PEOPLE who want to turn Sydney Harbour into a Marine Park often claim that only a tiny percentage contains sanctuary zones that ban angling.
They ignore the fact that for various reasons most of the Harbour is already well-protected, with over 60 per cent of the Harbour already off-limits to anglers.
Email the Minister for Primary Industry (Fisheries), Niall Blair and tell him you are opposed to any more meaningless lock outs from your favourite fishing spots.
Areas already off-limits to anglers include:
- “Restricted Areas” such as high traffic maritime zones set aside for large commercial and naval shipping and ferries…no anchoring or drifting allowed.
- “High Traffic Areas” set aside for ferries and small commercial shipping where anglers cannot stop to fish.
- “Fish Refuge Zones” including the entire area west of the Bridge where the government recommends that fish not be consumed due to dioxins, and swimming enclosures, wharves, jetties and marinas east of the bridge where it is not practical to fish from a boat or from the shore.
- North Harbour Aquatic Reserve where spearfishing, net fishing, crustacean and squid fishing are banned.
- North Harbour and Chowder Bay where spearfishing is banned.
Click below to see a detailed map of the areas.
Sydney fishing restrictions map
Here are some popular land-based locations around Sydney that anglers have recently been locked out of:
- Barangaroo
- Royal Botanic Gardens
- Botany Bay Breakwall
- Port Kembla Breakwall
Also don’t forget that port and airport exclusion zones in Newcastle Harbour, Botany Bay and Port Kembla mean that up to 25% of these popular fishing spots are already off-limits for fishers.
But worse is to come: the NSW Government is currently reviewing the conservation management of the waters around Sydney. One of the things they are looking at is whether anglers should be locked out of up to 59 popular recreational fishing areas.
Email the Minister for Fisheries, Niall Blair and tell him…
- You are opposed to meaningless lock outs from your favourite fishing spots.
- You want to keep our easily accessible and safe fishing spots like Chowder Bay, Bare Island, Long Reef and Clifton Gardens open for young, old or disabled anglers.
- You support declaring Sydney Harbour a Recreational Fishing Haven. With so much of the Harbour already a de facto sanctuary zone due to various restrictions, this makes sense.
Click here if you want to know more about the details of the Government’s Hawkesbury Shelf Marine Bioregion Assessment .
Click here if you want to read the NSWRFA’s simple guide to what’s being proposed and how to make a submission before this Sunday’s deadline.
