1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,360 Speaker 1: We know that the National Social and Economic Survey of 2 00:00:03,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Recreational Fishes for twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one. It's 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: a report which has just been released last week. Now. 4 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: The aim of the study was to better understand the 5 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:18,400 Speaker 1: social and economic contributions of recreational fishing in Australia and 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: to identify how to best assess those contributions using cost 7 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:26,920 Speaker 1: effective methods. Now joining me in the studio right now 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: from AFANT, the CEO of AFAN, David Chirrovolo. 9 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 2: Good morning to you, David. 10 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners. 11 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,559 Speaker 2: Lovely to have you on the show. David. Have you 12 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 2: got a bit of a breakdown of this report for 13 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 2: the Northern Territory. 14 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,279 Speaker 4: I certainly do, and there's some amazing figures here. This 15 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 4: is a study that FAN, along with our National Peak body, 16 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 4: have been pressuring the Komwalth government to invest in for 17 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 4: some time. So it's great to finally have the results. 18 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:56,959 Speaker 4: Look basically some some stellar figures for the Northern Territory. 19 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 4: Recreational fishing measured to be too contribute two hundred and 20 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 4: seventy million dollars of annual GDP to the Northern Territory. 21 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 4: And support will contribute directly to two and a half 22 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 4: thousand full time ongoing jobs in the Northern Territory. 23 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 2: That's a massive number, is it is? 24 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 4: And I don't think it surprises people who go recreationally 25 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 4: fishing or those in the industry. You only have to 26 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,440 Speaker 4: look around town to see the jobs in the fishing guides, 27 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:29,479 Speaker 4: the tackle stores, the boat stores, the accommodation facilities, all 28 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 4: of those service industries, marine service industries and so on. 29 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,520 Speaker 4: So it's not a surprise that it is that the 30 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 4: numbers are big, but it's great to finally have some 31 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 4: confirmation of this. 32 00:01:40,520 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, is this the first time that a survey like 33 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,280 Speaker 1: this has been conducted or has it happened before? 34 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 4: Look, there was a survey that was done way back 35 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 4: in two thousand and There's been some local attempts to 36 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 4: quantify various values, but that's really focused on expenditure. This 37 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 4: has been a much more sophisticated economic modeling. It's been 38 00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 4: a project that's been led by Abears, who are the 39 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 4: Australian Government's Bureau for Agricultural Statistics, along with economists and sociologists. 40 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,799 Speaker 2: And so how have they gathered all of this information? 41 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: I mean working out how much money it means to 42 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: the Northern Territory funding not funding wise GDP, how much 43 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: it means to the territory. But then also I guess 44 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:29,119 Speaker 1: looking at things like employment and well being. 45 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 4: Even absolutely and look, I won't go too much into 46 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 4: the methodology because it's not my area of expertise, but 47 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 4: there is a lot of information in the report about that. 48 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 4: But certainly there were tens of thousands of people involved 49 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,360 Speaker 4: in the study and they used three different samples that 50 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,399 Speaker 4: were cross checked, so that it's a really rigorous way 51 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,960 Speaker 4: of getting at these figures that they've never done before, 52 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 4: and they did have a multimillion dollar budget to do it. 53 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,520 Speaker 4: What I think has been some really standout things is 54 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,080 Speaker 4: I guess unexpectedly but great to confirm there are four 55 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 4: million Australians going fishing, but we have the highest rate 56 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:06,079 Speaker 4: of participation here in the Northern Territory. Capital or one 57 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 4: in three people are fishing every year in the Northern Territory, 58 00:03:09,800 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 4: and so we certainly have a thirty three percent and 59 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 4: that's the highest per capita. We also have some great 60 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 4: figures looking at the well being of people who go. 61 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 3: Fishing and people who don't go fishing. 62 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 4: And what's an amazing finding here, which again I think 63 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,560 Speaker 4: fishers wouldn't contest, is that people who go recreationally fishing 64 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 4: on average happier than people who don't go recreationally fishing. 65 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 3: The more you fish, the happier you are. 66 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: And also that if that's not a good enough excuse 67 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: for everybody to go out fishing on the weekend. 68 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 4: Then what is I know, as if we needed any 69 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 4: more excuses. But what's I think a really important thing 70 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 4: here is around resilience. So people have experienced some traumatic 71 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,000 Speaker 4: events in their life where whether it's divorce, death of 72 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 4: a loved one, job, loss, major illness, they're far more 73 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 4: likely to fully recover and to recover fast if they continue. 74 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 3: To go fishing than people who don't go fishing. 75 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 1: Do you know, to me that's not even a huge 76 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: surprise when you catch up with people like the reeling 77 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: for veterans and the wonderful work that they do and 78 00:04:13,200 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: the way in which you know that really helps people, 79 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,159 Speaker 1: I'm sort of not even surprised to hear that people 80 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: are happier and it does help them to be more resilient. 81 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 4: Well, I think when you look at all the challenges 82 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 4: that life throws at people in various different walks of life. 83 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 4: It's really clear to see that their recreational fishing can 84 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 4: support them to live happier, more full lives. And so 85 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 4: whether it is veterans, whether it is youth who have 86 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 4: strayed from strayed from the path, or whether we're talking 87 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 4: about older people who One of the other great findings 88 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 4: here is that beyond the age of sixty five, recreational 89 00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 4: fishing is one of the few activities that people can 90 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 4: continue to do, and for those people it's the most 91 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 4: important physical exercise that they do. So it is a 92 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,159 Speaker 4: really really important thing for people's lives. I think really 93 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 4: makes it clear that we need to continue to invest 94 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 4: in supporting the optimization of recreational fishing in the territory 95 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,719 Speaker 4: and in the space of you know, cuts and changes 96 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 4: and all those kinds of things, especially around access. It 97 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,919 Speaker 4: highlights how important it is for territorians to keep fishing. 98 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, on that topic of sort of access and 99 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: the permits, I know that you and I had spoken 100 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 1: quite a bit about this towards the end of last year. 101 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:27,679 Speaker 1: Has there been much movement in that space. 102 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 4: Well, one of the things around the permits, of course, 103 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,200 Speaker 4: is that most of those permits that are available relate 104 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,239 Speaker 4: to fairly far away places. We've had a pretty strong 105 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 4: wet season and that's there's a real you know, kick 106 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,599 Speaker 4: in the tail of it. So there are probably not 107 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 4: as many people traveling as far to regional places at 108 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:50,320 Speaker 4: the moment, so less people probably you know, certainly going 109 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 4: to the ROPA are going to places where they need 110 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 4: those permits. But we certainly do encourage people to share 111 00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 4: with us at our fand their experiences if they have 112 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 4: any troubles with that system, to let us know. 113 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,279 Speaker 3: We've had a few people get in touch and want 114 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 3: to be sort of talked through how to do it. 115 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 4: But of course people do need to go to the 116 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:10,960 Speaker 4: NLC website for those fishing permits. 117 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 2: Yeah, fair enough. 118 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:13,600 Speaker 1: And has it been fairly easy for people to be 119 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,560 Speaker 1: able to jump on that website and try to get 120 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: those permits. 121 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:19,120 Speaker 4: I think it's fair to say it hasn't been tested 122 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,159 Speaker 4: yet because of the fact that people are not fishing 123 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:24,919 Speaker 4: in those areas at the moment, and also that a 124 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 4: lot of the places that people can get permits too 125 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:30,280 Speaker 4: are quite far afield places. 126 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 2: Okay, I do want to ask as well. 127 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:34,920 Speaker 1: I know that the Northern Territory government has announced that 128 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: they've got some recreational fishing grants that are open at 129 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: the moment. 130 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 2: What can those funds go towards from your understanding. 131 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,279 Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's a really good thing and really timing, 132 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 4: I think when we're thinking about all the benefits of 133 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 4: recreational fishing. So the grants applications are open now, and 134 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 4: this is again something that our fan has worked really 135 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 4: really fortunately with the government to make sure that we've 136 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,359 Speaker 4: got a good recreation fishing grant scheme to support the community. 137 00:06:59,839 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 4: So certainly fishing clubs or not for profit associations can apply. 138 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:07,919 Speaker 4: There's grants of fifteen thousand dollars for the small grants 139 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:10,560 Speaker 4: or grants up to one hundred thousand dollars for large projects, 140 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 4: and they can fund a range of a range of 141 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 4: projects from participation events to sustainable fishing programs. And with 142 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 4: it being open right now, I would certainly encourage those 143 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:22,360 Speaker 4: people in our community who need a little bit of 144 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 4: help to make sure that they can share the benefits 145 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 4: of recreational fishing that they get on there and apply. 146 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff. 147 00:07:29,560 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: Well, David Girovolo, it is always great to catch up 148 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: with you. 149 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 2: No doubt we'll talk to you again very soon. 150 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: And wonderful to see the results of that survey so 151 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: positive for the Northern Territory as well when it comes 152 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: to fishing. 153 00:07:41,200 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 4: Yeah great, Katie, thank you, thanks for having us on. 154 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 4: And just a reminder to people that they can google 155 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,400 Speaker 4: Anty Recreational Fishing Grant scheme if they want to apply 156 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 4: for a. 157 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 3: Grant, and they can contact us if they want more information. 158 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff. Good on you, David. Thanks so much 159 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 2: for catching up with me this morning.