Almost 20% of Australians Fish

[erron]

This from today's Age newspaper. Just a thought: maybe we should seek to identify ourselves more with our fishing fraternity. We're both hunters, after all, and they've got the numbers, finances and political clout.

Cheers,

Erron

Why casting a line has Victorians hooked
By Larissa Dubecki
August 5 2003


Football gets all the attention, but fishing may well be the sport of choice for Victorians, with 13 per cent of people over the age of five chancing their hand at catching a fish at least once a year.

But only a small percentage of recreational anglers nominate catching a fish as the main reason for getting out on the water. Relaxation, spending time with the family, enjoying a sport and being outdoors are the motivation for most, according to an extensive survey of anglers.

Fishing off St Kilda pier yesterday, Ly Shunn proved himself a typical case study. "I go fishing for the enjoyment and to see my friends," he said.

"St Kilda is not a very good spot for fishing but it' s a good spot to relax and enjoy fresh air."

Yet even if they may not be too concerned about going home empty-handed, Victorians caught more flathead, snapper, trout and redfin perch in 2000-2001 than anglers in any other state.


And Ly had some luck yesterday, catching several small fish and a whiting - the second most commonly caught fish, after flathead.

VRFish executive director Ray Page had his angle on the survey saying it showed fishing was the most popular participation sport in the state. "I don't know any other sport that covers all age groups and abilities," he said.

He has started a never-ending argument. Some people refuse to accept that throwing a line over the side of the pier then ignoring it for hours while reclining, perhaps sipping a refreshing drink, constitutes sport. And an angler need not change clothes, a minimum requirement, some say, for an activity to be a sport.

Swimming has long claimed to be the nation's most popular participation sport - even if only because so many people have a dip once a year when the mercury climbs too high.

If pub games and family gatherings in the rumpus room were ever counted, snooker and pool would probably have a fair claim.

But the fishing survey, conducted jointly by the Commonwealth and state governments, has the statistics. It is the first comprehensive survey of Australian non-commercial fishing and will be used for assessing fish stocks, fisheries management and conservation.

It is hard to argue with the figures - it found 3.36 million Australians over the age of five went fishing at least once over 12 months in 2000-2001. As would be expected, NSW had the greatest number of recreational fishers, just under a million, followed by Queensland and Victoria. But Territorians were the keenest - 31.6 per cent cast a rod, dropped a line or lowered a net - which is ironic, given that most of the Northern Territory is desert.

Sport and Recreation Minister Justin Madden said the survey showed the importance of fishing. It contributes about $400 million a year to the state's economy through licence fees, travel, accommodation and equipment.

The most disturbing finding was that 26,000 dugong and turtles were killed through indigenous hunting, a number Canberra would like to reduce.

Just a thought, but if they give out Olympic gold medals for walking, wouldn't that be the most popular sport?


This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/ ... 41484.html

[Stickbow Hunter]

Your'e right Erron. Fishing is hunting. Bring that to the attention of the pollies and it would make them sweat a bit I'd say. Hunting and fishing go hand in hand but getting the groups together could be hard though. You never know though. Jeff

[Bullwinkle]

Your right about getting the two groups together in a political sense Jeff. Almost everyone I know of that bowhunts up here fishes as well, myself included if I am not hunting or just plain ole shooting I am throwing some lures around. There was a discussion on this subject on a fishing website that plain ole frustrated me, it was in the form of the attitude that hunting was more under attack than fishing so we will stay away from hunters. In a few blokes defense they stood up and were counted as hunters and fishers(me included), and there was no way you could convince the blokes that we are the same and if we stood together we would be well reconised. Anyway, Iwill always be both and never hide the fact that I am. Fenton

[Glenn Newell]

Most fisherman would have never given much thought to the fact that what they are doing is actually hunting. Most Australians have caught fish but have never been hunting and they just don't make the connection and these days fishing is acceptable and hunting has a strong connection with rifles and we know what the goverments and publics view of guns is these days. I personally don't think that we can hope that we find support from the fishing lobby, I don't think that we would even get support from the gun lobby at the end of the day.
We ourselves need to lobby the Goverment that the type of hunting that we do is very short range and we aren't a danger to the public and that we do have conservation value as well.