Grievance Debate

Recreational Fishing

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:05): I rise today to speak about the current state government's review into recreational fishing in South Australia, and I would like to put on the record that last night I attended a meeting at Glenelg. To date, that is the one and only meeting held in Adelaide which represents probably over 180,000 recreational fishers. In my role as the shadow minister for recreation and sport and as a recreational fisher, I will be at the meeting tonight at Renmark.

At the meeting last night, there was quite a sentiment of: this is already a done deal; this is already a review much like the review of the marine parks and sanctuary zones, and there is complete disharmony, complete distrust in the government from recreational fishers in South Australia. They are being unfairly targeted or tarnished with what the fisheries department, the state government, are calling a demise in fish stocks. Yet we have very little evidence; very little concrete data.

A lot of the answers to questions last night were: 'it was about', 'we think' or 'we're not sure', and there was a lot of grey area when it came to the data. Obviously, the slide show at the meeting demonstrated how important recreational fishing is to South Australians, particularly as a pastime. There are recreational fishers who are doing the wrong thing. Sadly, they are probably tarnishing it for the people who are doing the right thing.

We know that over an extended period of time, the state government has put mistrust into the fishing sector, both commercial and recreational. The previous consultation period with marine parks and sanctuary zone was an absolute no-brainer. These people were going to get rolled over, and it was going to have an impact on the fishing fraternity and tourism—the economy of our regions.

There are a lot of villages, a lot of towns in South Australia along the coastline that people would not access simply to go and visit. They go there for a simple reason: they want to enjoy being there, to be able to catch a fish, and just be part of one of the great sports known to mankind. That is: to be a recreational fisher and to enjoy bringing a fish into a boat, onto the jetty, or onto the beach, and to be able to put it on a plate and eat it. There is probably no better feeling. What I am seeing—and it is very clear—is that the evidence last night showed that there was a comparison between commercial fishers and recreational fishers, and it is clear that there is a wedge being driven through this review.

One very good question asked last night was about the number of dedicated compliance officers. It was very clear. People in the room were asked, 'Who has been pulled aside and had their catch checked? Do compliance officers come up to them?' Out of about the 140 or 150 people in the room, there were four people who put their hand up. Again, the question was put to the room: 'How many people have been a part of the survey that will show who has caught the fish; how many fish; the number of whiting fillets in particular that have actually been caught in South Australia?' Again, there were three people who put their hand up.

How good is the credibility that represents the 277,000 recreational fishers here in South Australia? How good is that credibility? By the way, it is the Victorian government that is doing this survey. A Victorian RecFish department doing a South Australian survey! The government claims that South Australia is not good enough to undertake such a survey.

Again, there is not one piece of social and economic impact assessment in the review, and history shows us that reducing bag limits, reducing boat numbers, reducing boat quotas is simply not working. We look at the bag limits, and they were introduced in the mid-70s; we look at boat limits that were introduced in the mid-90s; and it is clear that all of these measures along the way—reduction in fish numbers, more and more regulation on the recreational fishers—is clearly not working. What we are not seeing is the impact of fur seals on fish stocks. As I understand it, almost 400 tonnes of fish per day are eaten by the fur seal population in South Australia.

I listened to the member for Colton who was having a red-hot go at the government about the intrusion of stormwater flowing out to sea, wrecking our seagrass, having a detrimental impact on our environmental waters—freely flowing treated wastewater going out to our gulf.

Time expired.