Fishing platform on horizon

Fishing enthusiast John Cannam is hoping to catch his first salmon when the Busselton Jetty’s new disabled fishing platform is opened to the public.

City of Busselton engineering and works services director Oliver Darby said the facility was now 100 per cent complete except for the installation of three water egress ladders which would be installed as soon as conditions permitted.

“The new facility includes a 60 metre long ramp of generous width that provides easy walking access from the main jetty deck 5m above sea level to two new low-level platforms that are 3m lower down, and only about two metres above mean sea level,” he said.

The facility is shoreward of the gates to the Underwater Observatory and therefore lies outside of the fishing prohibition zone.

Mr Cannam said the platform was about four years in the making and would not only benefit him but also mothers with prams, people with physical impairments and divers.

Mr Darby said divers and snorkelers would enjoy a much easier and safer 2m ladder climb to exit the water compared to the 5m high ladder climb previously required at the location.

“The low level platforms also offer closer “line-of-sight” proximity for persons supervising others in the water, which provide for safer supervision for example by teachers taking school groups,” he said.

“The low platforms are not intended for general boat mooring and landing, however they do offer an emergency response facility for Sea Rescue or others to evacuate the public from the end of the jetty to boats if access to shore is isolated or severed part way along the jetty.”