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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2017-08-08 Daily Xml
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Recreational Fishing

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (15:03): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister explain how the government is enabling more people to enjoy recreational fishing 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) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Last week, I had the opportunity to join the Hon. Paul Caica, the member for Colton—who is, I am advised, a two-time gold medal winning angler—at the Marine Discovery Centre at Star of the Sea School in Henley Beach. I had no idea I was standing next to such a high-flying sportsperson. This event was to let them know that their Recreational Fishing Grants program application had been successful but also to announce the other successful 21 applicants who shared in the allocation of $500,000 in this final round of grants.

Fishing is a favourite pastime for many South Australians. I am advised that nearly 277,000 South Australians identify themselves as recreational fishers. These grants help to improve recreational fishing access and opportunities for them and for visitors. Fishing provides opportunities for people to unwind and to get outdoors to connect with the state's natural environment and world-class marine parks, as well as generating tourism opportunities for regional South Australia.

State government has committed $3.25 million over three financial years from 2014-15 to increase opportunities for recreational fishing in our state, including $2.25 million for a recreational fishing grants program, $600,000 for an artificial reef trial and $400,000 over two years to provide fishing access at up to five offline reservoirs across the state. The state government's Recreational Fishing Grants Program has directly benefited recreational fishing in and around our state's 19 fantastic marine parks. The program has allocated funding across 107 projects to support recreational fishing, including family fishing and education days for a wide variety of community members, including children, the Indigenous community and people with disabilities.

Funding has also supported the construction of infrastructure to improve fishing access across the state, including fish cleaning stations, jetty shelters and improved surfaces for breakwaters and groynes so that people with impairments can get out and access those areas, rather than stumbling across big blocks of stones. In the third and final grant round in 2017, 55 applications worth close to $2.2 million were submitted, I am advised. It's great to see such incredible enthusiasm from statewide fishing clubs, community groups and councils to benefit recreational fishing right across the state, particularly in regional South Australia.

The 22 successful applications include five projects that have in-principle support. These are projects that are pending relevant government agency approvals. Successful projects this year range from restocking the Murray River with 75,000 Murray cod fingerlings and creating Murray cod specific habitat to infrastructure projects like reinstating Coles Point staircase to the beach (which was destroyed in last September's storms) to support for the City of Onkaparinga's Aboriginal cultural fishing program and their plan to establish a 50 plus women's fishing group.

Recreational fishers have welcomed this injection of funds into supporting their much loved activity. RecFish SA's executive officer, Mr Danny Simpson, said on ABC that:

…the entire program since inception has been just a wonderful program for recreational fishers and all the projects that have been supported over three years just mean so much more for the quality of recreational fishing in South Australia. So we're happy all round.

Not only have we improved infrastructure and education and facilitated hundreds of new tall fishing tales—the Hon. John Gazzola is not here; he is probably working on some of those tall tales as we speak—but we have also made recreational fishers around our state happy all around. We can all celebrate that.

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