Thursday, 29 August 2024

Recreational fishing

Georgie PURCELL (Northern Victoria) (17:52): (1104) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Outdoor Recreation, and the action I seek is for him to investigate the mass deaths of stonker trout in the lead-up to the annual Goulburn Fishing Festival. The Goulburn River and Eildon Pondage have recently had 2000 rainbow trout dumped at various sites in a bid to guarantee fishing opportunities this September. Fish are purchased and dumped in rivers at three or four years old after spending their entire lives eating pellets in a fish farm. With no familiarity with natural waterways, they quickly become stressed and disorientated. As they make their way to the water’s edge they are in such poor condition that people have been seen clubbing them over their heads without even needing to cast a line. With intervention to nature comes consequence, and locals – even fishers – are becoming increasingly concerned with the number of dead and dying trout washing up on shores before the event is set to take place.

In December last year, another attempt to promote fishing saw this government hand out 95,000 fishing kits to year 5 students across the state. That program was soon linked to an increase in wildlife-related cruelty, including the death of a swan at Edwardes Lake, who contracted a severe infection from a fishhook wound. Between 2018 and 2022 the Victorian Fisheries Authority detected almost 5000 fishing offenders per year. An average of one in 10 people inspected were found to be fishing illegally, and a federal analysis suggested 17.5 per cent of Australian fish stocks are overfished. Many fish species carry the status ‘conservation dependent’, meaning it is acknowledged that they are under serious threat from fishing. Some may be close to endangered but are still allowed to be caught. Instead of breeding trout to simulate fishing opportunities, this government should be addressing water quality and the regulation of commercial and non-commercial fishing. They should be more concerned with why there are not enough fish in our waterways to begin with. I hope the minister can investigate just why so many trout are dying in the lead-up to the government-endorsed Goulburn Fishing Festival.