Fisheries Management Amendment Bill introduced

The protection of the NSW state’s valuable fisheries resource will be further strengthened following the passing of the Fisheries Management Amendment Bill 2009, Minister for Primary Industries Tony Kelly said.

“We have also amended the Fisheries Management Act 1994 in order to formally recognise the importance of Aboriginal cultural fishing in NSW and strengthen penalties for illegal fishing activity,” Mr Kelly said.

“Fishing is a historically important part of indigenous culture and custom and the changes to the Fisheries Management Act will more adequately reflect that significance.

“An important part of the process was seeking feedback from indigenous communities themselves in order to most accurately identify and represent major cultural events, indigenous laws and local issues.”

Mr Kelly said that the new object is also consistent with the National Indigenous Fishing Principles which seeks to integrate and protect Aboriginal cultural fishing within traditional fisheries management frameworks.

“I am proud to say that this Government has made a concerted effort to better understand, respond to and recognise Aboriginal culture as a whole and this Bill is a tremendous example of that,” he said.

The Bill also includes provisions to allow for tougher penalties for illegal fishing in response to the findings of the landmark Palmer Report which found that the illegal harvesting and black marketing of fish is a serious, widespread, entrenched and growing problem in NSW.

These provisions include
• Increasing the powers the courts have in sentencing convicted fisheries criminals
• Increasing the powers Fisheries Officers have to act on suspected illegal fishing activity
• Tougher penalties for a range of offences

“Our precious fisheries resource is finite and it is imperative that Government does all it can to protect this valuable community owned asset,” Mr Kelly said.

“These amendments also send a strong clear message to illegal fishers – do the wrong thing and you will get caught and there will be severe consequences.”