AFANT have today welcomed the statement from Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Fisheries and Recreational Fishing the Hon Gerard Maley- that the CLP government remains committed to ending barramundi gillnetting within this term of government. Ending barramundi gillnetting was a 2024 NT Election commitment.
AFANT also welcomes the announcement that work will begin on resource sharing, an important step required to design future management of the fishery. Noting that this step that was postponed by the previous Government following lobbying from the commercial fishing sector, in favour of prioritising other steps to assist commercial fishers in obtaining permission to export barramundi overseas.
Yesterday, AFANT received a briefing from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries revealing that the 2024 commercial barramundi catch was almost 50% down on the 2023 catch, and the lowest on record. A reduction was anticipated given that Commercial fishers had lost access to the areas where 50% of their catch had been coming from. AFANT were also informed that fishing effort in 2024 was well below the effort caps introduced by the former government, which followed persistent calls from AFANT to ensure new measures to prevent displaced netting effort from being concentrated into key recreational fishing catchments including the Daly and Roper Rivers.
AFANT welcomes the ongoing commitment of the CLP government to reforming the barramundi fishery and to working with us and other key stakeholders to implement the end of barramundi gillnetting. As the peak body representing an industry that contributes $270M and 2,500 jobs to the Territory economy, we welcome the clear acknowledgment in Minister Maley’s statement that the reforms are intended to provide “certainty”, “economic benefits for the Territory”, and to support “our unique lifestyle”.
AFANT President Warren de With:
“We are pleased that Minister Maley has come out before the opening of the season to make it clear that the CLP Government is progressing toward implementing its promised ban on gillnetting for barramundi.
“We had requested Government to share catch and effort data from last year and we are pleased that this information shows catches in the Daly and Roper River did not escalate after more nets were squeezed into less water after the 2023 season.
“It will be essential for ongoing monitoring and vigilance to make sure that commercial catch and effort remains at levels that don’t compromise recreational fishing experiences before the net ban takes effect.”
AFANT CEO David Ciaravolo:
“AFANT welcomes the commencement of a new process involving all stakeholders to work on designing a future gillnet-free barramundi fishery, including working on resource sharing.
“We look forward to the CLP government providing clear policy direction on catch shares to NT Fisheries and the new committee, so that the process doesn’t get bogged down like has other times the resource sharing framework has been applied in the absence of clear guidance from the Government of the day.
“We are pleased that the CLP government continues to recognise that recreational fishing is not only essential to the lifestyle that keeps people living and working in the NT, but that rec fishing is also a big industry, boasting diverse businesses, supporting thousands of jobs, and generating hundreds of millions of dollars for the NT economy.”
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