NSW Fishing Day

Prior to the recent NSW elections the then Minister for Primary Industries Katrina Hodgkinson announced the first annual NSW Fishing Day. The idea behind the new initiative is to recognise the importance of fishing to the NSW community.

Hodgkinson (Nationals) is no longer in the Cabinet. Niall Blair (Nationals) has been appointed Minister for Primary Industries, Land and Water, which will include fisheries. Mr Blair has been a Member of the NSW Legislative Council since 2011. Cronulla MP Mark Speakman (Liberals) has been given the Environment portfolio.

Of course, there's a lot to get his head around but we hope Mr Blair takes up where Hodgkinson left off in committing to this national NSW day of angling recognition and angling in general.

After all, there are currently around one million people that love wetting a line each year. In order to recognise the importance of fishing in NSW, the Baird Government said it would dedicate one (weekend) day every year to be recognised as NSW Fishing Day.

NSW Fishing Day was intended to be a day to enjoy and promote fishing as a vital part of our Australian lifestyle, to educate our young generation and celebrate our favourite pastime of wetting a line.

The day was to include fishing competitions for all ages and workshops for the younger generation, as an extension of the NSW Government's 'Get Hooked…it's fun to fish' education program.

NSW Fishing Day should bring all fishers together to highlight not only the economic benefit of the whole fishing sector, but the social advantages as well. It could be a welcome boost to tourism in towns across NSW and highlight the beauty of these regional and coastal communities.

Recreational fishers contribute over $3.4 billion dollars to the NSW economy and that leads to the employment of over 14,000 full time jobs. Some $1.6 billion is spent annually on travel for recreational fishing trips, fishing tackle and boat-related items and NSW attracts over $186 million from interstate fishers.

Many towns heavily dependent on the economic contribution the fishing sector makes to their community. The first annual NSW Fishing Day was to be held towards the end of 2015. We'll bring you more when Niall Blair has organised his desk and our fishing bodies such as the Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW have shared a pot of tea.