‘Don Punch is not a fisherman’: South West fishing community slams proposed ban and calls for urgent change

The South West fishing community is calling for action against the McGowan Government’s recently proposed species recovery scheme claiming the fisheries minister has a “lack of understanding” on the topic. Two weeks ago, Fisheries Minister Don Punch opened public consultation on the proposal to “rebuild stocks of demersal scalefish” which will seek to impose an eight to nine month ban on fishing each year in an effort to repopulate species at risk, specifically pinkies and dhufish. At the time, Mr Punch said commercial and recreational fishermen needed to “take the pain” as it was “absolutely necessary to ensure we still have demersal fish stocks in our waters in 2030.” The public consultation will be open until September 16, with local recreational and commercial fishers urging the community to have their say in hopes to have the proposal changed. Just last year, a Dunsborough man caught a world recording breaking dhufish, weighing in at 26.4kg. He preserved it’s glory through local gyotaku artist Adam Ashdown and skeletal taxidermist Matt Durrell. A keen fisherman himself, Mr Ashdown said the proposal is “back pedalling” on what the government is hoping to achieve, and believed the correct approach is aligning the ban with the fish breeding season. “I’m all for protecting a resource but . . . a closed season for two or three months is a great thing. But it needs to coincide with when they actually breed, the demersels. “It needs to be a blanket ban . . . a strict three months over their breeding season, just like having seasonal fruit — you don’t eat apples in summertime, because there’s stone fruit around — just say we’re not going to eat dhufish from the west coast bio region at the moment, because it’s a closed season — it is just what it is.” From a commercial standpoint, owner of Geographe Camping and Tackle World Nigel Hoffman said tackle stores across the impacted area would take a massive blow. “A lot of people travel north and south purposefully for fishing holidays and the ban would just take that away . . . demersal fishing is the primary market of what I sell,” he said. “I’m ordering stock ahead of Christmas and with all the uncertainty I don’t know whether to be buying stock or if there will be a ban and it will be money down the drain.” Mr Hoffman said it was clear the minister had a “lack of understanding” on the topic. “It’s clear Don Punch isn’t a fisherman . . . we can only hope he is open to discussion on finding a better middle ground.” Mr Hoffman also kick-started a petition against the ban, which community members can sign online or physically in store. He wrote to local member for Vasse Libby Mettam calling for further action to be taken, the MLA agreeing the fishing community has been “blindsided” by the announcement. “The Minister for Fisheries’ announcement completely blindsided the recreational and commercial fishing industry,” she said. “Whilst I welcome the extension of the consultation period, I hope the Minister will now listen to the advice provided for a more measured science-backed approach which will not be so devastating for the sector and associated small businesses. “I encourage businesses and the community to complete the survey https://yoursay.dpird.wa.gov.au/ open until 30 September 2022.”