13/1/03

The State Government has approved new recreational fishing rules aimed at protecting finfish stocks and ensuring a sustainable future for WA's 600,000 recreational fishers.

A general possession limit and restrictions on filleting fish at sea will apply across the entire State from July 1.

Revised bag limits for many popular species will also apply from July 1 in the two most popular regions, West Coast and Gascoyne, which together attract over 70 per cent of recreational fishing activity.

Examples of new limits for popular species include dhufish two (currently four), spanish mackerel two (currently four), cobbler four (currently eight) and groper four (currently eight). Some current limits, such as tailor (eight), herring (40) and mullet (40), will not change.

Fisheries Minister Kim Chance said the changes followed an extensive community consultation and planning process that attracted more than 4,000 written submissions.

"Our major inshore finfish fisheries are reaching a critical stage in their exploitation status and further unconstrained growth in either the commercial or recreational sectors is not sustainable," Mr Chance said.

"Since 1987, recreational fishing effort has increased by 300 per cent to more than 10 million fishing days a year. At the same time, the number of participants has increased by about 200 per cent from 284,000 to about 600,000.

"Catch surveys clearly show the recreational sector is taking a significant proportion of the total catch from many popular fish stocks, such as dhufish, snapper and groper, and increasingly using sophisticated technology to pinpoint aggregation areas."

The Minister said Fisheries Research Division stock assessments clearly indicated that the exploitation of most fish stocks was close to the maximum sustainable yield.

"This pressure comes despite the fact that current recreational bag limits and other management settings for many species are not achievable for the majority of recreational fishers," he said.

Mr Chance said the new three category system of regulations, based on an assessment of the risk of over-exploitation, was a significant advance on the traditional approach used throughout Australia, which tended to favour bag limits and other controls set around social and angling values, rather than critical research information.

While the number of commercial fishing licences had declined, due to Government funded buy-back schemes, there were also signs that increased consumer demand and higher prices were driving an increase in the targeting of finfish commercially.

The Minister said sustainable management must include both the commercial and recreational sectors and the new recreational rules would complement ongoing plans for greater management of commercial fisheries.

These ongoing plans included a major review of the commercial wetline fishery, which also targeted finfish, a recently introduced management plan for the spanish mackerel fishery and existing management plans for commercial finfish fishing in the Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley regions.

Mr Chance will consider changes to minimum legal sizes later this year after further consultation by the Department of Fisheries with the commercial sector.

Information on the changes will be available from district Fisheries offices and on the department's website at http://www.fish.wa.gov.au

SUMMARY OF CHANGES

In the West Coast and Gascoyne regions the new three category system of daily bag limits from July 1 will be:

Category 1 (species considered at high risk of over-exploitation such as dhufish, pink snapper, mackerel and groper) - a mixed bag of seven fish, with a species limit of four or two unless otherwise specified;

Category 2 (inshore and estuarine fish considered at medium risk such as black bream, tailor, flathead, trevally and King George whiting) - mixed bag of 16, with a species limit of eight unless otherwise specified; and

Category 3 (relatively abundant fast growing fish considered at lowest risk such as herring, whiting, garfish and mullet) - mixed bag of 40.

Individual species within these categories may have differing bag limits and other controls in each region, depending on biological vulnerability, abundance and fishing pressure, and may appear in separate categories.

(Note: Current bag limits will continue to apply in the Pilbara/Kimberley region and the South Coast region until reviews scheduled to start this year are completed for these areas.)

Under the new State-wide possession limit each fisher will be entitled to no more than 20 kilograms of filleted fish at any time, except in their place of permanent residence. (Fish divided into cutlets or other forms will be treated as if they were filleted.)

Anglers will have the alternative of retaining their possession limit as 10kg of filleted fish and one day's bag limit of whole fish, or as two days bag limit of whole fish.

It will be illegal to land filleted fish on boating trips of less than 48 hours. For longer trips, only fillets at least 30 centimetres long with the skin and scales attached may be landed. Two fillets will be counted as one fish for bag and possession limit purposes.

Minister's Office - 9213 6700