will be the price charged.  But just to repeat, we already know that the price will definitely be below €10 per person.  

Sponsors
Medcomms have joined the long list of Corporate sponsors and donated €1,000 to this event.  Moreover, we shall be meeting Medcomms in the coming days to further discuss how Medcomms can offer their help.  Well done medcomms.  
Colin is still working strong and raking in advertismments for our commemorative magazine.  A big thank you to Shanook for taking the initiative in launching and closing off the member/photo donation for the magazine.  

We should be in a good position to close off all adverts and content for the magazine as planned, i.e. end of this month.  To all those who in any way contributed to this, I say Thank you.

Accounts
Once we finalise things with BOV, and Robby & Bigboy get a hold of the accounts, we shall keep you all updated on the revenue and capital expenditure and donations coming in.
At the end, I expect Robby and Bigboy to prepare the profit and loss accounts together with the final Balance sheet.
More news soon

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Status Update 25 March

Yesterday the tournament committee met up with all members of the Federation of Recreational Fishermen.  There is great enthusiasm on board, and all member clubs pledged their support and assistance in making this Tournament a success.  We expect a number of club members from all over the island to participate in this event.
During the meeting yesterday with the Federation of Recreational Fishermen the following was endorsed and agreed to:

Participation fee is now set at €35 per boat maximum 3 persons on board.  Additional persons on board will pay a fee of €20 each.

Start time of the tournament is now 05.30am

Dr. Joe Carabott confirmed as Tournament Director

Members of the Federation together with members of the MFF + the Fisheries Control Division will act as Tournament judges

Donations

The Federation of Recreational Fishermen yesterday donated the sum of €300 towards this campaign
The Kooperative tas-sajjieda yesterday donated the sum of €200 towards this campaign

On behalf of the MFF, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude towards the Federation and the Kooperative for this noble gesture.

[ganni]

thanks for the updates skip

[The_Gaffer]

More Updates

I have just recieved this very important update from the Fisheries Control Division.

Good morning

I am pleased to inform you that the request on behave of Malta Fishing Forum for the Jetty at Saint George Bay, Birzebbuga to be designated as a landing site for the day of the Fishing Tournament 2011 has been approved by the Director of fisheries.

Regards
 
MARK GAUCI PISCOPO
TRAINEE FISHERIES PROTECTION OFFICER

f/ Dr. A. Fenech Farrugia
Director
FISHERIES CONTROL DIRECTORATE
BARRIERA WHARF
VALLETTA

TEL: +356 22031211

As you all may know, we have opened up this years permissible catch to include Alongi (Albacore) as the base fish, Pastardell, Skipjack Tuna (Palamit) Swordfish and possibly Bluefin Tuna.  According to EU regulations, Swordfish and BFT must be landed at special designated sites which have prior been registed with EU fisheries authorities.  So, to enable the Tournament participants to land possible catches of Swordfish and ONE (1) BFT per boat, we needed to get written permission from the FCD to temporarily transfer the designated landing site in M'xlokk to the Birzebbuga Jetty for Sunday 26 June.  This has now been formally accepted!

New Thread

Folloowing a very long (2hr) teleconversation with Nick, we have decided to open this new thread and align the Tournament Information here.  The other thread will be deleted once we have moved all the informative stuff here.  The new thread will be the official communications board for the Tournament and related activities.  Very soon we shall also open another thread on the same board calling for all to register the "INTENT TO PARTICIPATE'.  This will provide the organisers with an idea of numbers and enable them to start thinking about T-Shirts, Caps and other stuff related to the admin of the tournament.  Everyone is welcome to voice their opinion on the thread, but please (me included) lets wipe the slate clean, and reserve any negative comments to PMs.  Keep those suggestions coming, as we do consider every point raised, and most of your suggestions have in effect, been taken up and applied.

Prizes

As most of you read, we are now presenting prizes from 1st to 6th place, A prize for biggest alonga caught, and a special proze for biggest fish caught (biggest fish excludes Alonga).  1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes and the  prizes for biggest alonga and biggest fish will take the form of Award Presentations, while 4th 5th and 6th will be appreciation prizes for boats who may have just missed out on the award prize.  We still have a number of prizes which as yet, have not been allocated and the committee will be looking into allocating these prizes in the coming days.  So any suggestions would be more than welcome.

[The_Gaffer]

A quick heads up on the finances

Todate, I feel I have to provide an update on the finances (income) supporting this tournament.  I will segment each income according to the category it is in.  

Donations:
Medcomms: €1000
Pirotta Fishing Centre: €300
Federation of Recreational Fishermen: €300
Kooperativa tas-sajjieda: €200
Colin's Online sale of items: €108
Last Fenkata donation: €56
Total €1964

Magazine Adverts:
Misterfish: 7 adverts, €2940
Nautica: 1 advert, €420
Princess Yachts: 1 advert, €420
Curmi and Partners: 1 advert, €420
Buona Pesca Trading: 1 advert, €420
Caruana Marine: 1 advert, €420
Jos. debono Jewellers: inside front cover, €550
RLR: 1 back page advert, €550
Toyota Automobiles Ltd: 1 page adver, €420
Mecca Enterprises Ltd: Double Page Spread, €700
Tal Fenek Boat yard: 1/2 page advert, €300
Audio Vision: 1/2 page advert, €300
Boatcare: 1/2 page advert, €300
MFF member pics: full page, €210
Total €8790

Grand total (Magazine adverts + Donations) of €10,654.

I still need to add a hefty donation by Jos. Debono Jewellers (Antoine - Alfadelta).  However, this is an ongoing initiative, and will update the amount as soon as I get information on that.  

So, we have a total of €8790 confirmed for the magazine.  We still need to sell 6 adverts, which include on inside back cover page, going at €550 each.  So the total income from the magazine will be €11340.  We have a revenue charge of €3400 + 170 VAT (3570) to print the magazine.  There is also another charge of €180 to shrink wrap 1500 copies of this magazine which will be distributed on all boats in local marinas.  So, from the magazine, we anticipate to make a profit of €7590.  To this new total we need to add the donations total, which is €1964 (excuding the Jos. debono Donation). Therefore, we are ahead right now at a total of €9563. All other expenses have been picked up by either the sponsors, Colin, Antoine and myself, these include bar & snack expenses when meeting up and entricing prospective sponsors and direct expenses related to advertising and receipt books
We still need to add the participants fee as income, and also I am informed that other fishing clubs will be making a donation towards the fund!.  

So, my tension relief is this.  Thanks to all of you, we WILL surpass the €10,000 target we set at the beginning to present to towards the Puttinu Cares Foundation.  

I have provided this heads up on Finances as they stand at the moment since this exercise will very soon (in the coming days) be transitioned to the Finance Committee headed by Robert Attard (Robby017), following the appropriate hand over.

[The_Gaffer]

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE

We are currently in discussions with the the competent authorities seeking ways how to cushion the expense incurred for participating boats in the Tournament.  We cannot as yet comment on the contents and progress of these discussions, but this just goes to show that we really do take your suggestions seriously.  It is for this reason that we have opened another thread asking participants to post their intent, as that way we will get a good idea of the number of boats participating.  On a very serious note, please also include the anticipated fuel burn you might incur when participating.  So, as an example, if a day trip for Alongi costs you say 80ltrs of fuel, just post 80ltrs of fuel, if less, then indicate, if more, then please also let us know. We need to know the approx fuel burn of each participating boat, to make a qualified estimate as to how much fuel we shall all be burning during this tournament.  
Very Important!!!
Please be mature and sensible in your estimations.  We are not promising anything as yet, and we ask you not to get your hopes high.  We are just trying to make the competent authorites aware of the costs incurred per boat in participating in this tournament.

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Joe is this possible concession just for diesel or unleaded as well?

And fuel burn post to be inserted with details in Intention to participate thread

[The_Gaffer]

All fuel is included, diesel and unleaded petrol

[The_Gaffer]

thanks for the updates skip

These updates were posted by myself in a prior thread which has been removed.  We decided to remove the last thread to have just one thread focusing on the Tournament and allowing for updates from the organising committee and comments/suggestions from the forum users here.

[offken]

Gaffer I have a child of 4 years which I usually bring with me for the competion is this year the same as last year regarding children or he conts as a crew member??

[The_Gaffer]

Same as last year. Make sure your child wears a life jacket.

[The_Gaffer]

Quick Update

The official launching of The Oris National Big Game Tournament in aid of the Puttinu Cares Foundation has been set for the 19 April, 2011.  We will launch this event during a press conference to be held on that day.  All media and press are invited to attend.

[The_Gaffer]

Following a reques tto the Local Council of Birzebbuga on the following points:

**  Reserving the Jetty in St. George's Bay (close to the Council's offices) for the 26th June for boats parking/mooring alongside for early inspection and final weigh-in
**  Converting  the Jetty into a sort of fishing village
**  Allow the Malta Fishing Forum to erect some Marquis/Tents including sponsor adverts & serving refreshments to any visitors
**  Allow filming by the TV stations and other enterprises
**  Placing at least 4 flag poles - Rep of Malta - MFF -  B'Bugia Local Council & Puttinu Cares Foundation flags
**  Boat trailer parking -Secure an adequate space (preferably opposite the slip in St' George's Bay) for boat trailer parking

We are happy to say that the LC has accepted our request.  Herein is the full text of the email sent by Birzebbuga LC:

Sur Baldacchino,

Naghmel riferenza ghall-e-mail tieghek ta' hawn taht.  Wara s-Seduta tal-Kunsill Lokali numru 02/11 li saret nhar it-Tlieta 15 ta' Marzu 2011, il-Kamra qablet li l-kompetizzjoni annwali tas-sajd issir gewwa Birzebbuga nhar 26 ta' Gunju u fahhret l-inizjattiva li din il-kompetizzjoni ser issir b'risq Puttinu Cares Foundation.

B'riferenza ghall-punti li ressaqtu ghall-approvazzjoni l-Kunsill ma jsib l-ebda oggezzjoni pero' jixtieq li jaghmel dawn is-suggerimenti:

apparti l-erba' bnadar li ser tpoggu ghal din l-okkazjoni, iccekkjaw jekk hemmx bzonn li tpoggu wkoll il-bandiera ta' L-Ewropa

l-ahjar post sabiex jigu pparkjati il-karrijiet tad-dghajjes hi f'Dawret il-Qalb Imqaddsa.  Il-Kunsill jista' jipprovdi tabelli tan-'No Parking' pero' tridu tavzaw il-pulizija sabiex jekk ikun hemm karozzi pparkjati jigu ittowjati.  Nigbdulkom l-attenzjoni li sabiex tkunu tistghu tittowjaw karozzi, hemm bzonn li ggibu avviz fil-Gazzetta tal-Gvern.

Filwaqt li nixtiequlkom kull success nibghat,

Inselli ghalik,


Maria Galea
Segretarju Ezk.
KUNSILL LOKALI BIRZEBBUGA

On behalf of the MFF and organising committee I would like to extend my sincere gratitude towards the Birzebbuga LC.