Question Time

SNAPPER FISHERY

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:22): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question regarding her dereliction of duty.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Even though growth in the tourism industry in South Australia has failed to reach targets set in the State's Strategic Plan, tourism is still vital to the social and economic fabric of rural and regional South Australia. This is particularly true on our coasts and even more particularly so on Yorke Peninsula.

Yorke Peninsula normally expects 1½ million visitors annually. Half of those come for fishing, many specifically for snapper, but with anglers and their families already booked in for their Christmas holiday fishing trip, the minister has yet to announce whether she will extend the snapper fishing ban from November through to January.

I am told that families are thinking of cancelling their trips, tourism operators do not know what is happening, and fishing tackle suppliers cannot order or make plans until the minister finally makes up her mind. The Wakefield, Copper Coast, Yorke Peninsula and Barunga West councils have all asked for urgent meetings with the minister. None have been granted. The shadow minister, Mr Adrian Pederick (member for Hammond), has twice requested a briefing and none has been granted.

One meeting was arranged and then cancelled and the government has still not agreed for it to be rescheduled. The office of the local member of parliament (Mr Steven Griffiths) requested a briefing on 7 September to reiterate the shadow minister's request. Still there is silence from the minister. Local ABC radio this morning attempted to get comment from the minister; the request was denied. My questions are:

1. When will the draft snapper management agreement proposal be finalised and implemented?

2. What assessment has the minister done to measure the effects of closures on local economies?

3. When will the minister and her representatives meet with the shadow minister and the local member of parliament?

4. Given the minister's total disinterest in either tourism or fishing, will the snapper hook line sink her?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:24): He definitely needs a few more omega-3s in his diet, is all I can say. It is very important brain food and it seems to be lacking in the honourable member. I am very pleased to talk about our successful tourism program and I have said in this place before on several occasions that we are very fortunate in this state that we have overall growth in our tourism in this state.

That is in spite of very difficult economic times and real challenges in terms of our dollar and international visitors, etc. Nevertheless, in spite of all of that, South Australia has an overall growth in tourism which we should be very proud of, and that is due to the hard work of our South Australian Tourism Commission and the many staff who work extremely hard and are extremely committed—

The Hon. D.W. Ridgway interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —to providing support to our tourism operators. The other part of our success is indeed those very hardworking tourism operators, many of whom are small to medium-sized businesses, many are family businesses, and they also work very hard and in a very cooperative and collaborative way with SATC to ensure successful economic growth in relation to tourism in this state.

If the honourable member actually cared to look at the facts, he would find that the last lot of figures of which I am aware showed that most of our regions enjoyed growth in tourism—I think only two regions did not; one was KI and I cannot recall the second but, overall, tourism grew right throughout regional South Australia, other than in those two regions. It has been a great success story.

In relation to snapper, this is a very important issue. Snapper is an important commercial fish and a very important recreational fish as well, and quite delightful to eat, which is probably why it is so sought after. As the honourable member pointed out, it has tourism implications as well. People come to this state to visit because of our good fishing, particularly our King George whiting but also our snapper, which is under significant challenge at the moment.

Our snapper fishery is under threat. Our fish stock has decreased over the past number of years, and that could put that fishery in jeopardy and jeopardise not only the commercial fishery but also recreation and tourism forevermore. If we do not manage this fishery well, if we do not get this right, we have a lot at stake in terms of this fishery and the economic outcomes from that. So, it is not surprising that, because of the importance of this, we have put in a great deal of work and consideration and have consulted extensively, which we continue to do.

The future management arrangements for snapper are currently being reviewed. No decisions have been made at this point, and it is not because of indifference but because of the incredibly thorough and diligent efforts of officers and their commitment to consult extensively across a wide range of stakeholders. Those stakeholders have different sets of vested interests, some of which are in conflict with each other. It is difficult to find a landing point, and it is important to find a landing point and to take the industry with you, and that is what this government tries to do and what I try to do as minister.

An options paper and a background paper were released for public consultation for a period of 10 weeks, and 253 submissions were received. The comments are being collated by PIRSA, alongside a snapper working group, which was formed to assist PIRSA develop management options for the future sustainable management of the fishery. PIRSA, with other stakeholders, including the commercial and recreational sectors and peak bodies, has evaluated and looked at those options through that working group.

PIRSA is now undertaking additional targeted consultation on a draft proposal with appropriate regional stakeholders. The key outcome of this review will be management arrangements that optimise snapper spawning and recruitment, to effectively control the level of commercial impact on snapper stocks, and to support a sustainable snapper fishery, one that we can be proud of and one that can be enjoyed by our children and our children's children and indefinitely.

Currently, snapper is managed in South Australian waters using a combination of methods: there is a legal size limit, bag limit and also closures. There are also limits on commercial licences and limits around nets and traps and such like and upper hook limits. While the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) snapper fishery assessment report indicated that stocks were reasonably healthy, it showed concerning indicators for both Northern Spencer Gulf and Southern Spencer Gulf that related to a lack of recent recruitment to those regions. So, the warning bells are ringing.

The marine scale fisheries stock status report from 2011, published by SARDI, indicated five breaches of reference points, which related to the highest commercial catch in history, reflecting the highest levels of long life effort and catch per unit effort. The total statewide commercial snapper catch in 2010-11 was 972 tonnes, I am advised. The Australian recreational fishing survey estimated that the recreational snapper catch was also significant at 177.6 tonnes, which also includes catches from charter boats (94 tonnes).

Interim measures were introduced from 1 January 2012 to restrict commercial fishers to maximise daily limits to 800 kilograms of snapper per vessel when fishing in Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent. These measures have recently been extended whilst a package of management options are being finalised and a decision is made on future long-term management arrangements. The interim measures were fully supported by the Marine Fishers Association, which has been working collaboratively with PIRSA.

Target consultation is occurring with the draft options. So, we are near a landing point and finalisation of that plan. We are aware that the charter operators have indicated to us that they have already received bookings for the holiday season. We are very mindful of that, and we have indicated to them that we will take that on board and consider that in any final decision. Obviously, our aim is to minimise economic impact on our fisheries while, at the same time, making sure that we have a fishery that is healthy and sustainable into the future.