Recreational fishers take the right steps to ensure sustainability

It's funny how goods news seems to always come all at once. Although not complaining about a flurry of good news, it does make the barren periods where good news is few and far between seem never ending.

Last month, the Minister for Fisheries made it some what of a "Christmas in July" for recreational anglers with a number of management reforms on which Recfishwest had spent a number of years working on finally coming to fruition.

These announcements included;

• The Minister for Fisheries approving an increase in the minimum legal size limit for pink snapper in the Wilson Inlet from 280 mm to 410 mm. This creates a uniform minimum legal size limit for pink snapper across the South Coast and West Coast Regions;

• A total protection for cobbler in the Swan and Canning Rivers, primarily due to environmental changes causing loss of suitable breeding habitat;

• A prohibition on the use of drag nets in the Peel Harvey Estuary and its tributaries due to the adverse impact they have on juvenile crab stocks; and

• A prohibition on fishing for black bream in the Heirisson Island lakes. Significant numbers of large black bream are known to enter the lakes on Heirisson Island from the Swan River during the spawning season and can be easily targeted.


Now you may wonder why Recfishwest would be so pleased about a number of new regulations that result in a loss of fishing access.

While the above mention announcements all involve a loss of fishing access in some capacity, the action has been proactively driven by recreational anglers because we have identified a sustainability issue and we care about our fishing resources.

Cobbler. In the case of cobbler in the Swan River, environmental factors causing a loss of suitable breeding habitat have resulted in stocks falling to dangerously low levels. Once a common target species for recreational fishers they are now rarely even sighted in the Swan and Canning.

Although recreational fishing pressure is not attributed to their disappearance, if recreational fishers are going to view ourselves as custodians for the environment then the most appropriate response was to stop fishing for cobbler and give the stocks the greatest possible chance to recover.

Recfishwest has been working with the Swan River Trust to develop research projects that will identify impacts and recovery strategies for cobbler as well as river prawns in the Swan and Canning Rivers. Whilst it is unreasonable to suggest that cobbler will some day return to numbers like the "good old days" it is important that we don't continue to allow them to continue on their pathway towards disappearance.

It is also important to do everything possible from an environmental perspective to ensure cobbler recover. We hope that recreational anglers, by voluntarily implementing a total ban on the take of cobbler will continue to take the lead on Swan and Canning issues.

I believe recreational fishers are embracing more of a conservation ethic in our approach to fishing. Without sustainable fish resources, the reality is that our favoured pastime would not exist. These proactive measures initiated by the recreational fishing sector, supported by the Minister and widely embraced are a testament to this changing ethic.

Being proactive on fisheries management issues can only increase recreational fishing's credibility for future management debates. Recreational fishers have a pretty good track record for instigating management reform when action is required.

Pink Snapper spawning aggregations. If you turn back a few years, it was Recfishwest and the VFLO program which lobbied the Department of Fisheries for protection of pink snapper in Cockburn Sound during spawning periods. Despite advice from the Department that it was an unnecessary action, Recfishwest still campaigned strongly on this issue.

Just a few years down the track and the researchers from the Department of Fisheries have now identified Cockburn Sound as one of few spawning locations for pink snapper on the whole West Coast region. Cockburn Sound is now viewed as being vitally important for pink snapper recruitment. Imagine if recreational fishers had of sat on their hands for another few years waiting for this extra scientific information.

Wilson Inlet juvenile Pink Snapper. Like Cockburn Sound is for West Coast pink snapper, Wilson Inlet is just as important to South Coast pink snapper stocks. The inlet functions as nursery ground for pink snapper that recruit as juveniles before moving back to the oceanic stock as mature fish. In the past it has been legal for commercial and recreational fishers to catch these juvenile pink snapper in Wilson Inlet due to their smaller minimum legal size of 280 mm rather than the 410 mm for the rest of the state.

During the latest South Coast Recreational Fishing Review the Working Group suggested that these juvenile stocks be protected because fishing them was to the detriment of the South Coast oceanic pink snapper stocks. Although not initially adopted by the Minister due to pressure from the commercial fishers, the hard work of local resident Mr Robert Robinson and local member for Albany, Mr Peter Watson was able to generate overwhelming local support for this proposal. To finally see it now be adopted is a significant achievement for the South Coast recreational fishers that have lobbied hard for its implementation. It is also a victory for common sense.

Peel - Harvey drag netting. Likewise, the Peel regional Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee has widely canvassed support in the Mandurah region for a prohibition of drag netting in the Peel-Harvey estuary. The practice of drag netting can at times result in the catches of more juvenile crabs than prawns. Drag netting for prawns is a past-time that would sit fondly with a number of the older readers. However, the reality is the numbers of prawns in the Peel-Harvey aren't like they once were and using drag nets to catch a feed of prawns whilst at the same time catching and killing juvenile crabs is not a sustainable practice.

Protection for crabs. The prohibition on drag netting in the Peel-Harvey coincides with the Minister's decision to implement a reduction in the West Coast recreational bag limit for blue swimmer crabs from 20 to 10. The daily boat limit is also being halved from 40 to 20 (from 1 November 2007.) There will also be a two-month closure to recreational and commercial crab fishing in the Peel-Harvey between September 1 and October 31 to provide protection to pre-spawning females.

Black Bream pre-spawning aggregations. Protection of aggregating black bream has been a driver for many recreational metropolitan bream fisherman advocating for a closure of the Heirisson Islands lakes to fishing. Pre-spawning black bream were being targeted in these lakes at the detriment of the overall Swan and Canning fishery. This small closure should greatly improve the quality of bream fishing in Perth.

All these management changes were initiated by concerned local recreational fishers contacting Recfishwest and requesting support to help progress the issues. If you have any thoughts on the future management of West Australian fish resources please contact Recfishwest and let them be known. We are your peak representative body and the best avenue for communication with the Department of Fisheries and your Minister for Fisheries on your thoughts as recreational fishers. We strongly encourage you to become a part of this organisation and join us as a Recfishwest member.

Let's hope there are many more good news stories to come in the future for recreational fishers.

Kane Moyle
Policy Officer



This page last updated on 13 September 2007.