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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-09-27 Daily Xml
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Recreational Fishing

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:06): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister tell the chamber how the government is working to boost recreational fishing and tourism opportunities in South Australia?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:06): I thank the honourable member for a most excellent question. Last month, I had the pleasure of officially declaring a new artificial reef at Rogues Point, off Ardrossan, open to recreational fishing. This shellfish reef is a first for South Australia, or it will be once it is seeded, and a tremendously exciting project in rewilding. South Australian coastal waters were once dominated by native shellfish reefs, but they have been lost in the years since European habitation. In fact, they have been dredged into extinction up and down the gulf. South Australia is, of course, not alone in this situation. There is only one, I am advised, original native shellfish reef left in the whole country, off the coast of Tasmania.

This reef that we have now installed off Ardrossan will provide habitat for many species of fish to feed, shelter, reproduce and grow, and in time will become a recreational fishing hotspot. The artificial reef project came about through a $3.25 million package that we announced at the 2014 state election to boost recreational fishing and tourism opportunities in regional South Australia, and it is very pleasing to see it come to this reality. I have previously highlighted to the chamber that there are about 277,000 South Australians who identify themselves as recreational fishers, and I am sure this reef will help to improve recreational fishing access and opportunities for many of them, and for visitors coming to the state for this experience.

As part of the $3.25 million funding package, the state government has also allocated grant funding to 107 fishing projects across the state through the South Australian Recreational Fishing Grants Program, which provides community grants of up to $100,000 to support recreational fishing in South Australia. Fishing provides opportunities for people to unwind and get outdoors, to connect with the state's natural environment and our fantastic marine parks, as well as generating tourism opportunities in the regions. There are roughly 17,000 tourism businesses operating in South Australia, directly employing approximately 36,000 South Australians, I am advised. The Yorke Peninsula attracts about one million visitors each year with about half of these visiting the region specifically, I am advised, to take part in recreational fishing.

Our tourism sector relies heavily on the appeal of our state's unique natural attractions, which are located right across the state, but this new reef and the flourishing ecosystem it will support will provide an exciting boost to the recreational fishing and tourism industry in the state. The state government's nature-based tourism strategy, Nature Like Nowhere Else, was launched a year ago and has provided the structure for developing this industry. The strategy was developed in partnership between the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and the South Australian Tourism Commission, and the aim is to drive economic growth and job creation.

In building this new reef the state government is proud to have been working with not-for-profit organisation the Nature Conservancy, which is an international leader in shellfish reef restoration, and with the Yorke Peninsula Council, with RecFish SA, the University of Adelaide and also the Ian Potter Foundation and some other community stakeholders on the project.

The reef is built from specially designed concrete structures and rows of locally sourced limestone rocks. Later in the year, the reef will be seeded with juvenile native oysters. At the moment, the reef covers four hectares. The second stage of the reef reconstruction will extend the reef much further than that. This will be led by the Nature Conservancy and has been made possible by additional funding provided through a collective partnership of the state government with the federal government, through the National Stronger Regions Fund, the Nature Conservancy itself and the Yorke Peninsula Council. With combined funding of approximately $3 million, this project will be the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

By the middle of next year, the reef will have been expanded to a footprint of 20 hectares, becoming the largest project of its type in the country. Primary Industries and Regions SA have been the lead agency managing construction to date, and now scientists from the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources and the University of Adelaide will begin working together to monitor and evaluate the site. As time passes, I look forward to this reef becoming a thriving marine ecosystem, providing food, habitat and nursery space for many of the species of fish that some of us love to catch and eat.

We might have to consider a limitation on some of the more avid fishers in this chamber so that they don't go out too often and fish this space. I look forward to more sites like this one being developed around the state and indeed around the country in the future, as we work towards reinstating the network of reefs that we have lost over the many decades.

When it came time to name this first reef, we asked the Narungga community if they would be willing to share their traditional culture and language and offer suggestions for a name, and then we asked the local schoolchildren to choose the one that resonated most with them. Children on the peninsula chose the name Windara, which is the Narungga name for the eastern Yorke Peninsula region, I am advised.

This name now links the Indigenous culture of the region with the young people of the Yorke Peninsula community, who feel a sense of ownership over the reef and I am sure will benefit from many science projects and marine science based around this growing reef. These same children and future generations of South Australians will see this reef grow and flourish over the coming years and will benefit from the ecosystem services and the opportunities for recreational fishing and tourism that it will provide long into the future.

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