A special meeting on Wednesday night was called by the fishing clubs to get clarification from the Fisheries department about the bag limit discussion paper currently out for comment until next Wednesday.

Reducing the kingfish bag limit from five to two fish and snapper from 10 to five fish would have major ramifications to the economy of Narooma, according to the fishing club representatives present.

This follows a similar meeting called by the local charter boat industry held at the Narooma Golf Club last month, where the skippers also voiced their opposition saying it would discourage customers.

Representatives from the Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club, Narooma Bowling Club and Dalmeny fishing clubs were joined by members of the Narooma Port Committee.

Hosting the meeting was Narooma Sport and Gamefishing Club president Mick Roberts who said businesses would close and the local economy would suffer if the bag limits were reduced as proposed in the discussion paper.

Narooma Bowlo Fishing Club president Dave Clark and others questioned why the recreational sector was being targeted for cut backs when the commercial sector did not have controls such as quotas on how many fish they could take.

Narooma Port Committee president Philip Creagh said simply halving the bag limits for all species was not scientific and locals were sceptical as wether their feedback would be taken into account following the Batemans Marine Park formation process.

The need to differentiate between bag and possession limits was also discussed, with the view that possession limits should be separate.

The club members questioned statements from Fisheries that there was general support for lowering bag limits and asked how the process would happen and decisions ultimately made.

Attending the meeting was Fisheries representative Philip Bolton who told the club representatives that no decisions have been made and that there was scope for the bag limits to be varied between species and not just cut in half across the board.

He advised that it was very important for anglers and groups to have their say and get their submission in.

There was some support at Wednesday’s meeting to lower the current bag limit of 20 bream.

The proposal to halve bag limits across the board was based on community representations and simplicity and there was evidence that kingfish and snapper populations could benefit from reduced fishing pressure, he said.

Snapper and kingfish are classified as growth overfished, where the average size at capture is smaller than the biological optimum.

Again the fishing club members asked for science to back up these claims with some discussion about how snapper catches had been improving but that kingfish brood stock were being targeted on sea mounts and further afield from Tasmania to New Zealand.

Mr Bolton said the process could take as long as 12 months to finalise but in the meantime there would be comprehensive report on the submissions made.

There had been 25,000 copies of the submission papers delivered to tackle shops and fishing clubs, while 75,000 licence holders had been emailed, with around 2500 submission already returned.

The deadline to make a comment on the discussion paper is Wednesday, July 31.

The fishermen also offered some practical advice including banning treble hooks on jigs and as well as small stainless steel hooks, while there was also some discussion on taking Fisheries directors out fishing.

Bag and Size Limits Q&A

The following questions and answers were supplied to the Narooma News by the NSW Department of Primary Industries:

1) In the paper it states that 'Scientific surveys suggest bag limits are rarely reached by most recreational fishers' - if this is the case, then why is it necessary to reduce the limits?

Bag limits are one of the key tools for managing recreational fishing and limit the number of fish that an individual can catch and keep. Bag limits are typically put in place for a number of biological and social reasons including:

•     conserving fish stocks

•     sharing the catch between recreational fishers

•     encouraging responsible and ethical use of fisheries resources

•     assisting in reducing illegal fish sales

•     reducing wastage.

The discussion paper states that the latest scientific surveys indicate that the bag limits for commonly caught species (i.e. those species listed in section 1.1 of the discussion paper) are rarely reached by most recreational fishers. Reducing bag limits for these species may therefore make the limits more effective at achieving the aims of bag limits stated above.

2) Why is 50% the only limit offer on the table?

NSW currently has a system of daily personal bag limits for saltwater fish covered by bag limits of 0, 2, 5, 10, or 20 per day. These categories are used to try and keep our fishing rules as simple as possible.

As part of the submission process for this review, the community is able to provide alternative proposals they wish to raise or any other comments. This can be done in the Comment section of each proposal in the submission form (if the comment relates to that proposal) or in section 5 of the submission form in the ‘Other Issues’ section. For example, if a person considers the bag limit for tailor should be reduced to 15 rather than 10 as proposed, then this can be written in the comment section in the Tailor section of the discussion paper or at the end of the submission form.

3) The list of relevant literature includes a number of quite old papers and local fishers say there is no science to support the need for these changes. On the basis of this: What scientific evidence is this document based on?

Scientific fisheries resource assessments are done each year by DPI and information about the biology and population status of around 100 harvested species is continuously updated by DPI based on all available data compiled from a wide range of sources. This includes catch and effort information from commercial and recreational fishers. For example, recreational fishing surveys in the Greater Sydney region and regional estuaries. These annual resource assessments are used to provide advice to fisheries managers both in NSW and also the Commonwealth. This information is published periodically by DPI in a document titled Status of our Fishery Resources. It was last publicly published in 2010 (as per the relevant literature list). However information on the status of our fishery resources from the annual resource assessments is updated each year and used by fisheries managers as required during periodic reviews of fishing rules, to help conserve fish stocks and to mitigate the impacts of increasing pressure on fisheries resources.

In NSW the following species are classified as overfished:

•     Gemfish

•     Grey Morwong

•     Jackass Morwong

•     Eastern Sea Garfish

•     Mulloway

•     School Shark

•     Blacklip Abalone

The following species are classified as growth overfished (where the average size at capture is smaller than the biological optimum).

•     Eastern King Prawn

•     Redfish

•     Silver Trevally

•     Snapper

•     Yellowtail Kingfish

A number of species have a resource status of uncertain or undefined which means there is not enough information to make an assessment.

4) In the overview at the front of the paper it lists 'ongoing concerns', 'community feedback', available research' - these are all generalisations - what information can the Dept offer to back these claims up?

The discussion paper states that the proposals and options discussed have been developed in light of:

•     ongoing concerns about illegal fishing and black marketing of fish;

Please see answer to question 6.

•     community feedback received in response to previous reviews indicating general support for more conservative bag limits.

Some of the 3,300 submissions received during the 2007 review expressed support for reduced bag limits For example, the Dusky Flathead proposal was to reduce the bag limit to 5, in conjunction with increasing the minimum legal length to 40 cm and introducing a 70 cm maximum legal length for all fishers. 56% of public submissions responding to this proposal supported a bag of 5. No changes to the rules for this species were made at that time.

Many of the proposals in the discussion paper are also based on representations made by anglers and the general public to the Government since the last review of fishing rules in 2007 to conserve our fisheries resources. Where there are scientific information gaps, feedback from fishers and the community is very important to obtain information on social and economic issues associated with our fishing rules.

•     available research information

Please see answer to question 3

5) Can you explain how bag limit/possession limits will work - for example - if someone comes from the bush for a week-long fishing holiday and the snapper are running, is the proposal that they can no longer stockpile their daily catches to take home? How is it proposed to police this?

The possession limit is the maximum number of fish a person is allowed to have in their possession at any one time. For all saltwater species except Australian Bass and Estuary Perch, the daily bag limit is the same as the possession limit. The current possession limit rule has been in place in saltwater for some time. In freshwater, the possession limit is equal to twice the daily bag limit unless otherwise stated. Current possession limits and other fishing rules continue to be enforced through overt and covert compliance operations.

6) How will reducing bag limits help control the black market in fish sales?

The Review of Illegal Fishing for Commercial Gain or Profit in NSW (2004) found that the present bag limits for most species of fish in NSW are too high and easily abused. Illegal fishers, particularly those working in a group and unconstrained by a combined bag limit, have the capacity to land large weights of fish meat, particularly large size and/or high value fish species. Sale of fish laws can also be easily abused. The Review of Illegal Fishing Report recommended bag limits be reviewed and reduced. Some bag limits were reduced as part of the previous review completed in 2007 following comprehensive community consultation.