Updated laws around the taking of Eastern Blue Groper have been labelled as misguided and a complete betrayal by the NSW Agriculture Minister and the department.
Mark Banasiak MLC from the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party said, “There has been zero communication with fishers, zero consultation with industry stakeholders and zero with the advisory groups.”
There are over 390,000 recreational fishing license holders in NSW, and every single one of those people should feel betrayed by the minister’s office and the department for the way this information has circled the public domain” he said.
SFF has been advocating for an audit of the recreational fishing trust for some time now.
Mr Banasiak further questioned, “Why we should we pay upwards of half a million in salaries from our recreational license fees, to support access officers who appear to be actively conspiring to take away access not improve it,” said Mr Banasiak.
He said, “Recreational fishers are tired of the major parties using them as political footballs and a department not working in their best interest.”
It’s time for a change, and we will be pushing forward with our bill to create a Statutory Authority for the recreational fishing sector, as well as a dedicated Minister for Fisheries that genuinely has the interest of fishers at heart.”
