| A recent landmark decision in
the NSW Land and Environment Court (21 Jan. 2000) ruled in favour
of a group of recreational fishermen (as represented by the 25,000-strong
Sustainable Fishing and Tourism Inc.) seeking government legislation
to prevent trawler operators from getting a licence without producing
an environmental impact statement. Their concern related to the
trawlers dragging their nets over seagrass beds because these areas
were seen as important fish nursery areas. Court action was brought
against a private trawler operator but it was also claimed NSW Fisheries
Minister unlawfully granted a licence to him by not complying with
the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. The judgement was
suspended for six months to allow Fisheries time to review its licence-issuing
procedures (McIlveen 2000). More recently, Botany Bay and Lake Macquarie
have been closed by NSW State Fisheries to commercial fishing, a
decision upheld in the Land and Environment Court. This is part
of the protection of 30 locations from commercial fishing, resulting
in 27% of estuarine waters being substantially free of this activity.
Commercial fishing was banned from these areas from 1 May 2002 ,
except for the Clarence River haven which will come into effect
on 1 September 2002. The
stated purpose of these areas is to improve recreational fishing
by banning commercial fishing in key areas of significance to recreational
fishers. |
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