THE Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW recently participated in the rescheduled Hawkesbury Bioregion Workshop for recreational anglers and businesses’ dependent on recreational fishing on the 6th April 2015. The RFA would like to thank the Minister for Primary Industries for allowing the workshop to be rescheduled. It was a unique opportunity to present the collective views of recreational anglers and business owners to the Bioregion team. The RFA undertook to invite the major fishing clubs in the bioregion, representatives from the tackle industry, spearfishing groups, state and national peak bodies and the charter fishing industry. A significant group of recreational fishing representatives attended the meeting.
On behalf of the attendees the RFA has written to both Ministers responsible for MEMA and the process and has conveyed the sentiments shared at the workshop as a way of better engaging recreational anglers in the Hawkesbury Bioregion and as a way of instilling angler confidence in the processes that are supposedly evidence based.
There are 3 main areas of concern:
1. Lack of community engagement/communication
2. The Threat and Risk Assessment Process (TARA)
3. Complexity of the submission process
See our letter to the Ministers here detailing our concerns.
For more information, a Discussion Paper, detailed background reports and an explanation of the submission process are on the Hawkesbury Shelf marine bioregion website .
