THE announcement last week that NSW has reduced bag limits on key recreational species has been applauded by the state’s 1 million anglers. There seems to be a consensus that a daily bag of 10 fish with a possession limit of 20 is fair enough.
It appears that anglers accept the need for reasonable controls on take. It also seems that the fact that the state’s commercial sector is currently being restructured – which will result in fewer operators being governed by strict quotas and/or catch limits – has assuaged concerns within the rec fishing community about the new limits being “unfair”.
Many anglers Fisho has spoken to in recent days say it is appropriate that both sectors “share the load” when it comes to ensuring a sustainable future for our fisheries.
It is now encumbent on the commercial sector to support government moves to reduce their effort and catch, especially in estuary systems and when targeting spawning aggregations in the beach haul fishery.
While moves to reduce bag limits on popular species such as bream, whiting and luderick are largely seen as positive, there obviously remains significant work in regards to further developing sustainability.
In Fisho’s opinion, the NSW Government needs to invest far more into improving water quality and restoring habitat. Management measures like catch controls – for both the rec and commercial sectors – will only work if the environment is healthy.
That said, it was very pleasing to see proactive measures such as a “slot limit” for Murray cod introduced. This measure, which will see anglers only able to take a cod between 60 and 80cm, should help considerably in rebuilding stocks of these mighty native fish.
In our view, similar slot limits should be introduced as soon as possible for other key species such as dusky flathead, jewfish, snapper and kingfish.
These sort of positive management protocols, combined with a move away from intensive commercial exploitation, the rejection of extremist anti-fishing policies, the development of better angling opportunities (via rec-only areas, FADs, artificial reefs and so on) and lots of work and money focused on improving habitat and water quality, will doubtless result in a win-win for NSW anglers and the fish we all love.
See details on new rec fishing regulations here: http://www.fishingworld.com.au/news/changes-to-nsw-bag-and-size-limits-announced.
Jim Harnwell is the editor of Fishing World.
