Abrolhos Island wilderness fishing: Ecotourism operators say measures are positive and mindsets must change

Mid West tour boat operators said changes to the demersal scalefish fishery must be made for a healthier tourism industry, and have welcomed the State Government’s move towards wilderness fishing at the Abrolhos Islands. The State Government released measures to recover demersal fish stocks on December 6, reducing the season for legal demersal scale fishing to six months of the year. Wilderness fishing at the Abrolhos Islands will be introduced with a maximum bag limit of 5kg of fish, a welcome change for tourism operators out of Geraldton. Wilderness fishing aims to preserve fishing and marine tourism values by promoting a “low take, low takeaway” model, and discourage catch and release fishing, while operators hope the management plan will allow staff to work based at the island. Batavia Sea Safaris tour operator Steve Smith said ecotourism was the way forward and people’s mindsets needed to change. “As far as a charter operator goes, sometimes it’s a lot harder to fill those positions on the boat. People want to try and justify spending the money by taking home fish,” he said. “Everyone loves fishing, it’s great fun, but some of the activities that I would throw into it — like snorkelling, sightseeing and a bit of historical stuff — I typically find that’s the highlight of the day for most people.” Mr Smith said interactions with nature, snorkelling and bushwalking were assets at the Abrolhos and the new measures would mean tours would be adventurous rather than an extraction. “Rather than getting enough fish to fill your esky, you’re going to be out there getting enough for a feed and preserving the fish stocks,” he said. “We’ve got to have some faith in what the fisheries have decided and they think that’s the best way moving forward.” Eco Abrolhos tour operator Jay Cox diversified from fishing charters to ecotourism about 13 years ago. He said people were not interested in taking a quota home and were happy to catch and eat a fish on board. “We were happy with what’s going on. I sympathise with other businesses that are just fishing obviously, and their circumstances are different to ours,” he said. “It’s in line with how things are going in the world anyway, with the fish stocks dwindling all over the world.” Mr Cox said he hoped the new management plans would allow ecotourism operators, staff and their boats to be based permanently at the islands. “We’ll be able to pick the people up from the airport, spend the whole day with them, take them on the tours, drop them back at the airport at the end of the day, and they fly back to Kalbarri, Perth or Geraldton,” he said. Alltric Fishing co-owner Allan Rogers said Abrolhos wilderness fishing and the new management plan was an avenue for operators to utilise the island’s infrastructure and run longer day tours on the islands. “We have camps down at the islands, but we’re unable to run a charter operation from those camps,” he said. Mr Rogers said operators were opposed to people staying overnight, but utilising the shacks would allow for a better experience for tourists and operators alike. “There’s more enjoyment for people because they can spend longer on the tours. You could spend the whole day there because there’s so much to see,” he said. “That’s what I would love to do, to show what the Abrolhos has got from a local’s point of view after 45 years and look for the future. “It’s the way of the future for sure, catch and consume.”