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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-12-01 Daily Xml
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REGIONAL TOURISM

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:13): One that I think you will be interested in too, sir. Given the minister's answers regarding her government's commitment to tourism and particularly regional tourism—

The PRESIDENT: Without the comment; straight to the question, please.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Can the minister explain how the extended ban on snapper fishing over Christmas on Yorke Peninsula will assist regional tourism?

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) (15:14): It is completely not relevant to this question. It is not relevant to the original answer. I am more than happy to answer the question. I am happy to waste members' question time if they want. We know that we have a strategy to manage our fish stock. We know that snapper is a very popular fish both commercially and also recreationally.

I cannot imagine that the honourable member is really suggesting that we do not manage fish stock in a sustainable way. I do not really believe that the honourable member is coming into this place and suggesting for one minute that we should just open up our waters to commercial and recreational fishers and allow this precious fish stock to be fished out and become extinct. Unfortunately, we have far too many examples of species that have become extinct in our lifetime.

He calls himself a man from the bush, and I cannot believe that he is really saying to me that we should lift all restrictions—bag limits and all of the limited fishing times.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: I didn't say that. Read the front page of the Country Times. They are worried about tourism.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: Well, there are a number of management strategies that we use. We use a number of different strategies, and we balance those strategies to try to maximise access for our local recreational fishers. I think recreational fishing is one of the highest rates of activity around. Something like 16 per cent of our population—I stand to be corrected, but I think it was 16 per cent—in South Australia are recreational fishers at some time. It is an incredible proportion.

We try to weigh up the public amenity and tourism considerations, but we also weigh up the importance of snapper and other fish as very important commercial food stock. As I said, we manage these, and we manage these very carefully in a responsible and sustainable way. I do not really believe the honourable member is suggesting for one minute that we abandon all our management strategies so that people can come in from overseas and interstate and fish out our snapper stock to extinction. Is that what he is really suggesting?

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