NAFA - Manage But Don't Close Fisheries

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Editorial published in the current edition of the National Australian Fishing Annual (NAFA). Copy sent to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. 

Manage…But Don’t Close

  For the life of me I can’t understand how we allowed ourselves to get into a situation whereby people who don’t understand fishing can have so much influence over our favourite pastime.
  I’ve seen it many times with politicians, senior bureaucrats and people who can make decisions that impact on lifestyle pursuits. If they don’t fish themselves, they don’t understand what it’s all about and they therefore don’t give a rat’s arse.
  Fishing is one of the best things kids can grow up doing. It’s a proven wonderful way for families to bond.
Where I live in the Northern Territory, electorates are so small that, prior to an election, politicians have to doorknock every single constituent and hear them out. The fishing debate was won more than two decades ago. If a government attempts to stop people from fishing in the Northern Territory, it gets kicked out — end of story.
  Why is it that, in a place that has the least amount of restrictions on where people can fish, overall the fishing is better than anywhere else in Australia?
  The answer is simple: it’s called MANAGEMENT. In the Territory, fisheries are managed to be sustainable and totally available for future generations, but without things like closed seasons and closed waters. The sole exceptions are the West Alligator River in Kakadu National Park, which is managed by the Feds and and is closed completely, and the lower tidal sections of the Mary and Daly Rivers which are seasonally closed for four months each year.
  The West Alligator was closed in the early ‘80s at a time when the then powers that be in Canberra wanted to stop all recreational fishing in the park. It was a huge win for anglers that only a very small part of the park was closed to fishing. And watch this space because I won’t be surprised if AFANT (Amateur Fishermen’s Association NT) doesn’t get the West Alligator eventually reopened in a managed way.
  The lower Mary and Daly Rivers were closed to recreational fishing from October to January inclusive in the late ‘80s to appease commercial fishermen who were no longer allowed to fish these waters at all. The argument was that October to January takes in the barra breeding season, but there are plenty in the Top End, including some of the new breed of scientists, who see no need for these recreational fishing seasonal closures when other management tools — like bag limits, size limits, gear restrictions and catch-and-release-only areas — do a fine job of looking after the resource without stopping people from actually fishing. My tip is that these closures will be done away with in the not-too-distant future.
  It’s interesting just how many articles in this NAFA are related to the issue of fishing restrictions, over-fishing and good or bad management.
  On a truly positive note, Steve Starling’s Sydney Reborn article is all about how good the fishing is around Sydney now following various closures to commercial fishing and because both citizens and industry are wising up "to the importance of doing the right thing in order to improve the health of our estuaries, bays and harbours". Starlo claims "…the fishing in Sydney’s Big Four estuaries (the
Hawkesbury, Harbour, Botany Bay and Port Hacking) is better today than at any time in living memory, and it only looks set to improve."
  At the other end of the scale, Lex Silvester’s Gone The Fish frightening report on the monumental demise of fisheries across South East Asia from over-harvesting only adds credence to the proper-fisheries-management ethos.
  On the issue of recreational-fishing-excluded marine parks and zones, Lex’s concluding comments will do me any day: "Where fish stocks need protection, bag limits, research, proper education and enforcement are appropriate, but not total exclusion from access to the resource. It is difficult to see what else justifies this trend, if not the ideology of the bureaucratic controllers whose real aim is to shape, to their own expectations, the lives of people. The high-water mark of this madness is the move, around Australia, to create areas where recreational fishing is totally excluded. One thing I’ve learned is that, the more kids learn to fish and love the outdoor life, the more rounded and productive citizens they become. Steps to exclude the next generation of Australian kids from fishing should be resisted with all the energy that can be found."
  On that very subject of closing areas to recreational fishing, you’ll delight in former fishery’s inspector, Sol Bannura’s practical test of such closures in his story Showdown At Currumbene Creek.

  Hopefully you’ll notice the new look we’ve given this 18th edition of NAFA. Make sure you put up the poster calendar included. I’m sure you’ll agree that that’s not a bad mangrove jack to be hanging on the wall.

  Good fishing

alex@nafa.com.au
www.nafa.com.au
www.barralodge.com.au

Edited by BarraLodge - 21/Jan/2010 at 8:02pm