Page Image
Image Caption
Wednesday 22 February 2012
Simplifying WA’s fishing rules to meet future challenges
Page Content
The Department of Fisheries has released a draft strategy, to help simplify Western Australia’s recreational fishing rules.
Director General Stuart Smith said the State’s current set of fishing rules had developed with different rules for different regions, which are now complex and cumbersome.
“It is time to look at all the rules, to help deliver better fishing experiences and also ensure the long-term sustainability of WA’s highly valued fish stocks,” Mr Smith said. “The vast majority of fishers do the right thing and follow the rules, but we can make things easier for the more than 600,000 people who enjoy recreational fishing.
“Fishing is a popular recreational activity across the State and moving to simplify the rules will help create better understanding of them. Now that we are reviewing the rules, it is very important that recreational fishers have a chance to consider and comment on the proposals.”
Mr Smith said Recfishwest would facilitate community consultation and collate feedback on the draft strategy, so it could be taken into account before any changes were finalised.
“Under the proposed new framework, the focus will be on mixed species bag limits, rather than individual species bag limits,” he said. “Mixed species limits are intended to provide broad protection to the entire suite of species within a resource. Replacing current finfish species bag limit categories with new resource-based categories, for example demersal, near-shore/estuarine and offshore pelagic, will help simplify rules consistent with Fisheries’ management strategies.”
The Director General said the focus of recreational fishing in WA needed to be on the quality of the experience and enjoying eating fresh fish, not the ‘fill the freezer’ mentality of the past.
“With limited fish stocks available, we need to continue the good progress already made by the recreational fishing sector in moving away from bringing back large quantities of fish to eat for months after an individual trip,” he said.
“To help keep WA’s fish for the future goal, a key proposal is to reduce the State-wide fillet possession limit to ten kilograms, for species other than large offshore pelagics like tuna and mackerel. Reducing the possession limit will help managers effectively address future sustainability concerns for demersal species in regions such as the Gascoyne and Pilbara.
“I urge fishers to take part in the review process, to help simplify recreational fishing.”
Fisheries Management Paper No. 252 – “A Resourced-based Management Approach for Recreational Fishing in Western Australia 2012 – 2017” is available at www.fish.wa.gov.au.
Last modified: 2/05/2012 11:44 AM