New changes to recreational fishing rules in NSW will protect the industry and ensure a sustainable future, according to one local fishing group.
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Robert Steele from the Lake Keepit Family Fishing Club has welcomed the new rules which will see changes to bag and size limits from November.
It follows a discussion paper on recreational saltwater and freshwater fishing rules which was released for public comment between May and August last year.
The NSW government has listened to the feedback and issues raised as part of the consultation process which attracted strong interest from fishers and resulted in 5440 submissions on 43 proposals.
The main rule change to affect Gunnedah and North West anglers who fish in local rivers and dams, including Lake Keepit will be in relation to the size of Murray cod.
A maximum size limit of 80cm for Murray cod will be introduced to provide protection for large breeding fish, while the catch and release of large cod will be permitted.
Under the old rules, there was only a minimum limit of 60cm.
“Before the changes, you could keep anything over 60cm, but now anything over 80cm must be returned to the water,” Mr Steele said.
“I’m more than happy with the changes. I believe the bigger cod should go back anyway. They’re your breeders and they’re too pretty a fish to keep.
“Anything over 60cm is not really good to eat anyway because they’re a bit fatty.”
The 60cm minimum limit will remain in place for the Murray cod.
Mr Steele said that NSW Fisheries have restocked the popular fish over the years and there was now a healthy population.
“Ten years ago, it was very rare to catch one. The fishing regulations have definitely improved Lake Keepit.”
He also agreed with the rule changes for coastal anglers where a daily bag limit of 10 will be introduced for the commonly caught species flathead (other than dusky flathead), bream and tarwhine, tailor, blue swimmer crab, trevallies and luderick.
“The bag limit of 10 per person, per day is plenty. If you’ve got three people on a boat and catch 30 flathead, that’s still a lot of fish.
“The bag limits needed to be reduced and are still at a reasonable level.”
The Lake Keepit Family Fishing Club was among those groups to respond to the government survey. It will inform its members of the new changes at its next meeting.
Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson said recreational anglers would have time to adjust to the new rules, with an advisory period of three months from the commencement date applying.
“Fishing is an integral part of our community and also across NSW, with more than one million recreational fishers that wet a line each year,” Mr Anderson said.
“The consultation undertaken by the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) showed there was majority support from the community and recreational fishers for all 16 changes.”
The new rules come into effect on November 3, 2014. To view a video explaining the changes, and for further information, visit www.dpi.nsw.gov/au/fisheries