Kennelly, S.J. and Turnell, P.J., 2011. Recreational fishing, management and research in New South Wales, Australia. Presentation given at the 6th World Recreational Fishing Conference, 1–4 August 2011, Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany.

Summary

New South Wales has Australia’s largest recreational fisheries, involving over 1 million people and valued at over $500 million. All recreational fishers (except aboriginal people, pensioners and children under 18 years) are required to pay a licence fee (for 3 days – $6, 1 month – $12, 1 year – $30 and 3 years – $75) which generates over $13 million per year, which is spent on enhancement, education, compliance, habitat restoration and research programs.

Key programs include: Freshwater stocking of native and introduced species; Artificial reef and FAD programs; 350 Fishcare Volunteers who teach anglers about fishing rules and responsible fishing techniques; Fishing clinics and education programs for school children, people from culturally diverse backgrounds and special needs groups; Fish habitat restoration projects, including the building of fishways and re-snagging rivers.

All programs are underpinned by extensive research before, during and after to ensure that all work is scientifically based. Key research projects include biological studies of recreationally important species, creel surveys and interviews of anglers, acoustic tagging, assessing impacts of FADs and artificial reefs, and maximising the survival of fish released by anglers.

This paper provides an example of a very large, sophisticated and diverse recreational fishery that is managed at world’s best practice standards, made possible by the significant input of quite modest individual licence fees.