Archived page, Fishing from jetties in the ocean.

Many fisherman find there is nothing better than fishing with the sand in your bare feet, the sound and sights of the surf, some wind in your face - just a fantastic experience even when the fish aren't cooperating.

When the wind gets strong or the waves get larger, we can always get out the long fishing rods and keep fishing, or retreat to some of the metro rock walls and fish in a protected area.

After dark, fishing a beach can be worthwhile, but becomes much more difficult and can be a completely different exercise to fishing it in the daytime. Rock walls can be tricky and even dangerous in the dark.

Some people are not able to handle the wind, waves or darkness and can't fish successfully from the beach, or walk over the sand dunes or along a soft beach to a fishing spot and stand for long times, or clamber over those rocks and keep their balance while casting and catching fish.

Young children, learner fishermen, disabled people and people whose mobility is restricted by age or wear and tear on the body, really need somewhere they can get to easily, can fish from into clear water and have a good chance of catching some reasonable fish, and do it all safely even at night to catch good fish from the ocean such as herring, skippy, tailor, silver bream, whiting, salmon, etc.

Where do they go to catch some of those species? "Find a jetty or a fishing platform in the ocean" you say, and you'd be right.

To land-based fishermen, jetties are an institution, providing wonderful fishing platforms for fishermen of all ages. The jetty provides shade, protection and an aggregation point for schooling fish and lots of food for fish. Jetties give access to deeper water and more fish than would often be available casting from an open shore.

There are some iconic ocean jetties in Western Australia. Mention the Busselton jetty, and many people will have heard of it, or walked on it or fished from it. The Carnarvon jetty is famous for its fantastic seasonal fishing for tailor, mulloway, snapper, mackerel and more. The Broome jetty is famous for big trevally, mackerel and tropical pelagic species.

Little coastal towns such as Lancelin, Cervantes, Jurien, Port Gregory have their jetties servicing the rock lobster and fishing industry, jetties which are also well used by recreational fishermen of all ages.

Many of us have been introduced to fishing and learned so much about it by fishing from jetties. Many have moved on to beach or boat fishing, but there are youngsters and others who can't for physical, financial or practical reasons. Some of you may be getting on in years and may join those people with physical limitations in coming years. What's going to be there for you and for them in the future?



A small jetty in the Dawesville Cut used by fishermen of all ages

It isn't very easy to find jetties or fishing platform in the ocean without travelling some distance. Sure, there are lots of opportunities to fish from jetties in the rivers, but the fish species are different and the blowies can be bad.

If you look in the northern half of the metropolitan area from Fremantle northwards, there are few jetties or fishing platforms in the ocean. Why not? when half of the Perth metropolitan population lives there?

The history.

Many jetties were put in for transport of passengers and goods by ship because there were no suitable ports or roads. In the early 1900s jetties were a major holiday and recreation attraction for all sorts of seaside activities, and particularly fishing.

With the introduction of ports and better road transport and the decline of State shipping the jetties were not used as much. Many wharves were built within the ports and provide some great fishing spots while they are still open to fishermen.

Jetties and wharves need maintenance and they do not last for ever. The sad history is once the main purpose of the jetty does not exist any more, the maintenance stops, the jetty decays, it is damaged by storms or accidents and it becomes unsafe. Then the body responsible says the cost of demolition is less than the cost of repair, there is no money available, so there is no option but to demolish it - and another recreational fishing point disappears.

Busselton and the Carnarvon jetties have been badly damaged at times and have required many millions of dollars to maintain. A fire in October at the Carnarvon jetty burnt 70 metres of the jetty in the middle. Fishermen have lost access to the great fishing spots at the end. Finding the money to fix that could be a problem.

A fire on the Busselton Jetty several years ago cut off all access to the end of the jetty. By the time the gap could have been closed, the lack of maintenance and storm damage had made the end too dangerous to use.



The end of the Busselton Jetty in 2004. Lack of money and lack of maintenance does this, and it is worse now.

Recent times and the present - new jetties or platforms?

New jetties as such are rarely built these days. New developments of ports and marinas have taken their place. "Service" jetties may be open for fishing, but some have had "no fishing" signs, and some have boats tied up or loading.

Recfishwest runs children's fishing clinics at the service jetty opposite AQWA in Hillarys Marina. This is really ideal for children, wide and safe with easy access. But being inside a marina, the fish species are restricted, the blowies are bad, and fishing is not as good as it would be from a jetty in the open ocean.

The north wall of Hillarys Marina has a fishing platform for disabled people, but the size and orientation really restricts its use to just a few people at a time.



Hillarys Service Jetty - plenty of room, good access, easy to fish from, pity about all those blowies!

Access to jetties and wharves.

Sometimes recreational fishermen can be their own worst enemies when it comes to looking after their own interests. The unthinking actions of some recreational fishermen leaving a mess, litter, dead blowies, smelly bait, fish scraps, etc., have led some authorities to say if recreational fishermen cannot be responsible then they cannot use the facility. Many of the great fishing spots on and under the Fremantle wharves used to be open to recreational fishermen, but many were closed, mainly because of the mess left behind. With the recent clampdown on security and theft in port areas, it will be impossible to get access to many such places ever again.

Funding.

There are three usual sources of public funding for structures in the ocean:- Local councils, State and Commonwealth Government. If only it was that easy!

Local beachside councils get limited revenue from their ratepayers. A complaint often raised by beachside councils is that people from outside their area use and get the benefits from their work and money but don't pay anything towards it, so why should their ratepayers pay for it? And so they look for grants from the other levels of government. That introduces politics.

Alternative funding

Boating has the Recreational Boating Facilities Scheme, where money collected from boat licences is allocated for boat ramps and facilities for boaters. An option is for recreational fishing to generate its own funds and then to decide where that money should be spent. New South Wales has a saltwater recreational fishing licence where the money collected goes into a recreational fishing trust fund, and is allocated by a recreational committee, including for some recreational fishing platforms. Of course there will be many other calls on this money, including research, smaller facilities, education, etc., but the money would be controlled by fishermen for fishermen.

North Beach jetty as an example.

The original jetty was about 20 metres longer than the one there now. Winter storms damaged the jetty and it was demolished in 1977 for safety reasons.

The current structure is not very satisfactory as a fishing platform because it was designed only to provide a viewing platform and is very short. During the summer months you can actually walk around the end of the jetty. The jetty has a high railing all around which restricts casting.

The City of Stirling has been asked for an extension of the jetty to make a proper recreational fishing platform. In 1997, a preliminary concept plan showed an extension of 40 metres to allow fishing into deeper water. A review in 2002 included the costs for lots of "on land" items such as upgrading of the toilet block, stabilisation of the cliff faces and rocks near the water, disabled access standards, concerns about parking and other things which are needed anyway. The City believed that fishermen can cast into a reasonable depth of water from the existing jetty and believes there were other fishing areas nearby, which shows a lack of understanding of the real needs of some fishermen.

As a result of the costing blow out, the City deferred the extension until Commonwealth and/or State Government funding assistance was available. Nearly 10 years on, nothing definite has happened about the jetty despite lots of efforts by recreational fishermen. The irony is that the complete decking and rail were replaced in 2002, the toilet block was upgraded but has been condemned, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent to stabilise the rocks following storm damage. All this money hasn't changed the jetty, but does make it harder to find the money for an extension.



Five is a crowd on the North Beach Jetty - then you have to fish from the beach or the rocks!

The future and how you can help.

There are two parts to looking after the future of jetties. One is to do for proper regular maintenance of jetties so they never get to the stage where it is cheaper to demolish them. Another is to take every opportunity to add fishing platforms to all new public and private coastal developments such as marinas.

Fishermen are a diverse group, and often are not aware of what is being done for them or are not prepared to actively and openly campaign for their fishing future.

Some councils and organisations and individuals do not see recreational fishing as a genuine sport and recreation, so refuse to give it a share of the money which is allocated to general sport and recreation.

This will only change if the community makes it clear that they expect recreational fishing to be treated just like every other recreational activity and get its fair share of funding from consolidated revenue and the taxes we pay.

Politicians and local councillors are elected by the people to represent their views. It needs the local people and the electors to make their views well known and to ask their elected representatives to carry out their wishes.

Proposals for major port developments in the large area from the Fremantle South Mole to South Beach are open for public comment until 21 December. This is an opportunity for recreational fishermen to ask for recreational fishing platforms. For details, see http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au/imarine/15112.asp

Support Recfishwest in looking after your recreational fishing future.

If you have any thoughts on the future of jetties and fishing platforms please contact Recfishwest and let us know.

Recfishwest is looking after the future of jetty fishing with their Fishing Jetties, Wharves and Platforms Policy covering funding, maintenance, new waterfront developments, access, demolition and more.

We are your peak representative body and the best avenue for communication with the Department of Fisheries and your Minister for Fisheries on your thoughts as recreational fishers, but we need your support.

Now is a very important time for you to join as a member of Recfishwest. For just $20, or $10 for over 65/under 18, $40 for a family of 4, you can help ensure Recfishwest's future and your recreational fishing future.

Check out the Recfishwest website for more information about issues affecting recreational fishing. It may surprise you how much we are doing for the future of recreational fishing.

Terry Fuller



This page last updated on 6 January 2008.