Mr WOOD - 2013-10-16
You recently announced the government’s intention to introduce personal possession limits for reef fish and a new vessel limit. Can you explain what personal possession limits will mean for fishers and what the new vessel limit means, especially for charter operators? Have you discussed these changes with AFANT and charter boat operators and what feedback have you received? What part of the fishing industry, commercial charter or recreational, do you believe is the cause of the depletion of the fishing stocks to a point where these changes were needed to be introduced?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. As the responsible minister, I will do whatever it takes to ensure our fish stocks are protected well into the future. I am an avid fisherman. I do not get out as often as I would like, but I have many friends who are fishermen, and my children like to fish. I would like to know that in the future my children and their children will be able to go into the reefs off Darwin and catch a good feed of decent fish. That is why we are now moving to protect these reef stocks.
Going to the nub of the question by the member for Nelson, I can explain that currently there is a reef fish personal possession limit of 30 fish per person. It is just a proposal, and a discussion paper has gone out to the broader general public to have their views. The proposal is that the personal possession limit be reduced to 15, which in my view would still be a reasonable number of fish for anyone to bring home after a day of fishing.
The impacts that will have on fishing tour operators is there will be a sliding scale of the total number of fish that can be brought back on any given boat, given the number of fishermen on board.
There are a number of publications available which will give all the information for you and anyone else who is interested. They are all available through the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries’ website.
The other part of your question was around whether AFANT or the charter boat operators had been consulted and what the feedback was. This government decided we would form a Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee, a board of people who are well-respected and well-regarded in the fishing industry. The acronym is RFAC, and it is comprised of, amongst other people, representation from AFANT and the fishing tour operators.
The proposal, as it stands at the moment, has gone through that RFAC process, and it has endorsed this discussion paper to go out amongst the broader public so we can receive feedback.
Madam Speaker, bearing in mind the consultation is open until 15 November, the feedback directly to me has been limited but, of course, there will be plenty of feedback through the department. By and large, what I have heard is this proposal is generally supported because most fishermen understand the need to protect our reef stocks well into the future. There has been some feedback from fishing tour operators who are not particularly happy, but we will continue to take all of the feedback on board before a decision is made.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. As the responsible minister, I will do whatever it takes to ensure our fish stocks are protected well into the future. I am an avid fisherman. I do not get out as often as I would like, but I have many friends who are fishermen, and my children like to fish. I would like to know that in the future my children and their children will be able to go into the reefs off Darwin and catch a good feed of decent fish. That is why we are now moving to protect these reef stocks.
Going to the nub of the question by the member for Nelson, I can explain that currently there is a reef fish personal possession limit of 30 fish per person. It is just a proposal, and a discussion paper has gone out to the broader general public to have their views. The proposal is that the personal possession limit be reduced to 15, which in my view would still be a reasonable number of fish for anyone to bring home after a day of fishing.
The impacts that will have on fishing tour operators is there will be a sliding scale of the total number of fish that can be brought back on any given boat, given the number of fishermen on board.
There are a number of publications available which will give all the information for you and anyone else who is interested. They are all available through the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries’ website.
The other part of your question was around whether AFANT or the charter boat operators had been consulted and what the feedback was. This government decided we would form a Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee, a board of people who are well-respected and well-regarded in the fishing industry. The acronym is RFAC, and it is comprised of, amongst other people, representation from AFANT and the fishing tour operators.
The proposal, as it stands at the moment, has gone through that RFAC process, and it has endorsed this discussion paper to go out amongst the broader public so we can receive feedback.
Madam Speaker, bearing in mind the consultation is open until 15 November, the feedback directly to me has been limited but, of course, there will be plenty of feedback through the department. By and large, what I have heard is this proposal is generally supported because most fishermen understand the need to protect our reef stocks well into the future. There has been some feedback from fishing tour operators who are not particularly happy, but we will continue to take all of the feedback on board before a decision is made.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016