The Rockliff Liberal Government is providing certainty to fishers by ruling out a number of proposed scalefish rule changes.
Minister for Primary Industries and Water, Jo Palmer, said we have listened to feedback from stakeholders and the wider fishing community about the proposed scalefish rules.
"I have determined the following proposed rules will not be progressed through this review based on this feedback:
- Changes to commercial and recreational calamari settings,
- Banning the spearing of banded morwong, sand flathead, bastard trumpeter, and striped trumpeter,
- Introducing scalefish rules for charter operators,
- Introducing a rule to allow the determination of catch limits and/or size limits that apply to any part of a fishery by published notice.
"I recently announced an extended spawning closure for calamari on the north coast and this measure will support sustainable outcomes for the fishery while further consultation on commercial and recreational calamari settings is undertaken.
"Additionally, there will be further consultation on the proposed rules for charter operators.
"I thank our fishing community for taking the time to provide feedback in relation to these issues."
As a report from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has been delayed, it has been necessary to conduct a second round of consultation on the remaining proposed rule changes.
This round of consultation will begin on August 23 and run until September 25.
The additional consultation round will enable the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to engage further on the proposed changes and provide final recommendations.
Importantly, fishers do not need to resubmit existing submissions unless they believe that there is additional information that should be considered.
