Bulletin 3
May 2002

Welcome to another of our informative newsletters. We at Recfishwest are eagerly awaiting, as no doubt you are, the imminent report from Justice Toohey on integrated fisheries management. This report is expected within the next couple of months. In the meantime to help keep you up to date with the ever-changing recreational fishing scene let's talk about pastoral leases and recreational fishing.

Members will be aware of the recent publicity regarding the push by some Pastoralists towards denying access to, or the charging of fees, to people wishing to gain entry to pastoral leases.

Recfishwest has a considerable interest in the matter of public access to pastoral leaseholds, as recreational fishing is often, though not always, the key driver in the need for provision of access.

The current Labor government has ruled out general angling licences as a way to recover the costs associated with recreational fishing. Given the importance of fishing as a tourism activity we are concerned that lease holders have the capacity to gain a benefit from the community by charging fees for access to fishing sites while the government has precluded the application of a general user-pays principle from recreational fishing.

Pastoral leases provide the only access to a number of significant natural features of interest to Recfishwest . Between Kalbarri and Broome, a distance of about 1700 kilometres, access to the coast is nearly all through pastoral lease. Between Carnarvon and Yardie Creek about 250 kilometres of coast has only one access point, at Coral Bay, that is not through pastoral lease. This area is very important to recreational fishers.

The importance of rivers has been emphasized by the recent controversy over access to the Fitzroy River through Yeeda Station. Recfishwest can understand the concern of pastoralists and local authorities if pastoral activities are being hindered and the environment is being degraded. However, a river like the Fitzroy should be fenced out of a pastoral lease because otherwise grazing cattle will damage the banks and exacerbate erosion, which has been serious along that river.

If the river is fenced out, access to the river reserve can be arranged in consultation with the pastoralist at suitable points and the local authority or CALM could manage it. Recfishwest believes that in addition to such arrangements the pastoralist could offer to provide and manage a facility on the river for which he/she would charge. This would, however, be a separate activity from the pastoral lease and would not be the only access.

A similar solution for coastal areas would be to excise a coastal strip from the leases; which would make little difference to the grazing value due to the relatively impoverished soils in coastal zones. The pastoral rents could be adjusted to compensate for any loss of grazing. The loss of revenue would not be of any significance. This coastal reserve could then be accessed in places with the access routes being worked out in consultation with the pastoralist. It is recognised that arrangements for the management of the coastal area would have to be made.

Just as they do at present, some of the pastoralists may choose to go into the business of providing and managing tourism facilities. As mentioned previously, Recfishwest believes that these locations should be excised from the lease to formalise the activity. However, Recfishwest has no objection to such activities and indeed welcomes them.

Recfishwest does object to denial of access to the coast because of the existence of a pastoral lease.

Recfishwest has been highly active in lobbying the Hon. Kim Chance M.L.C. Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries and the Hon. Alannah MacTiernan M.L.A Minister for Planning and Infrastructure over the access issues and was well represented by the attendance of the Recfishwest chairman, Mr. Norman Halse at the "Gascoyne Muster", a high level public meeting, held in Carnarvon over the weekend 4/5th May.

Recfishwest has recommended that the following principles should be considered in relation to changes to existing pastoral leases before their renewal.

• The coastline of Western Australia should be accessible to the public. Where pastoral leases lie along the coast, there should be a strip excised from the lease sufficient to allow access along the coast according to the topography. The excision of coastal strips should be implemented under the provisions of the Land Administration Act 1997 Section 143 (6d);
• The major rivers of Western Australia should be accessible to the public. Where a river is contained within a pastoral lease there should be a reserve running along the river which allows public use. The nature of such reserves, any excisions involved and the rivers to which it should apply should be determined by the appropriate Ministers on the recommendation of a community working group which we believe should include Recfishwest;
• Access to these coastal strips and rivers should be provided through the pastoral leases on mutually agreed routes in accordance with provisions of the Land Administration Act 1997 Section 64. Although the consent of a pastoral lease holder is required under the Land Administration Act 1997 Section 64 (3a) we believe this consent should be in respect to an appropriate route for the access. A complete refusal to agree to an access route should trigger a response by the Minister in terms of excising an access route from the lease;
• Pastoralists should be allowed to apply to carry out tourism activities within the boundaries of their pastoral lease. Such activities should be formally licensed and the allocated site excised from the lease. Where judged appropriate, other bodies should be allowed to apply for similar tourism activity leases within the pastoral lease under similar conditions;
• That access to rivers or the coast should not be limited to the usage of tourism developments. Such developments and activities should be offered as options only for those wishing to access the area;
• Where local authorities or CALM believe that coastal or riverine areas in pastoral areas require management then the pastoralist can tender to provide those services; but the authority for doing so must arise from the local authority or CALM.
• That if shown to be necessary, appropriate legislative changes must be made to give effect to these principles.

The foregoing is an edited abridgement of Recfishwest's policy on "Access Through Pastoral Leases". The complete policy document is available on request.



This page last updated on 29 December 2003.