WA Fisheries Management Deep Dive Part 4

By John Ogilvie

It's been a while since my last piece on Western Australia's ongoing demersal fishing ban saga.

As of writing, the ban is still in force, and the rules received an update (starting from June 1st). In the bioregions outside of the West Coast (map provided below), the recreational bag limit for demersal species has been dropped from 5 to 4.

Image credit to DPIRD

Angler's Fishing World , a prominent tackle shop, has been forced to close. This leaves Fremantle without any angling stores (the closest one now being in Myaree). That's right. A port town with a strong connection to the ocean and fishing (both commercial and recreational) has no tackle outlets left.

As expected, seafood prices have increased substantially, anywhere from 10% to 40% depending on the species. This comes as the general cost of living crisis has continued to unfold.

On June 17th, the Legislative Council moved to begin an inquiry on the impact of the demersal fishing ban. The committee received 477 submissions before the deadline hit on August 3rd, and the final report is due around June 2027. This is shortly before recreational demersal fishing is due to be reopened in the West Coast in spring 2027.

The inquiry is set to examine a variety of factors including (but not limited to):

The impact and placement of marine parks and offshore wind turbines

Impacts of seismic blasting

Shark depredation

Illegal fishing

The rules for the 2027 reopening are currently being drafted, and will likely be made public before the inquiry report.

Compensation for commercial operators has been sluggish, to put it mildly. Months after the commercial ban took effect, only seven (7) fishers have been compensated , out of around 60.

As you may expect, this hasn't gone down very well.

Led by Kalbarri fisher Phil De Grauw , around 20 fishers have launched a class action lawsuit against the government. The lawsuits launched by seafood companies Sea Harvest and Seafresh are also ongoing.

At the moment, things seem mostly static.

It's clear that the painfully sluggish rollout of the compensation for commercial operators hasn't done much to instill trust in the State Government.