Call for tough new restrictions to restrict ‘pro’ snapper catches

Recreational anglers want tougher restrictions on professional fisherman, unveiling radical proposals to cut both the quantity of fish and the times they can be caught. Join the conversation.

A battle over access to catch snapper – SA’s prized sport and table fish – is under way, with the body representing recreational anglers pushing for a greater share of the resource and significant new restrictions on professional fishers.

RecFish SA wants wide-ranging changes that include investigating the removal or reduction of minimum size limits for snapper and increasing the recreational share of the snapper catch allocation to a minimum of 50 per cent – a move that will lead to a spike in the retail price.

It also wants new restrictions on professional fishers targeting snapper, including limiting their activities on weekends, public holidays and school holidays – about 165 days a year – banning longlining and creating a network of “recreational fishing havens’’ in popular locations to support recreational and tourism fisheries for snapper and other species.

RecFish SA’s “future of the South Australian snapper fishery’’ position paper is likely to further inflame existing tensions between the two sectors, with a major aim to have the major share of the snapper fishery realigned to reflect the value it adds to local economies supported by recreational fishing.

Such a move is likely to be ferociously opposed by the professional sector, which has long argued the true size of the recreational catch is already underestimated because of the number of anglers targeting snapper.

Snapper being released. Picture: Go fishing with Al McGlashan

“The commercial sector is allocated 10 times more snapper resource than the recreational sector, yet the economic, social and environmental benefit of the recreational snapper fishery in SA is much greater than that of the commercial fishery – this is clearly inequitable,’’ the RecFish SA position paper states.

“Increasing the allocation of shares for recreational fishing will deliver even greater benefits to SA while maintaining a reliable supply of snapper to the seafood market.’’

The position paper’s release comes just over three months before a three-year ban on snapper fishing is due to end on February 1 – but the reopening of the fishery is not guaranteed.

And if it is reopened, recreational bag and boat limits are likely to be reduced following the introduction of a fixed catch quota for snapper for the 205-strong professional sector last July.

PIRSA executive director of fisheries and aquaculture Gavin Begg said since the snapper ban was introduced in 2019, data including biomass levels and stock recruitment has been “systematically recorded and analysed by SARDI for input to an updated report on the status of snapper stocks’’.

He said that report would form the basis for future management decisions.

“The report is expected to be finalised imminently, following two independent reviews to verify the science,’’ he said.

“The public release of the report, and a decision on any future management measures, will be finalised by the end of this year.’’

Spawning snapper. Picture: Gone Fishing with Al McGlashan

Marine Fishers Association executive officer Pat Tripodi said RecFish SA’s paper “has not been discussed in a collaborative approach with the commercial marine scale fishery, charter fishery and seafood industry.’’

“The Marine Fishers Association would prefer to work with all stakeholders of aquatic resources at the Marine Scale Fish Management Advisory Committee to achieve sensible outcomes that benefit the whole fishery and the wider community,’’ he said.

In the position paper RecFish SA argues the data on which the shares in the snapper resource are allocated is “anomalous and unreliable.’’

It states the recreational share of 18 per cent of the total catch is based on a 2007 survey which showed the recreational catch was 19.3 per cent.

But it says surveys in 2001 and 2013 produced figures of 42.3 per cent and 37.6 per cent respectively.

“The total allocation for the recreational sector of 18 per cent is unfair and inconsistent with the established principle of using the best available information in fisheries decision making,’’ it says.

“The commercial sector, which captures the largest proportion of the snapper resource, has by far the largest impact on stock levels, yet the recreational sector is being hit unnecessarily hard by these excesses.’’

Kieth Cochrane from Trott Park with snapper caught at Ardrossan prior to the ban being introduced three years ago.

RecFish SA also wants the significant snapper catch allocated to the charter boat sector to be taken from the commercial allocation, not the 18 per cent recreational allocation as it is now, because it is a commercial activity. This move will also be hotly contested by the commercial sector.

Several professional fishermen told The Advertiser they were “astounded at the proposals put forward’’ and concerned their access to the fishery may be further reduced a year after the state government “had spent millions reforming the commercial sector to make it sustainable’’ and they had been forced to take on debt to reinvest in their business in order to remain viable.

“Any reduced commercial access to the fishery will result in fewer fish being caught for consumption and an increase in prices to the consumer because of the demand for that limited quantity of snapper,’’ one fisherman said.