Tag: augusta

Fantastic kids fishing clinics turn-out highlights importance of fishing on the south coast

Every one of our 10 SunSmart Fishing Clinics Southern Tour was completely booked out this year, highlighting once again how popular and important fishing is on our south coast.

More than 350 excited kids took part in the clinics running from East of Esperance all the way along the coast to Augusta – with all participants enjoying learning about fishing basics, looking after the environment and being SunSmart.

This was a record attendance for the tour with record numbers of fish caught and released by the young eager anglers to match!

Check out some of the fishing action below in GWN7’s recent news item on the clinics.

Scores of whiting, flounder, skippy, tarwhine, black bream, leatherjacket and flathead catches put brimming smiles on the dials of our next generation of anglers over 11 days in January, with many participants enjoying the thrill of catching and releasing their first ever fish.

Many parents were delighted to be able to get their kids off their devices and out in the fresh air enjoying the healthy and educational experience the clinics provided.

Despite some windy, overcast and rainy conditions along the south coast, all fishing clinics at Duke of Orleans Caravan Park, Esperance, Hopetoun, Bremer Bay, Albany, Denmark, Walpole and Augusta were fully booked out, with some clinics even resulting in kids happily sharing rods with extra participants keen to get casting.

With fishing access to some of these cherished fishing spots along the south coast in question pending the release of the Government’s south coast marine park plans, these fishing clinics firmly showed that the social, physical and wellbeing benefits fishing provides to so many fishers need to be protected.

Packed to the rafters! Every clinic between Duke of Orleans and Augusta was fully booked, with local beaches and jetties full of kids hoping to catch one of the species on offer along the south coast.

“This was by far Recfishwest’s most jam-packed and successful Southern Tour since it kicked off more than 20 years ago,” said Recfishwest’s Communications Coordinator Jarrad Lawford. “The response from the community has been a fantastic illustration of just how passionate they are here about fishing and how important it is in this part of the world.

“Recfishwest’s Sam Bock and I were kept very busy baiting lines, helping carefully unhook the catches and taking snaps of ecstatic kids with their fish. Many of them created memories of their first ever catch that will last a lifetime and we’re hoping they’ve now learned enough to safely enjoy fishing as a pastime that will give them a lot of joy for the rest of their lives.

“A big thanks to Healthway for supporting these great community events and cheers to our instructors Stephen Crane and Kevin Murphy who also did a fantastic job coordinating some of the clinics. Make sure you get in quick and register your spot in 2025 for when our Southern Tour returns next year.”

In addition to all the valuable fishing knowledge provided at these clinics, all kids were taught how to stay safe while fishing and were rewarded Recfishwest stickers and lures, along with dozens of SunSmart and Shimano hats for their next fishing adventure.

Were you one of the 350 young guns getting amongst the fishing action during our recent SunSmart Southern Tour? Check out some of the great snaps below!

Sun, smiles and fish aplenty – our SunSmart southern fishing clinics were a winner this summer

Whiting, herring, flounder, skippy, tarwhine and black bream were just some of the fantastic fish that put big smiles on the dials of our next generation of fishers taking part in our Southern Tour of SunSmart fishing clinics.

Run in partnership with Healthway and supported by Shimano, the tour saw Recfishwest host 10 free fishing clinics in south coast estuaries, rivers and marinas showcasing the variety of fish kids can enjoy catching in these special environments and why these clinics are so important for local communities.

Free of charge and with all gear provided, kids spent two hours learning fishing tips and tricks from the pros at Bremer Bay, Albany, Denmark, Walpole and Augusta, with Recfishwest Operations Team Member John Dempsey and DBCA’s Stephen Crane teaching the kids about the basics of fishing, fish handling tips, the importance of fishing sustainably and the value of the waterways.

“It’s great to see these Southern Tours brimming with excited kids and their families coming along to experience safe, accessible and rewarding fishing sessions – you can see how important fishing is for communities on the south coast,” said John.

“Not only do these healthy estuarine environments provide ideal nursery habitats, but they also lead to great fishing and impressive catches – we certainly had our hands full keeping up with the number of fish being landed!

“In addition to all the valuable fishing knowledge these clinics have provided, they also focus on keeping kids safe under the sun and we’re grateful to Healthway for helping us continue to run these great community events.”

Were you one of the young guns getting amongst the fishing action? Check out some of the great snaps from some of our recent SunSmart fishing clinics below!

Albany

Bremer Bay

Denmark

Augusta

Recfishwest’s next fishing clinic will take place between 8:00am-10:00am, 22 April at A.P Hinds Reserve in Bayswater, come wet a line with us!

A new marine park in the South West, when did that happen?

Recfishwest have received feedback from a number of fishers who have recently travelled to the states South West in search of a salmon only to find their favourite fishing spot is now part of the Ngari Capes Marine Park. This confusion is hardly surprising given the community has heard very little about this park since consultation was first undertaken well over a decade ago.

The Ngari Capes Marine Park starts about 5km to the east of Augusta and covers the entire Capes region, finishing half way between Capel and Busselton. The management zones for this park were put in place in 2018. Following a 12-month grace period, enforcement of the new fishing regulations has coincided with the start of the salmon season and this has caught many fishers off-guard.

Recfishwest made its first submission on the Ngari Capes Marine Park in 2004 and many passionate fishers in the South West made excellent contributions during the less than perfect community consultation process.

Without the input from Recfishwest and these passionate fishers, the park we see today would have had many more fishing restrictions.

Recfishwest believes recreational fishing is largely compatible with the conservation objectives of marine parks and is an activity that must be recognised as a key value when formulating management plans.

Like most fishers, Recfishwest support marine parks when they are created for the right reasons, put in the right places and implemented using simple, practical management that is risk-based, transparent and subject to regular review.

To read Recfishwest’s position on marine parks, click here.

Regardless of the process used to create the Ngari Capes Marine Park, the new regulations are now being enforced. It is the responsibility of all fishers to know what type of fishing you can do in each of the parks 15 sanctuary zones, 12 special purpose zones and 2 recreation zones. Whilst most of the Ngari Capes Marine Park still allows fishing, it is important to keep up to date by visiting either the DBCA or DPIRD website or by downloading the Recfishwest App.

The free Recfishwest smartphone app now has a new mapping feature identifying marine park zones that have some form of fishing restriction. The maps are downloadable to your phone, so once you leave phone range you can still view the maps at the touch of a button. When open, the app also sends you notifications once you enter and exit a marine park zone that has different fishing rules.

To unlock these new features, please update your Recfishwest app in the app store.

For iPhone, click here.

For Android, click here.

Click here to view Ngari capes zoning and permitted uses.

While the process used to create the Ngari Capes Marine Park was far from perfect, Recfishwest was pleased to hear the government earlier this year announced a new and transparent community consultation process for the creation of any new marine parks.

Recfishwest have been calling for greater consultation during the marine planning processes for a number of years and hopefully this new process will ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated in the future. It’s vital that all of us engage at every opportunity.

This will ensure what’s important to us is recognised as part of marine planning processes.

To read about the new consultation process click here.