THE announcement late last week that netters north of Sydney can now take up to three tonnes of Australian salmon a day highlights how much sway the commercial sector has in such governmental decisions.
This decision, which has been approved by state Fisheries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson, is a slap in the face to NSW’s 1 million anglers.
Up until now, salmon stocks had slowly been rebuilding after being decimated by years of overfishing by netters who slaughtered countless tonnes of these prized sportfish for pet food and for use as lobster trap bait.
In a move which signals that the NSW Fisheries Department is regressing back to the bad old days when commercial interests ruled the roost at the expense of the recreational industry, the increased salmon quotas for netters north of Barrenjoey Head were announced before a commercial fishing review has even been completed. Sort of makes the idea of a review a bit of joke, doesn’t it? And to make matters worse, the Minister has rejected calls by ACORF, the group which is supposed to advise her on rec fishing matters, to not allow the netters to again pillage salmon stocks.
The fact is that by kowtowing to the netters over the salmon issue, Minister Hodgkinson has failed an important test. The development of a sustainable and well managed sportfishing industry is the way of the future as far as NSW’s fish stocks are concerned. The socio-economic benefits of sportfishing vastly outweigh that of the commercial sector. By allowing the netters to get their greedy hands on our salmon schools, the Minister has demonstrated that she and her department are backwards thinking.
Even Ian Macdonald, the disgraced former fisheries minister who’s now in extremely hot water over allegations that he indulged in sleazy assignations with callgirls in hotel rooms organised by dodgy businessmen, realised that salmon were too important to be wasted in beach haul nets.
Macdonald is widely regarded as the worst fisheries minister in recorded history. Yet he resisted pressure from the pros over the salmon issue. Minister Hodgkinson has been in charge of fisheries for less than a year yet has managed to alienate anglers with this dumb and senseless decision on salmon. This doesn’t bode well for the future … To be fair to the Minister, she probably doesn’t understand what she’s done. But that’s no excuse. Shame, Minister, shame.
In the wake of this ridiculously short sighted decision, Fisho has contacted Robert Brown of the Shooters & Fishers Party to ascertain his stance on this issue. We understand the S&F is in a position to put pressure on Minister Hodgkinson to reverse the salmon decision.
