A Compleat Dangler
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday July 29, 2006
The fish might be slightly contaminated but the fishing is soul food for the angler.
Some of us weren't designed, mentally or physically, for swimming. Don't get me wrong; I love the water, as long as I can float over it in a boat or kayak, and I love water sport, as long as it involves dry feet, a rod, line, hook and hungry fish.So what has this to do with Sydney Harbour, home to 10 gazillion units of deadly dioxins per mouthful and fish that, if not glowing green, will guarantee that your great-great-grandchildren will have six fingers and two heads?Well, if you are a recreational fisho who has been left with the impression that fishing in the harbour is now off limits or that eating fish caught there is tantamount to swigging neat cyanide, sit back, listen up and rejoice.Yes, dioxin levels in bream and prawns from the harbour exceeded safe levels late last year. But it wasn't the dioxin numbers that had gone up, overall: it was just that the "safe" level had been adjusted downward by a country mile. Government, renowned for playing it safe and covering its collective rear at the first sign of trouble, banned commercial fishing but only issued advisories suggesting we limit the amount of Sydney Harbour fish we eat.If those advisories accelerate the adoption of catch-and-release fishing, we are all winners. It is the only way to ensure that stocks are never depleted and that big fish remain in circulation to challenge other anglers in years to come. Cynics (my family) would unkindly suggest I catch far too few fish to ever threaten the family. But that may be about to change, thanks to the commercial ban. Since commercial fishing was banned in Botany Bay a few years ago, fish populations are booming. It simply proves the damage trawling does to fisheries has been grossly underestimated. The unwanted "bycatch" that had to be thrown back, often maimed or dead, had devastating effects on fish nurseries such as Botany Bay. Expect the ban to bring the same benefits to Sydney Harbour.The best news is that interim findings from further testing show pelagic fish, which spend most of their life cycle outside the harbour, have far lower dioxin levels than bream. (Just by the way, the relatively sedentary bream take 12 to 15 years to reach legal size; it's hardly surprising they become bags of dioxin over time.)The best way to take advantage of this bonanza is to recruit a fishing guide for a day or half-day, to get expert advice on where to fish and how to fish. A day spent with a guide (at about $200 a head) will almost guarantee some good fish on the day, but the expert tuition, which is what you are really paying for, will reward you for years to come. Visit www.sydneyfishfinder.com.au for details.If you are open to advice, you'll also want to visit the Yamaha Fishing Clinic at the boat show, where Australia's leading experts will give free talks and supervise hands-on activities every day in Hall 4. If luminaries such as Dick Lewers, Steve Starling and John Bethune can't improve your skills, it's time you took up sailing instead.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald
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