Rob’s angling for a fair go

KIAMA NSW Fishing Clubs Association spokesman Rod Burston has welcomed the adjournment of a lawsuit aimed at banning fishing at some of the South Coast"s best spots.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal adjourned a lawsuit last week aimed at banning fishing within 1.5km of locations deemed grey nurse shark habitats.

One habitat is at Bass Point, just south of Bushrangers Bay.

If the legal action, raised by the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, is successful, line fishing would be banned at "virtually all" the rocks and beaches accessed from Bass Point Reserve and nearby Maloneys Bay.

Boat fishing also would be banned.

Anglers would no longer be able to fish at popular spots such as The Chair, The Crankshaft and Horseshoe Bay.

Mr Burston welcomed the adjournment and called for the anecdotal and scientific evidence of fishing groups to be considered.

A date for further hearings will be set during the week, but the case is not expected to resume for several weeks.

Mr Burston said that the lawsuit, if successful, would impinge on fishers" common law rights.

"I see this lawsuit as an assault on the Australian way of life and on the common law right of people to fish for food," Mr Burston said.

"The losers out of this are commercial and recreational fishers. We have no opportunity to defend ourselves."

Mr Burston, who has lived in Kiama and fished well-known South Coast spots for 30 years, said Bass Point was the best fishing headland in the Illawarra.

"If fishing was banned at Bass Point it would force people to fish at second choice or dangerous sites," he said.

"We have no wish to destroy the environment because we rely on it. Fishers want to go back tomorrow and catch fish."

The grey nurse was declared an endangered species in 2003 after a population study conducted by the NSW Department of Fisheries.

The State Government threw out the results of the August survey, but used the June study to justify its decision to declare the grey nurse shark an endangered species.

Bushrangers Bay and nine other locations along the NSW coast were declared grey nurse shark aggregation sites in 2002.