Recfish Australia members unanimously agreed to join the newly formed Boating and Fishing Council of Australia (BCFA) at Recfish’s 26th Annual General Meeting held recently in Melbourne.
Recfish Australia is the peak national body for Australia’s more than 3 million recreational fishers and its decision to join an alliance of predominantly industry organisations will ensure that the voice of recreational fishers is also considered.
“The council is a significant step in strengthening the partnerships within the recreational fishing sector and it will greatly assist us in presenting unified policy and position statements to government.” said Len Olyott CEO of Recfish Australia.
“Recfish Australia brings direct contact with state and national peak bodies and their thousands of members ensuring that the council truly represents the views of the community”.
The AGM also returned two new board members for Recfish Australia with Max Castle from the NSW Advisory Council on Recreational Fishing (NSW ACoRF) and Frank Prokop from Recfishwest joining the board.
Prokop was also elected as chair replacing Bruce Schumacher. After 22 years of service to Recfish Australia, Schumacher has decided to concentrate his efforts on the NSW recreational fishing community where he serves as ACoRF chair.
Prokop is no stranger to the top job, having served as president from 2003 to 2004. Russell Conway from VRFish in Victoria was nominated as deputy chair.
Newly appointed Recfish board member Frank Prokop.
The AGM concluded with a workshop to identify the priority areas that Recfish needs to focus on in the next 12 months. Attendees included past members of Recfish Australia such as Sunfish Queensland, the South Australian Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee and Native Fish Australia as well as new members; the Professional Fishing Instructors and Guides Association, the Recreational Fishing Alliance of New South Wales and the New South Wales Council of Freshwater Anglers.
Over the next few months Recfish Australia plans to revise its constitution to better reflect the needs of the recreational fishing sector. Recfish also aims to develop a business case to deliver to the Australian Government and the recreational fishing sector and will look at implementing suggestions for raising revenue contained in the Strategic Revenue Options report funded by the Australian Government.