AFTA Chair’s Report – October2024

If you have overlooked renewing your AFTA membership in 2024, I strongly encourage you to do so for the 2025 year. The information will be released in a few weeks. AFTA’s influence in addressing recreational fishing issues with governments relies heavily on the size of our membership. We want you to join us, as together, we can make a significant impact.

Hon. Bob Baldwin

Independent Chair, AFTA

QUEENSLAND

The outcome of the Queensland election on October 26th was unsurprising.

AFTA extends congratulations to David Crisafulli on his appointment as Premier and to Tony Perrott on his appointment as the new Minister overseeing recreational fishing.

Although no formal LNP election policy documents were released, Tony Perrott clearly stated at the AFTA Trade Show that the gill net program, as committed, would not be reversed. He also emphasized that all decisions, like those concerning Spanish Mackerel, would be grounded in peer-reviewed science. AFTA looks forward to collaborating with Tony Perrott in the future.

AFTA wishes to formally express our gratitude for the work and accessibility provided by the outgoing Minister, Mark Furner. Together, we achieved numerous positive outcomes for recreational fishing.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

Australia’s richest fishing contest returns for Season 10, running from 1st October 2024 to 31st March 2025. You need to register before your catch: (https://afta.net.au/million-dollar-fish-season-10/)

Remember young Keegan Payne from Katherine, NT? He snagged the $1 million barra bounty on a Sunday morning just before Season 9 ended.

This season’s Million Dollar Fish program has started strong with 109 tagged fish released, 10 of which have already been recaptured and $100k in prizes awarded.

Minister for Recreational Fishing Gerard Maley has handed out $10,000 cheques for red-tagged fish captures to:

  1. 01/10/2024 – 61cm by Bing (Ken) Quan Mo at Buffalo Creek Boat Ramp
  2. 02/10/2024 – 76cm by Theo Vrondos at Daly River Crossing
  3. 02/10/2024 – 84cm by Antonios Mougros at Daly River Crossing
  4. 03/10/2024 – 72cm by Jaida Anderson at McArthur River Crossing
  5. 03/10/2024 – 68cm by Darrel Westlund at Tower Beach Bynoe Harbour
  6. 03/10/2024 – 90cm by Yo Thu Yar at Daly River Crossing
  7. 04/10/2024 – 76cm by De Lusy at Daly River Crossing
  8. 04/10/2024 – 70cm by Noah Faull at East Alligator River above Cahills Crossing
  9. 05/10/2024 – 66cm by Lydia Hebb at Corroboree Billabong
  10. 08/10/2024 – 70cm by Mark Parkinson at Dinah Beach Boat Ramp

TASMANIA

The recently released Tasmanian Recreational Fishing Survey Results make for interesting reading, to say the least, as does the Tasmanian Government’s $1.8m investment in helping stocks of Sand Flathead recover. Well done.

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

While AFTA has consistently driven an outcome-focused agenda for recreational fishers in WA, we will officially launch a campaign on recreational fishing between November and December, leading up to the State election on 8th March 2025.

We will collaborate with our members to ensure that our industry’s voice is heard and taken seriously by both the government and the opposition. We will assume nothing.

Recfishwest excels in supporting recreational fishers, but AFTA’s additional effort is essential to ensure the industry’s business aspects are acknowledged.

Our collective goal remains access for all and a sustainable industry model grounded in science rather than politics. It is hard to trust “political” scientifically-based outcomes when the commercial sector is allowed to fish during spawning periods while recreational fishers face unreasonable bans or when the government remains silent on the local impacts of offshore wind farms—especially given that just a year ago, the SA government rejected a wind farm proposal citing potential harm to fisheries.

NSW

The NSW Government have recently announced $18 million in funding for recreational fishing programs funded through the licence fees of over 400,000 recreational fishers.

It should be noted that only $10m is for actual recreational fish programs and that $8m is made up of:

  • $3 million for research and monitoring programs
  • $3 million for detecting and preventing illegal fishing and protecting fisheries resources
  • $2 million for a digital and over-the-counter licence payment system.

AFTA believe that whilst these programs are important, they should be funded through consolidated revenue, not recreational fishing license fees, as they are the normal work of government. AFTA presented this view to the government and the opposition at the last election.

AFTA will be looking to submit an application to the next round of funding to support “Phase 6” of the very successful  “Let’s Go Fishing” school-based program run by the Marine Teachers Association.

OFFSHORE WINDFARMS

The Minister for Climate Change & Energy, Chri Bowen, has now officially announced that Norwegian firm Equinor and its Australian partner Oceanex are no longer interested in pursuing the development of the 1,000 square kilometre Illawarra Offshore Wind Zone stretching between Kiama and Stanwell Park in NSW.

While they have pulled out of the Illawarra Offshore Wind Zone, others are still open to pursuing a feasibility licence from the government.

Whilst Equinor and Oceanex may have withdrawn from the Illawarra Offshore Wind Zone, they have secured a provisional feasibility licence for the Hunter Offshore Wind Zone, which extends from Norah Head to Port Stephens.

SHARK DEPREDATION

This is a reminder that AFTA encourages all recreational fishers affected by shark depredation to contact Dr Jonathon Mitchell at jonathan.mitchell@daf.qld.gov.au.

This 2.5-year project is well underway and will include a series of stakeholder workshops in regional centres across Queensland, Western Australia, Northern Territory, and New South Wales — the primary states and territories where shark depredation has been identified as a prevalent issue.

For a deeper understanding of the science behind shark depredation, I suggest reading the report by Dr. Jonathan D. Mitchell from the Queensland Government’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, titled “Discussion Paper for the Fisheries Research & Development Corporation National Workshop on Shark Interactions in Australian Fisheries.” Your input is needed, please.

ELECTIONS:

Over the next 12 months, there will be elections in:

Western Australia

March 8th 2025

Issues to be raised:

Federal

May 2025

Issues to be raised:

  • Offshore Windfarms
  • Shark Depredation
  • Importation of green prawns and white spot disease
  • Actions to address microplastics in the ocean.
  • Banning the importation of Crab Pots that don’t comply with Australia-wide state legislation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it will be an interesting year ahead for both our industry and for various governments as we all face possible change.

I look forward to working with and for you in the year ahead.

Tight Lines & Full Tills,

Cheers

Bob