Mr KIELY - 2001-10-18
Can you please inform this House of the recently reported changes to fish possession limits and bait net sizes in the Territory, and the reaction to these changes from the recreational fishing fraternity?
ANSWER
I thank the member for Sanderson for an excellent question. Unlike the opposition, we are not in Kyoto for the whole of today, we are actually talking about things that are important to Territorians. One of the most important things for Territorians is their angling. We all know the importance of the amateur fishing body in the Northern Territory, the importance of this activity to every Territorian.
I am very pleased to say that the bag limits that my department announced, which will come into play on 1 January, have won overwhelming support from the amateur fishermen. Finned fish will be included in bag limits for the first time in the Northern Territory’s 30 fish bag limit. This effectively takes the bag limit from 50 fish - which currently was 30 unmanaged fish, and then five of each of four managed species, so giving you a 50 potential bag limit. We are going down to 30, and we are taking another species, the Golden Snapper, into the species that are declared managed species. All of those managed species are now in the 30 bag limit that an amateur fisherman can have in his possession.
The tropical rock lobsters will come into line with mud crabs, and a personal possession limit of 10 per person with a maximum of 30 per boat will apply. A 10 litre personal possession limit for molluscs with shells intact will also come into effect.
The laws regarding amateur drag nets will also be changed, and we are giving amateur anglers two years to adjust their equipment to go from the current drag nets - which can be up to 40 m long and have a mesh size of 65 mm - down to 16 mm in length, 2 m in drop and 28 mm in mesh size. The reason for the change to the drag nets is that fishermen have been catching juvenile specimens of some of the other targeted species, such as juvenile Barramundi, in these larger mesh size nets that they have been using to date. What we will see happen when these new drag net specifications come into use is that the fishermen using drag nets will target bait species - things like mullet and pilchards and so on - and not catch juvenile specimens of the species that we want to grow large, so that an amateur fisherman can still catch a big barra or a big jewie, or something like that.
We are very pleased with that, and I table the media release from AFANT offering fulsome support for the measures that we brought in. This is very much in line with the advice we received from the Amateur Fishermen’s Association, Northern Territory. It is also in line with my own ministerial Advisory Committee on Fishing, so it is a good decision. I am very pleased that the angling community have received it so well. It guarantees into the future that amateur fishermen can catch a big fish around Territory waters.
ANSWER
I thank the member for Sanderson for an excellent question. Unlike the opposition, we are not in Kyoto for the whole of today, we are actually talking about things that are important to Territorians. One of the most important things for Territorians is their angling. We all know the importance of the amateur fishing body in the Northern Territory, the importance of this activity to every Territorian.
I am very pleased to say that the bag limits that my department announced, which will come into play on 1 January, have won overwhelming support from the amateur fishermen. Finned fish will be included in bag limits for the first time in the Northern Territory’s 30 fish bag limit. This effectively takes the bag limit from 50 fish - which currently was 30 unmanaged fish, and then five of each of four managed species, so giving you a 50 potential bag limit. We are going down to 30, and we are taking another species, the Golden Snapper, into the species that are declared managed species. All of those managed species are now in the 30 bag limit that an amateur fisherman can have in his possession.
The tropical rock lobsters will come into line with mud crabs, and a personal possession limit of 10 per person with a maximum of 30 per boat will apply. A 10 litre personal possession limit for molluscs with shells intact will also come into effect.
The laws regarding amateur drag nets will also be changed, and we are giving amateur anglers two years to adjust their equipment to go from the current drag nets - which can be up to 40 m long and have a mesh size of 65 mm - down to 16 mm in length, 2 m in drop and 28 mm in mesh size. The reason for the change to the drag nets is that fishermen have been catching juvenile specimens of some of the other targeted species, such as juvenile Barramundi, in these larger mesh size nets that they have been using to date. What we will see happen when these new drag net specifications come into use is that the fishermen using drag nets will target bait species - things like mullet and pilchards and so on - and not catch juvenile specimens of the species that we want to grow large, so that an amateur fisherman can still catch a big barra or a big jewie, or something like that.
We are very pleased with that, and I table the media release from AFANT offering fulsome support for the measures that we brought in. This is very much in line with the advice we received from the Amateur Fishermen’s Association, Northern Territory. It is also in line with my own ministerial Advisory Committee on Fishing, so it is a good decision. I am very pleased that the angling community have received it so well. It guarantees into the future that amateur fishermen can catch a big fish around Territory waters.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016