AFTA Chairs Report October 2022

Western Australia

This month I travelled to Perth to meet with the AFTA WA Team, Tim Farnell – Red Mullet Distributors, Brian Marshall – Compleat Angler Nedlands  & Ash Ram – Tackleworld Miami. This team have gone well above and beyond to achieve a record 17885 signatures on a petition to the WA Parliament, the largest ever e-petition to be tabled in the Western Australian Parliament.

The petition was presented to the Hon. Colin Stephen de Grussa MLC, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council & Shadow Minister for Fisheries on the 11th October at Parliament House. Click here to read the Hansard extract.

During the petition presentation to the Shadow Minister, I was interviewed by Channel 7 (WA) news on the potential closures: click to watch here. I stated in part:

“you can’t have blanket closures; you need seasonal closures that are effective and seasonal closures where everyone is contributing; that’s how you develop sustainability.” 

Getting the Government to understand we all want the same thing, that a sustainable industry is critical; however, we believe the early approach unfairly targets recreational fishers.

The Hon. Don Punch

AFTA, through our WA Team, is a part of the Demersal Working Group headed by Dr Andrew Rowland, CEO, RecfishWest.  AFTA is in full support of the RecfishWest package.

The AFTA Board plus the AFTA WA team met with Fisheries Minister Don Punch to keep the dialogue open and pressure on the triple bottom line, the economy, the environment and the community.

The issue was presented on ABC Landline on Oct 1:

“WA government pushes ahead with nine-month fishing ban despite ‘draconian’ label.“

The Minister said he would release his findings and plan within a few weeks.

Victoria

With the Victorian Election due on the 26^th of November, there is very little to report on Recreational Fishing Policy. We have engaged all major parties, and the respective Political Party policies will be rolled out between now and the 26th November, or if like the recent Federal election, perhaps not at all.

As I have said previously, the Victorian recreational fishing policy model is the benchmark by which all state policies should be measured. The targets of growth (1 Million Fishers), access, investment and inclusion have been hallmarks, but that is not to say they can’t be improved.

AFTA has had continual dialogue with both Government & its agencies, including VFA and the Opposition.

Democracy is truly wonderful, and so is the ability to go fishing responsibly.

South Australia

The SA Government have released “Management options for recreational fishing in the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary“, which closes for public consultation on 30 October 2022. Click here to have your say.

The purpose of the options paper is to:

• collate information relating to the interactions between recreational fishing gear and bait with dolphins present within the Port Adelaide River and Barker Inlet region of the ADS
• investigate the level of risk posed to dolphins present within the Port Adelaide River and Barker Inlet region relating to fatal and non-fatal injury caused through interactions with recreational fishing gear and baits
• investigate the level of risk posed to the ADS dolphin population relating to fatal and non-fatal injury caused through interactions with recreational fishing gear and baits
• Identify options to address the risks posed to dolphins, and the ADS dolphin population, by recreational fishing activities in the ADS.

The Government is putting forward three proposed management options:

 Option 1

• No change to current recreational fishing regulations related to the management arrangements currently administered for permitted recreational fishing activities in the Port River/Barker Inlet region of the ADS.
• Instead, a targeted education and awareness initiative to:
  1. encourage the use of suitable fishing gear and baits when fishing in the ADS;
  2. promote good fishing behaviour when encountering a Dolphin within the ADS;
  3. encourage responsible disposal of fishing gear and baits; and
  4. encourage reporting of Dolphin interactions to the appropriate source/s.

Option 2

• Changes required to the Fisheries Management (General) Regulations 2017 to restrict the use of heavy fishing gear.
• The restrictions will apply to specific spatial areas within the ADS, namely the Port River/Barker Inlet region. Refer to the marked spatial area on map.

Option 3

• Changes required to the Fisheries Management (General) Regulations 2017 to restrict the use of heavy fishing gear.
• The restrictions will apply as temporal protection measures from 1 September to 31 January each year in specific spatial areas within the ADS, namely the Port River/Barker Inlet region. Refer to the marked spatial area on map.

AFTA has concerns that this may be the thin edge of the wedge as an entree into closing or reducing the ability to fish.  

Important to note this issue is being driven by the Department of Climate, Environment and Water, not the Hon. Clare Scriven MLC, Minister for Primary Industries (Recreational Fishing) and Regional Development.

I thank South Australian AFTA  Director Alicia Bolitho (TackleWorld Port Lincoln) for her observations and input on all things SA.

QUEENSLAND

The Queensland Government have released the East Coast Spanish Mackerel Harvest Strategy: 2023-2028.

It is critical to note that the first northern seasonal closures in east coast waters north of 22˚S (slightly north of Stanage Bay) will be from the beginning of 22 October to the end of 12 November 2022 and the beginning of 21 November to the end of 12 December 2022.

Southern Closures in east coast waters south of 22˚S (located slightly north of Stanage Bay, between Mackay and Yeppoon) for two three-week periods (six weeks in total) in February and March each year. The first southern closure will run from 1 February 2023 to 21 February 2023 and 1 March 2023 to 21 March 2023

Considering pre-existing charter bookings made up to a year in advance, seasonal closures will not apply to recreational fishers on licensed charter fishing trips until the following season, starting on 1 July 2023.

Other key management changes:

• On 1 July 2023, the recreational possession limit will change to one fish per person or two fish per boat with two or more recreational fishers on board (the boat limit will not apply to licensed charter fishing trips).
• On 1 July 2023, the extended charter trip limit will be removed (it currently allows recreational fishers to take twice the in-possession limit for charter trips longer than 48 hours).
• On 1 July 2023, the total allowable commercial catch will be adjusted to 165 tonnes for the 2023 fishing season.
• A new smartphone app will be developed for recreational fishers to voluntarily report Spanish Mackerel catches on the east coast and shark depredation. By supplying your catch information, you also improve our data and the accuracy of our fish stock analyses.
• A new education and awareness program will be introduced to promote best practice catch, release and handling techniques for recreational fishers.

Prior to AFTA getting involved in this issue on behalf of members,  the Government proposed Seasonal Closures of 12 weeks, not the 6 as above.

NSW

Examples of recreational fishing license fees at work;

DPI has been busy with its annual maintenance program on the FAD’s along the NSW coast.

Your customers can use DPI’s FishSmart app to find the coordinates of FADs nearest to them. The app provides a real-time map to locate the nearest FADs (tap on each FAD for its coordinates and current status).

After successfully releasing 80,000 juvenile Mulloway into the Georges River/Botany Bay and 10,000 fingerlings into the Hastings River last year, DPI NSW are still at it with 30,000 juvenile Mulloway into the Georges River in Sydney’s south, 10,200 fingerlings into the Hastings River, near Port Macquarie on the NSW North Coast and 19,000 fish into Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney

This is part of ‘Fish for life – Building a healthy fishing future’. Read more here.

Tight Lines, 

Bob