Early voting shows fishing community evenly divided on licence and fee proposal
Votes are flooding in for a State Government survey of anglers sounding out support for an annual fee for the right to fish.
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Early voting on plans for a recreational fishing licence and fee have split the angling community, as tension mounts over the plan.
About 3000 fishers have so far filled in a survey to be carried out over the next month, with around 50 per cent voicing their support for the scheme.
Sections of the recreational fishing community have been lobbying for a licence and fee for saltwater fishing the past decade, with the issue finally being put to a vote this week by the Minister’s Recreational Fishing Advisory Council.
Council chairman Graham Keegan, pictured, told The Advertiser a $30 annual fee could solve the chronic lack of facilities faced by recreational fishers in SA, by being held in trust to fund capital works and fish stocking.
“In general in the fishing forums like those on Facebook it is 90 per cent in favour because recreational fishers overwhelmingly want and need the money to come back to the sector for better resources,’’ he said.
“Every person who fishes can tell you a story about terrible facilities, inland waters that have no fish because there is no restocking, boat ramps that have no lights and this money could fix that.
“They have given a very biased view to the public and some of the media coverage has been biased.
“I will be getting out very actively in the next couple of weeks telling people exactly what is going on. In the general public, the mood is not in favour, but we are trying to get the views of people who fish.”
The State Government will not allow the industry to go ahead with the idea unless it has the support of anglers, and the council is seeking feedback from the state’s 277,000 recreational fishers by July 15.
Mr Keegan, who is neutral on the plan, resigned today from the industry group South Australian Fishing Alliance, which is strongly against the plan, in protest against “misinformation”.
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On its Facebook site the alliance prompted heated debate after promoting results of a Channel 9 news survey which showed 73 per cent of respondents were against the licence and fee.
SAFA spokesman George Phillipov said the Nine survey reflected others which had been conducted in the past within the angling community.
“The survey being done by the State Government will not reach the many people who fish occasionally, only the people that go out all the time,’’ he said.
“The media survey is more likely to pick up people who like their fishing but only go out a few times each year.”
Fishers can have their say at mrfac.org.au/representing-you