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Speaker 1: Joining me in the studio right now from fant It

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Speaker 1: is the Amateur Fisherman's Association and I have got David

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Speaker 1: Girovolo in.

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Speaker 2: Here with me. Good morning morning, Katy.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to see you and David. There's always plenty going on,

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Speaker 1: particularly when we talk about fishing. First off, I did

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Speaker 1: want to ask you. I know that the government announced

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Speaker 1: yesterday's seabed mining has been banned. From the Amateur Fishermen's

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Speaker 1: Association perspective, is this a good thing?

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Speaker 2: Look, it's very good news.

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Speaker 3: It gives us certainty that those critical habitats are going

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Speaker 3: to be protected. Yeah, we've made a number of submissions

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Speaker 3: over the years in the lead up to the moratorium

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Speaker 3: and then also when the EPA was conducting its review

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Speaker 3: and investigation, and so we were really pleased with the

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Speaker 3: interim report that was handed down by the EPA that

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Speaker 3: led towards the government adopting this as a formal position,

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Speaker 3: and now with it being signed into law, it's really

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Speaker 3: really good news because we don't want to see our

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Speaker 3: seabeds being mined. It's really important that those areas are protected.

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Speaker 3: They already provide a hell of a lot of other benefits,

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Speaker 3: including economic benefits well.

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Speaker 1: And as you and I have spoken about on so

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Speaker 1: many occasions, we know that you know, fishing is just

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Speaker 1: one part of it, but we know that you know

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Speaker 1: that the fishing obviously are recreational fishes. Will this you know,

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Speaker 1: they actually provide so much when it comes to the

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Speaker 1: economy ticking over as well. And then we have people

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Speaker 1: traveling to the Northern Territory, not so much during COVID,

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Speaker 1: but traveling to the territory for their recreational fishing. I mean,

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Speaker 1: anything that could potentially jeopardize that and jeopardize our way

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Speaker 1: of life here in the territory when it comes to

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Speaker 1: fishing and enjoying the outdoors is something that we're probably

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Speaker 1: all going to be really questioning going ahead. So I

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Speaker 1: think that on this occasion it's probably a good announcement

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Speaker 1: by the government.

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Speaker 3: I look, certainly, and you take recreational fishing, it's only

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Speaker 3: one of the many benefits provided by the immediate marine ecosystem.

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Speaker 3: It's valued at over one hundred million dollars a year.

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Speaker 3: You know, we've got new figures coming probably more than that,

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Speaker 3: depending on how you measure it. But then when you

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Speaker 3: look at tourism and all of the other things that

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Speaker 3: rely on us having healthy coastlines.

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Speaker 2: It's worth even more than that.

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Speaker 3: And I think the thing that's really important to note

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Speaker 3: is a lot of the other industries, like tourism and

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Speaker 3: recreational fishing, they're sustainable.

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Speaker 2: They're highly highly sustainable.

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Speaker 3: So yes, we do take some fish, but we never

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Speaker 3: take more fish than can be left there to replace

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Speaker 3: those fish back. And there's a lot of catch and

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Speaker 3: release and tourism that doesn't even impact on.

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Speaker 2: The resource at all.

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Speaker 3: So it's great to see a more sustainable future being

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Speaker 3: planned for the territory.

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Speaker 1: Now, speaking of well some of the different different things

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Speaker 1: that are happening when it comes to fishing, we know

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Speaker 1: that Point Stewart it is an area where we've been

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Speaker 1: anticipating some work happening. The government yesterday saying following the

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Speaker 1: design tend to being awarded for the Point Stewart Access Road,

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Speaker 1: the territory governments are released to tender to upgrade eleven

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Speaker 1: point eight kilometers of that popular road. David, what does

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Speaker 1: this mean for the fishing for fishing.

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Speaker 2: In the territory. Look, this is a big win for

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Speaker 2: fishing in the territory.

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Speaker 3: It's something that fant has been championing for a number

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Speaker 3: of years, I think all the way back to twenty

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Speaker 3: fifteen and before. So we're really pleased to see that

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Speaker 3: there is finally the construction tender for that Stage one

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Speaker 3: that is out there. We've been working really hard behind

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Speaker 3: the scenes. It's also the number one priority that was

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Speaker 3: put forward by the Minister's Recreational Fishing Advisory Committee as well,

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Speaker 3: so there has been broad support. It is one that

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Speaker 3: I have to say there are some split views in

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Speaker 3: the community on and that's because we have a really

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Speaker 3: broad church of people and so at the moment, this

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Speaker 3: is an area that's a little bit harder to get

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Speaker 3: to and there's a few people who go there and

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Speaker 3: love it that way, but look, we've got a broader.

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Speaker 2: View of fishing in the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 3: It's absolutely important to make sure that we are expanding

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Speaker 3: the opportunities for everybody to be able to go fishing.

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Speaker 3: And upgrading this to a wider, more accessible dirt road

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Speaker 3: means that more people can get in there, more people

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Speaker 3: can get in there at more times of the year,

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Speaker 3: and that will open up easier access to a range

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Speaker 3: of other fishing grounds because let's face it, fishing in

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Speaker 3: the territory shouldn't be about arriving at a boat ramp

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Speaker 3: with sixty other cars in the car park every time,

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Speaker 3: as has become the case in Shady Camp. We want

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Speaker 3: to see investment in project like Points Stewart, which we've

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Speaker 3: been championing so strongly, and then we also want to

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Speaker 3: see more access in more places continuing to be opened

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Speaker 3: up over time.

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Speaker 1: Well, and speaking of my understanding is that there was

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Speaker 1: that election commitment made where fifty million dollars would be

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Speaker 1: invested into the industry and into that infrastructure for fishing.

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Speaker 1: Where is that ash that infrastructure spent?

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Speaker 3: So that commitment was a twenty sixteen election commitment, it's

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Speaker 3: something that we got reconfirmed at the last territory election

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Speaker 3: last year. And I think it's absolutely fair to say

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Speaker 3: that the Point Stewart project has been a big part

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Speaker 3: of that. There's been a lot of unknown quantities in

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Speaker 3: terms of how much this project would cost. We certainly

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Speaker 3: avid a lower cost builded in stages over time model,

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Speaker 3: so and I'll have to say I've been really pleased

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Speaker 3: that we've been able to work with the Department and

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Speaker 3: with the ministers to get that approach and come to fruition.

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Speaker 3: But more broadly speaking, if you look at the budget

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Speaker 3: papers for this year, there's still notionally thirty two and

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Speaker 3: a half million dollars of that fifty million dollars that

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Speaker 3: was yet to be spent.

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Speaker 1: So it still hasn't been spent from the twenty sixteen commitments.

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Speaker 3: Well, that's correct, So clearly some of it will go

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Speaker 3: towards the Point Stuart project. There are other projects that

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Speaker 3: have been prioritized by the ARFAC and that have been

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Speaker 3: advocated by AFAND, but it is really important now into

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Speaker 3: that second term of government that we are seeing really

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Speaker 3: movement on the delivery of those projects. So last month

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Speaker 3: we wrote to Chief Minister and Treasurer to seek because

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Speaker 3: it wasn't clear to us from the budget papers if

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Speaker 3: that money was held in quarantine fund. It looked like

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Speaker 3: it was part of a general infrastructure fund. We're of

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Speaker 3: the view that should be in a quarantine fishing Futures

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Speaker 3: fund that can be used to fund projects and programs

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Speaker 3: that support the development of recreational fishing in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 3: as was the stated intent. We're still awaiting a response

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Speaker 3: for that.

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Speaker 1: So when did you contact them about that?

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Speaker 2: Well, that was right to them.

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Speaker 3: That's about a month ago, so look to be fair,

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Speaker 3: it's within the realm of reasonable time to get a response,

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Speaker 3: but certainly we're hoping for a positive response to that today.

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Speaker 3: There's nothing that's been said by the government to back

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Speaker 3: away from any of its commitments. But one of the

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Speaker 3: things that we're really clear about is that that funding

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Speaker 3: needs to be available so that as projects do come online,

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Speaker 3: as design tenders are completed, that they can turn into

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Speaker 3: reality on the ground.

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Speaker 2: I have to.

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Speaker 3: Say this is a good example. The Point Stuart announcements

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Speaker 3: a good example of when it became available, the funding

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Speaker 3: became available.

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Speaker 1: Do you know, do we have any idea at this

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Speaker 1: point how much the Point Stuart project is costing.

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Speaker 3: I don't think the I think that'll be revealed once

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Speaker 3: the tender responses come back. There was a fairly broad

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Speaker 3: ballpark figure when we first raised this one. You know,

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Speaker 3: there was a lot of view of it would be

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Speaker 3: bigger than Ben hur and I think we had to

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Speaker 3: be realistic about it. I mean, there's a we've got

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Speaker 3: a boat ramp that's built on public land, yeah, with

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Speaker 3: no road to it. Yeah, so it's really important to

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Speaker 3: connect it in the first.

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Speaker 1: Instance, but are we thinking that that's going to cost

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Speaker 1: you know, the thirty two million dollars there remaining.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so there should.

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Speaker 1: There is definitely still other money that could be spent

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Speaker 1: on in fishing infrastructure.

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Speaker 3: There is significant money remaining and there are a range

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Speaker 3: of projects that have been identified, so from some interventions

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Speaker 3: at Dundee to better optimize that system, to installing a

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Speaker 3: jetty or a lamb based fishing platform for Darwin. Darwin

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Speaker 3: arguably the fishing capital of Australia. Catera's really poorly to

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Speaker 3: lamd based fishes in having safe places to fish.

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Speaker 2: To speaking to your producer.

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Speaker 3: Earlier on, he said, I'm newly arrived and I'm worried

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Speaker 3: about crocodiles and where and go fishing, And that's totally reason.

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Speaker 2: That's right.

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Speaker 3: We need to be providing more safe places for families

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Speaker 3: and individuals to be able to go fishing. So that's

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Speaker 3: firmly on our agenda as well. We've got a range

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Speaker 3: of other projects that are there. Hey, look, I was

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Speaker 3: fishing at Dinah Beach twice over the long weekend. Both

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Speaker 3: times I had to park over a kilometer away in

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Speaker 3: front of in front of the shops around the corner.

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Speaker 3: Clearly there are a lot of us getting out there fishing,

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Speaker 3: pumping money into the economy, sharing those benefits with our

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Speaker 3: family enjoying a fresh feed of seafood. But also we

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Speaker 3: do have infrastructure needs that we've got to keep the

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Speaker 3: gas on and keep investing. It's only once we invest

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Speaker 3: it and see the benefits of it that we can

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Speaker 3: mount the case to continue that investment.

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Speaker 2: Hey, we are.

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Speaker 1: Running out of time, but I do want to ask

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Speaker 1: you very quickly, I understand or you're telling me all

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Speaker 1: for that there's a review of our barraer. What exactly

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Speaker 1: does this mean?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so again this is an election commitment both too,

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Speaker 3: I think Fan but also to the Northern Land Council

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Speaker 3: around reviewing the Barren Mine fishery. We've got a fantastic

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Speaker 3: barrow mundy fishery, certainly the best barrow fishery in the world.

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Speaker 3: That's a natural fishery, but it can definitely be better.

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Speaker 3: Interventions over the years have made it as good as

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Speaker 3: it is today, and we've gone from having a thousand

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Speaker 3: tons of fish caught commercially in the past to more

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Speaker 3: commonly four hundred tons now. We've seen the recreational fishing

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Speaker 3: sector really step up through catch and release, collecting data,

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Speaker 3: through tagging programs and having fish management zones to protect

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Speaker 3: the fish. But we need to incorporate that into a

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Speaker 3: management framework that guides the future development of the fishery

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Speaker 3: in a positive trajectory to get the most out of

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Speaker 3: it for the whole community. So that's just starting. All

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Speaker 3: eyes are watching it. I'm getting so much comment and commentary.

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Speaker 3: I'm happy to come back again an update. I reckon

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Speaker 3: the process kicks off, but just to say it does

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Speaker 3: kick off at the beginning of next month.

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Speaker 1: Awesome. Well David, it's always great to talk to you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so very much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 1: We appreciate you coming in.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie.

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Speaker 1: That's David Revolo there, the chief executive of AFAN here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory. I