FOR the first time, young rec fishers across the country now have their own exclusive club designed to engage them in playing a key role in Australian fishing’s future.
Junior OzFishers launched this week and is the latest development from Australia’s only recreational fishing charity – OzFish. The OzFish goal is better habitat for better fishing.
Junior OzFishers is aimed at children between 4 and 14 years old, and is exclusively for OzFish members. It gives youngsters the opportunity to restore healthy habitat, adopt sustainable fishing practices, and support native fish and the future of recreational fishing.
It features 10 challenges designed to engage, entertain, and educate young waterway stewards. As a reward for completing each challenge, Junior OzFishers receive a dedicated badge to show off their achievement and keep track of how many challenges they’ve completed.
Through completing the challenges, they will gain the knowledge, skills, and experience required at an early age for the positive behaviors to become habits they carry throughout adulthood.
Cassie Price OzFish director of Habitat Programs, explains why the introduction of Junior OzFishers is the next logical step for OzFish’s work across Australia.
“Since launching in 2015, OzFish has had the clear goal of creating better habitat for better fishing. We’ve mobilised the Australian recreational fishing community, with the support of our major partner BCF, to give back to our waterways,” said Cassie.
“It’s something we are proud to have seen happening on an ever-growing scale and Junior OzFishers is the next step. It will ensure the latest generation of recreational fishers do their part for a sustainable and long-term future for recreational fishing.
“We already have many children and young people engaged in our projects through our family and junior memberships. However, we realised we didn’t have anything dedicated solely to engaging our young members.
“This program is designed specifically for them and we hope it will encourage even greater numbers of young Australian rec fishers to get involved.”
The 10 challenges set Junior OzFishers a task linked to habitat restoration, engagement, and good fishing behaviours. This includes recycling, catching pest species, inventing a new fish ‘hotel’, writing about fishing experiences, catch and release best practice, and more.
Each challenge badge features an iconic native Aussie fish, including bass, yellowbelly, and Murray cod. Perfect for showing off on a hat, favourite gear bag, or a pinboard on a bedroom wall.
Junior OzFishers has its very own mascot – Ozzie. A special Ozzie badge is already on its way to existing junior and family OzFish members to welcome them to the club. New members, within the 4-14 years old age bracket, will also receive their Ozzie badge upon joining and can get started straight away on the challenges.
“This is the perfect self-guided school holiday activity for you to do as a family – keeping the kids entertained, outdoors, and learning about our native fish and their environment,” said Cassie.
To find out more about Junior OzFishers and how it could make a perfect Christmas gift for the young fishos you know, visit: https://ozfish.org.au/junior-ozfishers/
