Question Time

Yabby Nets

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding changes to regulations involving yabby nets.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: Regulations gazetted on 20 April seek the deletion of yabby pots in permitted devices, meaning that from 1 July yabby pots or opera houses will no longer be legal to use in the rivers or waterways.

The Hon. J.E. Hanson interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hanson, silence!

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: Chuck him out.

The Hon. J.E. Hanson interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Hanson!

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: My question to the minister is: will she consider a yabby net exchange program for fishers, similar to that delivered in Victoria in 2019, as well as the ACT?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for her question. This certainly is an important change which is designed to better protect air-breathing aquatic animals that can otherwise become fatally trapped in opera house style nets. This move does bring us into line with most states and territories except, I am advised, the Northern Territory and some parts of Queensland, but all other states and territories have banned the use of opera house style yabby nets.

It is also an issue that has been discussed for quite a number of years, including by the previous government's Ministerial Recreational Fishing Advisory Council (MRFAC). However, on losing government, the Liberals had failed to enact the change at that time. On coming to government and with the change from the MRFAC to RecFish SA being recognised as the peak body for recreational fishing, consultation and discussion occurred with RecFish SA who also indicated support for a phase-out of the opera house style nets.

The change in regulation will commence from 1 July this year, and PIRSA will ensure that information regarding the change is widely available and take an educative approach in the initial stages so that recreational fishers are certain to be aware of the new rules. However, this is something that has been, I guess, on the cards for quite some time, hence the fact that nearly all the other states and territories have already implemented this.

I am advised that almost a year ago a major retailer of outdoor and fishing gear ceased selling these opera house style nets in their Australian stores, and I am aware of reports of other large national retailers taking the opera house nets off the shelf some time ago. A cursory look at the websites of some of the more well-known fishing and tackle retailers show that the opera house nets are either not sold or simply marked as not available. These changes have a long history and many recreational fishers have been aware that these changes have been looming for some time, which is indicated by that lack of availability of the opera house nets at a number of major retailers.

Victoria and, indeed, New South Wales have had swap programs—Victoria in December 2018. I might just check whether that's accurate. I will come back to the chamber if I have made an error there. Both states did implement a swap program. However, it's worth noting that both those states also have recreational fishing licences, which is one of the ways, I guess, that people argue in favour of a recreational fishing licence. It comes down to the sorts of things that might then be in place when this type of change occurs.

However, as members would be aware, we don't have a recreational fishing licence here in South Australia and such a licence is not on the agenda for this term of government. It would require significant support of the recreational fishing community and its peak body to warrant even investigating that option.

I think it's fair to say that this change has been in place interstate for some period and it has been on the cards here in South Australia for some time. Most people who are involved in yabbying would have been aware of it and they would have been aware that purchasing new nets was perhaps not the best option. Indeed, as we found, the opportunity and availability of those nets was very restricted in any case.

The opera house style yabby nets are an enclosed trap with a side funnel entrance, designed to prevent an animal that enters the trap from escaping. That creates a risk to air-breathing aquatic animals that can become fatally trapped.

Following consultation with the then recognised recreational fishing advisory group, an alternative open-top yabby fishing net, known as a pyramid net, was introduced as permitted gear on 1 July 2021, which of course was another indicator that the change was going to be forthcoming. At the time of the introduction of pyramid nets, the former recreational fishing advisory group supported the phase-out of the opera house style yabby nets as a permitted fishing gear by 30 June this year.