Tag: regional

Recfishwest on the road – our Cossack fishing clinic!

Recfishwest’s recent fishing clinic in the Pilbara town of Cossack was a major hit with the local community, enthusiastically attended by kids, adults and Elders alike all eager to wet a line!  

Taking place on beautiful Ngarluma land, the fishing clinic, run by Recfishwest, with the support of the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Ltd, Roebourne Hub Community Resource Centre, Woodside Energy and DPIRD, saw at least 40 kids and adults arrive by buses supplied by the Yaandina Community Services and Real Employment for Aboriginal People (REFAP) to one of Cossack’s popular fishing platforms. 

As soon as the next generation of young fishers turned up and saw the rods and hand lines perched against the rocks waiting for them, they excitedly sprinted over itching to get casting!  

Over 40 fishers from the Roebourne community both young and old tried their luck at catching a wide range of species, with many having success!

Recfishwest acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and sea, and we pay our respect to Elders past, present and future. We recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of traditional custodians in managing and caring for the land and sea. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to life in WA.

Running for around five hours, it was clear that none of the fishers wanted to take breaks either! Attendees fished non-stop and landed great species such as golden trevally, bream, honeycomb cod, estuary cod and others.  

Around 30 rods and 15 hand lines made available from Recfishwest were handed out to attendees and our team was kept busy baiting the hooks of fishers, who were happily educated and entertained with fishing tips and bites.  

With a strong connection and knowledge of sea country, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities share many of the same values as recreational fishers and those in and around Cossack were no exception!    

The care for the sustainability of these species was evident by all of those attending the clinic, with a majority of fish caught and carefully and quickly released back into the pristine waters.  

Recfishwest’s Sam Russell said, “We had just as much fun coordinating this fishing clinic as the friendly kids and Elders did in wetting a line. Their connection to the land and sea and passion for fishing was abundantly clear and it was awesome to see fishing bringing people together in this way,” said “There was plenty of fish biting and seeing everyone coming together and catching a few was one of those moments that make doing what we do so special – we can’t wait to come back next year.”  

Danielle East, Woodside Communities Advisor for Corporate Affairs in Karratha, said, “The event was incredibly successful and the feedback we have received from participants has been very positive. Community members are already asking when there will be another clinic!” said Danielle. 

“We certainly would like to see more of these types of activities in the future. The knowledge sharing that was made possible from this event was invaluable. Not only the information the Recfishwest team could share with community, but the knowledge the Elders were able to share with Recfishwest was very useful too.” 

It’s clear how important fishing is for regional aboriginal community members, who have a strong cultural connection to the land and waters.

Our Recfishwest team are also excited to head back to Cossack next year and engage with community members.  

“We’d like to thank NYFL and the Roebourne community for their warm welcome and Woodside Energy for funding this program, none of this would have been possible without all of you guys.”  

Make sure you check out the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Ltd Facebook post for more images of this fishing clinic!   

Regional Activity Booming

Regional centres have been a hive of fishing activity in recent weeks, with a number of popular annual fishing competitions held. Geraldton hosted the Fisherkid Classic, while farther north the Dampier Classic and Broome Billfish Classic for 2016 were also in July.

Regional fishing competitions are important social and economic events with significant community support and there is a wide range of different events held all across the state each year. As is the case with the three mentioned, there is a variety of fishing competitions held in WA and this means there is something for just about all fishers who enjoy a competitive aspect to their fishing. Usually run by local fishing clubs, these competitions invariably involve a high level of community involvement and help to get more people out on the water fishing.
Many of the competitions are also catch and release, encouraging participants to fish for the future rather than for a feed, and many also include a research component, such as the tagging of billfish before release. The Dampier and Broome billfish competitions both have a long history and are run by local fishing clubs.

These events have helped promote game fishing, a style of fishing which has boomed locally over the last decade due to healthy fish stocks, the popular push for science-based catch and release fishing plus being an attractant for the travelling fishing party. There are regional fishing clubs in just about every major coastal town and they offer a great source of information for anyone interested in learning more about fishing, not to mention the social aspect of their activities.  The fishing competitions they hold are also a great way for budding fishers to learn more about specialised aspects of the sport, including game fishing in the case of the Dampier Classic and Broome Billfish Classic.

The Dampier Classic, hosted by the King Bay Fishing Club, was again a great success this year, attracting a good field of boats and fishers. It has been running for more than 40 years and there were plenty of good fish caught across various line classes. As always, the social side of the event was very good, with a great turn-out for the presentation evening.
The Broome Billfish Classic was run by the Broome Fishing Club and attracted around 40 participants in around a dozen boats. They were unfortunately faced with tougher conditions than ideal, arguably the worst weather in the history of the event. The fishing was largely slow and numbers were well down on the previous year, but there was a steady stream of sailfish caught and the comp etition was tight. One major talking point was the recapture of one sailfish which had been tagged not long before the event, and which had been in only fair condition when initially released.

The Geraldton Fisherkid Community Classic was held by the Geraldton and Districts Offshore Fishing Club at their new venue and attracted around 35 kids. The club is keen to support the future generation of fishers and every kid walked away with a Recfishwest prize pack which included all the Recfishwest and SunSmart goodies. It was a catch, click and release event, allowing participants to spread out over popular fishing locations in Geraldton and record their catches. The catch click and release method meant the fish were returned to the water quickly are carefully, helping kids understand correct fish handling and the all-important sustainability message.