The Kalbarri Offshore and Angling Club, along with community partners and the Department of Parks and Wildlife are doing their bit to keep fishers safe around the coast of Kalbarri.
A renown rock fishing location, the cliffs of Kalbarri present huge challenges for both beginners and experienced fishers. Although quality fish can be caught from the Kalbarri cliffs, the dangers that come with fishing here outweigh any fish.
Recfishwest provided 5 Angel Rings to the Kalbarri Offshore and Angling Club and DPaW to install at designated high-risk fishing locations, and with no hesitations installed the rings to ensure fishers are kept as safe as possible when rock fishing.
As reported in our last Broad Cast, Kalbarri Sports and Dive tackle shop are now a Free Life Jacket Loan location with 5 jackets available to hire for anyone going rock fishing in an extension of the state wide Life Jacket Loan scheme bringing the number of locations to 19. Recfishwest is thrilled with the efforts of the local fishing club, the tackle shop and community partners and shows they care about public safety and willing to help at all costs.
Kalbarri Angling and Offshore Fishing Club President Cheryl Eley said fishing is such an important recreation for locals and tourists here, that installing safety equipment on the rocks was essential to keeping fishers safe.
“We’re not experts in safety, but any safety initiative that involves the local community and strives to keep people safe, is a win win for the fishing club and the Kalbarri community” Cheryl said.
“We’re proud to be a part of the rock fishing safety initiative and the club guys who installed the rings deserve a huge pat on the back.”
“We had a local go in off the rocks over the Christmas period and one of the existing Angel Rings was used to save his life. That’s proof these devices work and we’re happy to have new ones installed in case someone else goes in.”
With the recent success of the Kalbarri Sports Classic and the huge influx of tourists during the holiday season, these safety initiatives couldn’t have come at a better time.
