Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development officials faced an Environment and Public Affairs Committee inquiry into the ban, which the Cook government imposed late last year on commercial demersal fishing from Augusta to Kalbarri and on demersal trawling in the Pilbara. Recreational demersal fishing in the West Coast bioregion, from the South West to Kalbarri, was banned until spring 2027.
Fisheries and Aquaculture executive director Nathan Harrison told the committee that after the ban lifts, fishing could not return to previous levels. Before the ban, the commercial catch in the bioregion was between 220 and 240 tonnes of fish and the recreational sector caught about 220 tonnes. Harrison said the total annual catch needed to fall to under 100 tonnes to allow stocks to continue recovering, but acknowledged the challenge given there were 130,000 licensed recreational fishers in the state, 30,000 of whom caught demersal fish.
Harrison flagged seasonal closures, likely during the warmer months, to keep the catch down. “The window of fishing that’s available to the recreational sector when it does reopen would have to be fairly small to allow that catch of 100 tons,” he said. “To try and avoid the key spawning times for dhufish and pink snapper, which traditionally spawn over the summer months … you may have a limited winter fishery to manage that catch to 100 tons.”
Mandatory reporting would be required, with fishers required to report their catch as soon as they returned to the boat ramp.
The ban has faced backlash from the commercial fishing sector, which has questioned the science and criticised the compensation offered for licenses. The Cook government budgeted $20 million for compensation; the inquiry heard 13 commercial fishers had negotiated a buyback, 13 more negotiations were under way, and 27 had opted to launch a class action. About $6 million of the fund has been spent.
Director general Heather Brayford lamented social media discourse over the ban, warning that evidence presented to the committee would likely be “twisted and turned by those seeking to discredit the department and, in some cases, to personally attack the individual staff members.”
Harrison said pink snapper was at 20 per cent of its original biomass and dhufish was lower along parts of the coast. He said the department had aged over 60,000 fish and that the stock assessment showed no old fish left in the population.
The department said it was using drone trials to monitor compliance and fisheries officers had about 20,000 interactions with fishers.