Fishing & fishtraps

NSW still lacks a legislative framework to recognise or protect traditional Aboriginal fishing practices and the ongoing cultural, community and individual benefits they deliver to Aboriginal communities.

Stone arrangements for coastal fish traps are less extensive and dramatic Aboriginal heritage sites than the inland fish traps in the Darling River at Brewarrina that are recognised with a listing on the NSW Heritage Register. The coastal fish traps in Australian seaboard locations like Queensland's Hinchinbrook Island and along the Western Australian and South Australian coast may date back many hundreds or thousands of years. Any ocean baths sited at a good fishing spot, probably occupies a fishing site used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years.

Within NSW, the ocean baths at The Entrance are recognised as occupying a site once used as an Aboriginal fish trap. The Mollymook Bogey Hole may be another example of a fish trap now better known as a bathing place.

In the nineteenth century, rock fishing and shark fishing were popular recreations and professional fisherman operated along the NSW coast. A few ocean pools like the Figure 8 pool in the Royal National Park are still probably better known to rock fishers than to bathers or bushwalkers. Fishing reports often use the ocean pools as landmarks. Signs banning fishing and spear fishing at the pools indicate that some ocean baths themselves must still be treated as good fishing spots. In an attempt to preserve water quality, other signs ban the cleaning of fish near the pools.

The presence of fishermen nearby was once a problem near the Ladies Baths at Wollongong. Council even considered banning fishing in the vicinity before 6pm in summer and 3pm in winter. These days, the presence of rock fishermen near Coogee's McIvers Baths (still a baths reserved for women and children) is considered as adding extra security, since they keep an eye out for any undesirables loitering around the baths.

Poor waste management practices by professional fishermen have also caused problems at ocean baths, as when the skeleton of two dolphins presumed to have been killed by fishermen washed up in the Ladies Baths at Kiama. Whaling at Eden also attracted sharks.

From the 1930s, game fishing drew tourists to Bermagui, fuelling its development as a tourist area. Rock fishing remains a popular if dangerous recreation. As many favoured fishing places are isolated from ready access by rescue services, rock fishermen risk drowning when strong waves sweep them into the sea. Between 1992 and 2000, 74 Rock fishermen died in NSW. Nearly 90 per cent of those fatalities occurred when the weather was bad and the sea was rough and none of the deceased used any form of flotation device.

The NSW Government implemented a rock-fishing education initiative, and distributed 400,000 brochures throughout New South Wales to provide information about protective footwear, appropriate clothing and other steps to minimise risks. In association with the Australian National Sportfishing Association (ANSA), the NSW government also piloted a rock-fishing seminar in the Chinese community. With the assistance of the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia and the Australian Council for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety, it also offered a pilot program of 10 scholarships for people from the Chinese community to become fully trained swim instructors and lifeguards.

With the approval of the Department of Sport and Recreation and the New South Wales Sporting Injuries Insurance Scheme, ANSA spearheaded the 'angel ring' lifebuoy project. By installing 58 marine-grade stainless steel posts with attached lifebuoys on isolated rocks, this project is considered to have saved 16 lives in NSW in just a couple of years. To reduce loss of life, rescue tubes have been provided near favoured rock fishing spots at Cronulla and Kiama.

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