Shellharbour council may be forced to reinstate a dedicated ranger at Bass Point Reserve following complaints about “raping and pillaging” of the treasured recreational fishing spot.
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Barrack Heights father-of-two Ben Neaves has been fishing off the reserve’s so-called Slope Rock for 20 years, but says he “couldn’t get near the joint” on Saturday, when an estimated 60 fishers crowded in.
Having visited the site on Friday, and seen several tents at the site, Mr Neaves suspects some visitors stayed the night, in defiance of locked gates intended to prevent overnight camping and poaching.
He accuses some fishers of exceeding catch limits, polluting the area and violating protected areas.
“There were two mini buses there both days and they didn’t move from where they were parked, so I’d say they camped overnight,” he said.
“On Saturday we took the kids for a swim at Bass Point and my daughter got a fishing hook stuck in her foot. The sea urchins had been raided. There were hundreds that were half-eaten up on the banks.
“One [fisherman] must have had twice his bag limit. We saw him take it to his car, then he stayed there still. You cant’ eat that much, so you’ve got to be selling it.
“Even when the toilet’s 200 metres away, they’re going [to the toilet] in the bush.”
Mr Neaves says fisheries inspectors are spread too thin to fully guard against the problems. He believes the troubles are linked to Shellharbour City Council’s decision to do away with a dedicated ranger at the reserve about five years ago.
As part of that shift, the reserve was incorporated into the broader range of public spaces that council rangers patrol for parking and camping violations. The job of locking the reserve gate was given to contractors who “don’t check for people in there … they just lock the gate”, Mr Neaves said.
Mr Neaves says he spoke to a former ranger, who claimed to have seen fishers in the protected Bushrangers Bay.
“It’s a nature reserve – you’re not allowed to take anything, even down to the rocks and the sands,” he said. “It’s upsetting because I want to show my kids the place down the track. If they get poached – some of those bream have been there for over 20 years.”
Shellharbour City Council encourages visitors to the reserve and celebrates its popularity as boom for area tourism.
But complaints from the weekend have prompted an upcoming review, according to general manager Carey McIntyre.
“We need to acknowledge that some people experienced some problems over the weekend and s a result, council will be considering how the park may be better managed from a regulation perspective. That’s work we will do over the coming weeks and months.”
Mr McIntyre said rangers visited the site several times throughout the weekend.
“In doing so, they made themselves aware of the activities that were being undertaken, and I’m sure that will form an important part of the review that we’ll be undertaking soon,” he said.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries, whose fisheries officers are reponsible for policing poaching and bag and size limits, did not respond to the questions put forward by the Mercury on the Easter Monday public holiday.