Arabic version: جنوب أستراليا تتطلع إلى إعادة فتح مصايد النهاش
According to ABC News, South Australia could begin easing its snapper fishing ban from July next year if summer stock assessments show biomass above 20 per cent and sufficient recruitment of younger fish. The state’s Snapper Rebuilding Plan sets out a potential return to fishing in much of South Australia after a closure that has lasted nearly eight years.
Snapper stocks in the West Coast, Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent have replenished to more than 20 per cent, South Australian Research and Development Institute research shows. The fishery was closed in 2019 after stocks fell to a critical level. A planned lifting of the ban this year was delayed for 12 months because of unknown effects from a harmful algal bloom.
Under the Department of Primary Industries and Regions plan, fishing would return with restrictions including quotas and mandatory catch reporting. Commercial fishers and charter operators would have to report all snapper caught, while recreational fishers would report the fish they keep rather than those they discard. SARDI professor Mike Steer said signs of recovery were “really, really positive”.
Some fishers have questioned the data behind management decisions. Charter fisher Ryan Valente said there were limited sampling sites in his Yorke Peninsula operating area, reducing his confidence in the data collection. Recreational fisher and tackle shop owner Alicia Bolitho said customers believed snapper numbers had increased greatly, while commercial fisher Hugh Bayly warned that the fishery had been mismanaged before the closure.
The government is also reviewing a final report from the independent Fisheries Structural Adjustment Assessment Panel, which considered buying back licences held by marine scale fishers with access to snapper. Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said no decision had been made on possible structural adjustment measures. Fishers are awaiting the 2027 snapper assessment report to determine whether restrictions can be gradually lifted in their regions.
