SA Fishing App

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Will the minister inform the chamber about the updated SA Fishing app that was released last week and why it is important to South Australia's recreational fishing community?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:45): I thank the honourable member for his question. The original SA Fishing app was released in 2013 and has been a great way of getting information into the hands of recreational fishers right across the state, delivering trusted information when and where fishers have needed it. Times have moved quickly since the app's 2013 launch, not least in a technological sense, and the app needed a refresh and update to ensure it continued to be an important and relevant source of information for fishers.

South Australia's recreational anglers now have access to the upgraded free SA Fishing app launched last week that has a range of features in a clean, modern and easy-to-use platform. While the app retains the features that were in the previous version of the app, the upgraded app features a searchable catalogue of species with key information; easy-to-use voluntary in-app catch reporting for all species (mandatory snapper reporting for the South-East remains); the ability to report shark sightings, fish kills, illegal or suspicious fishing activity and detection of pest species; size, bag and boat limits for all species regulated in South Australia; a GPS map with highlighted fish enclosure zones and aquatic reserves; and important rules for fishers, such as permitted fishing gear, bait and burley information and more.

Fishers can continue to use the popular personal fishing diary record, saving their locations, catch details and the all-important pictures, of course, of their catch. A major new feature of the upgraded app is the ability to contribute to the sustainability and management of our state's fisheries by voluntarily reporting catch data. This will help enormously to inform fisheries management decisions by providing a clearer picture of where people fish, what species they catch, how much time people spend fishing and a range of other useful information.

South Australia's recreational catch data is largely taken from the five-yearly surveys of fishing activity, and that will continue to do its job in terms of giving fisheries managers a baseline and an accurate insight into recreational fishing activity in our state's waters. Of course, this data feeds into the larger body of work that is completed in the commercial sectors, to provide a framework whereby fishing effort and catch can be measured against what science and research tell us is sustainable, which is one of the reasons our state's fisheries management is recognised as a leader worldwide.

It goes without saying that the clearer our knowledge is on the state of our fish stocks the better, and that is why every South Australian can now easily and conveniently do their part just by recording their catch on the SA Fishing app. Again, I stress the voluntary nature of catch reporting. The only mandatory reporting that remains in place, as it has for some time, is the South-East snapper fishery, and it should go without saying why that is so important, given the snapper ban that is still in place across the rest of the state's waters.

While the app itself was in the process of being upgraded prior to the algal bloom, it has taken on even more importance now, to gather as much information as possible on fish stocks as we continue to assess the extent of the impact to our marine environment. Importantly, the app also provides the ability to make reports to Fishwatch, including reporting a shark sighting, illegal or suspicious activity, fish kills, and finding a pest species.

All data collected by the app is handled according to privacy laws and cannot be accessed by third parties, and of course personal fishing data will never be made public. I encourage members in this place and members of the nearly 360,000-strong SA recreational fishing community to download and use the app whenever they may be fishing.