Team effort produces win for North Coast environment: fishers
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Significant habitat restoration work has begun on Cabbage Tree Island, south of Ballina, thanks to a unique partnership involving commercial fishers and the Indigenous community.
The NSW Government today congratulated all groups involved, saying it was a milestone for profitable and sustainable fishing in the region.
The Fish Unlimited project is managed by WetlandCare Australia and is restoring wetland fish habitat in the Tweed, Brunswick and Richmond River catchments.
Today the Richmond River mullet fishermen and the Ballina Fisherman's Cooperative handed over a cheque for $5,000 donated from their catch, to kick-start the Cabbage Tree Island arm of the project. They will continue to donate up to $5,000 a year from their catch to the project.
Traditional landowners such as the members of the Jali Aboriginal Land Council are also closely involved and will help to carry out the important restoration work.
This may include restoring riparian vegetation, removing or redesigning barriers to fish passage and re-establishing natural water flows.
The project is partly funded by the Federal Government through the Sustainable Regions Program and also has the support of recreational anglers, the NSW Department of Primary Industries, Tweed Shire Council and private landholders.
All groups involved deserve recognition for working together in this partnership.
The Richmond River mullet fishermen actively support changes to land management, which help to protect and conserve valuable fish habitat in Northern NSW.
They have also made significant progress in other areas by taking a proactive, practical approach to fisheries management.
For example, commercial and recreational fishers struck a landmark agreement in April to open the Missingham Bridge sea mullet hauling shot, in return for closing another section of the river to commercial fishing.
The future profitability of our fishing industries will be secured through this sensible, collaborative approach to managing limited fish stocks.