Guy Barnett,Minister for Primary Industries and Water
The Hodgman majority Liberal Government is a passionate supporter of our inland fisheries, which attracts over 26,000 recreational licensed anglers each year including more than 5,000 interstate and overseas anglers.
It was a great pleasure to attend the Hydro Tasmania Cressy Community Trout Expo and see all the families enjoying our world-class fishery.
Attracting more than 2,000 participants each year, this fantastic community event promoting trout fishing has been run by a group of dedicated volunteers for the past 13 years.
Prizes are offered for various categories with the event’s major draw card being a tagged wild brown trout worth $10 000.
The Tasmanian Government is committed to improving angler access and have invested $300,000 to upgrade and build new amenities and toilets at 10 popular trout fishing locations around the state.
To further improve anglers’ access to priority lakes and rivers, the Government has also committed $200 000 to extend the Anglers Access Program in collaboration with Anglers Alliance Tasmania to sites in the state’s north-west, north-east and Derwent catchments.
The Anglers Access Program has projects covering more than 300 kilometres of river throughout the state.
The next stage of the Program has commenced with works to improve access for anglers along the Meander River now underway and will be complete in time for the World Fly Fishing Championships being held in Tasmania at the end of November.
The world championships is attracting teams from up to 30 countries, bringing an estimated 800 anglers and support crew to the state. This Government has provided $100 000 to support the event, with additional support being provided by the Inland Fishing Service and Tourism Tasmania.
While our world-class fishery is a major tourism drawcard, we understand trout fishing underpins many local businesses and jobs, which is why we have made it cheaper for Tasmanians to go trout fishing by freezing licence fees for the four years at the 2017-18 level.
