The job left to too few

Working in recreational fishing advocacy can be a busy and challenging job, but if I thought it was busy and challenging now it is only going to get tougher in 2008.

Membership See Recfishwest Media statement:- Recreational Fishers put their support behind Recfishwest

As you may have heard, Recfishwest was recently granted a challenge by the Minister for Fisheries to boost its membership base or risk losing its future funding. The challenge was laid down to the recreational fishing public to get behind Recfishwest or risk doing without a representative peak body. The result was a flow of support for the organisation backed up with a significant increase in our membership base over a six month period. This sent a strong indication to the Minister that recreational fishers wanted a peak body representing their best interests.

In December last year, Recfishwest reached the Minister's target of an extra 1000 members by the end of January 2008 and in doing so helped assured the future for the organisation.

What we certainly will not be doing now is resting on our laurels after reaching this significant milestone.

New recreational fishing rules for West Coast demersal fish. See Recfishwest Media statement New West Coast fishing proposals a 'mixed bag' (28 March 2008)

With the Minister for Fisheries declaring metropolitan waters as recreational only for demersal scalefish and significant changes expected for how recreational fishing will be managed make for an interesting year ahead.

What this decision has done is put the ball squarely in our court to start taking responsibility for this zone's future management. 2008 should certainly be watershed year for the recreational sector.

Providing advice to the Minister for Fisheries and the Department of Fisheries on how recreational fishers believe this new zone should be managed will be an important task for the coming year. Recfishwest has already begun debating the various management scenarios for this zone, but will require considerable feedback from you, the people who actually fish in the metropolitan region before a final decision will be made. The well attended Department of Fisheries public meetings held up and down the coast in October indicate a willingness of recreational fishers to be involved in the decision making process.

The Department of Fisheries are in the process of developing the follow-up management paper to Fisheries Management Paper 225 - Managing the Recreational Catch of Demersal Scalefish on the West Coast. This paper should be released shortly and Recfishwest will be again calling for feedback from recreational fishers on their views.

Other issues and Recfishwest activities for 2008

Despite how important this single issue is, it certainly won't be all we will be dealing with in 2008. Freshwater fishing issues like the proposed closure of Logue Brook Dam, implementation of Integrated Fisheries Management for western rock lobster, the Straits Salt proposal for Exmouth Gulf, blue-swimmer crab issues and the re-opening of Cockburn Sound, involvement in the Kimberley 2020 plan and the implementation of a number of marine parks around Western Australia are just some of the significant issues that will be a focus for Recfishwest in 2008.

The number and breadth of issues affecting recreational fishing either directly or indirectly can be huge. Sometimes even too much for just one Policy Officer to deal with!!!

The spectrum of issues that impact upon recreational fishing can be broad ranging, influencing in someway the quality of our fishing experiences. I believe Recfishwest have been very successful at contributing advice on these issues and advocating for policy change despite our limited resources.

I personally sit on over a dozen different working groups and committees on behalf of recreational fishers in my role as Policy Officer for Recfishwest. These committees can range from the WA Fisheries Research Advisory Board, which provides advice to the Fisheries Research Development Corporation on research priorities for the state, to the Swan Catchment Council Coastal and Marine Reference Group, developing natural resource management initiatives for the Swan region.

I also sit on the Western Rock Lobster Puerulus Aquaculture Working Group, which is charged with the responsibility of advising the Minister on the policy framework for any future harvesting of western rock lobster pueruli for aquaculture purposes. Although this may sound like an obscure committee for a recreational fishing representative, the harvesting of rock lobster pueruli has the potential to impact on the quality of our recreational fishery and therefore requires representation.

Recfishwest has a direct involvement with nearly 70 working groups and committees through its volunteer board and other staff members, making our influence broad ranging.

Some of you may think of this many committees as bureaucracy gone mad, but what would happen if recreational fishers didn't get a seat at the table. The consequences could be loss of fishing access or damage to our resources.

Recfishwest Board Members' volunteer efforts

All of Recfishwest volunteer Board members sit on at least one committee or advisory group representing recreational fishing, such as the Cockburn Sound Management Council, Rock Lobster Industry Advisory Council, Abalone Management Advisory Committee, Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee, Recreational Freshwater Fishing Stakeholder Sub-Committee and many more.

I am fortunate enough to be employed to represent recreational fishers, but a number of people devote their own time to ensure we have a better recreational fishery.

If any of the readers have ventured onto the many fishing forums you would have noticed the tireless work of Recfishwest Board Member Terry Fuller. Terry is a Moderator for many of the Fisheries Management and Environmental Issues Pages as well as religiously scanning through the endless pages of chat and providing swift response on many issues that Recfishwest is involved in.

He also compiles the highly popular Casting Round the Internet weekly newsletter for Recfishwest Members. Terry is happy "beavering away in the background" and devotes a huge amount of his time to recreational fishing. Terry is not the only one doing more than his fair share for the recreational fishery he loves.

There are also a number of dedicated people in the regions that devote time sit on the Regional Recreational Fishing Advisory Committees, Management Advisory Committees and Natural Resource Management groups. Unfortunately the job is sometimes left to too few. The work that these people do behind the scenes standing up for the rights of recreational fishers can be a thankless task.

You don't necessarily have to put in the huge amount of hours like a Terry Fuller does to put a bit back into recreational fishing. It could be simply putting in a submission on management plan that may influence the quality of recreational fishing in your area or putting your hand up to sit on a local community working group.

Future Leaders in Recreational Fishing See Recfishwest Media statement:- Western Australia's recreational fishing future in safe hands

With an estimated 643,000 people who recreationally fish each year, the job of advocating for their rights is being left to too few. However, Recfishwest is planning to do something about this with its Young Future Leaders Program to be held at the Abrolhos Islands in March this year. The aim of this program is to equip a band of young and enthusiastic recreational fishers to take on a greater advocacy role. The participants will be educated and mentored by a group of experienced leaders in recreational fishing. This project will help to ensure that there is a well prepared group of people able to assist in the advocacy and leadership of recreational fishing for many years to come.

This program has been modelled on the Recfish Australia Next Generation of Leaders course which I attended in Darwin in September last year. Unlike the Recfish Australia course, this program will be for Western Australian participants only. I found the Recfish Australia course to be invaluable for generating networks of people involved in recreational fishing advocacy around Australia and opened my involvement on national issues involving recreational fishing. I hope this program can do the same for the young WA participants selected for our program.

A highly talented and enthusiastic group of 15 young recreational fishers have been selected for this inaugural program. I am looking forward to listening to what ideas and visions these young people have for the recreational sector.

This group of young recreational fishers have applied for this course because they are keen to learn how to do that bit extra for recreational fishing.

How can you help? Join Recfishwest, Membership of Recfishwest is open to the public

The simplest way that we can put back a bit into recreational fishing is by becoming a member of Recfishwest. We may have reached the Minister's target for 2007, however, we still need more members. If you are already a member of Recfishwest and keen to put a bit more back in to recreational fishing your feedback on issues are always welcomed.

I am really looking forward to the exciting challenges recreational fishing face in 2008. I have high hopes for the future of recreational fishing in Western Australia.

Kane Moyle
Policy Officer
Recfishwest

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Headings and links have been added to this website version of the article printed in the "Hotbite" magazine.

These articles are written some weeks before the first of the month of publication, so can only include information known at that time.

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This page last updated on 1 April 2008.