How offshore wind farms could impact recreational fishing

But other fishers and researchers have suggested that fish species could increase with the turbines creating hundreds of artificial reefs.

Jay McIlquham is the president of the Shellharbour Game Fishing Club and has been following the plans for the proposed wind farms and sharing them with the club since consultation opened in August.

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Mr McIlquham believes if the proposal goes ahead, the impact on the club and his sport would be disastrous.

"It's going to be catastrophic for the game fishing industry," he said.

"If this goes ahead in the next 10 years, the Shellharbour Game Fishing Club won't be here anymore.

"If this goes through I'm actually going to move to WA."

The species that Mr McIlquham and the club target are predominantly marlin and tuna, pelagic fish that inhabit the ocean about 20 kilometres offshore.

This would place them right in the midst of the proposed offshore wind zone.

"You're taking 1000 square kilometres of our fishing ground out," Mr McIlquham said.

If recreational fishing boats were excluded from the area entirely, this would effectively shut down any prospect of game fishing as it currently operates.

But even if small vessels were allowed in the zone, exclusion zones around the turbines themselves would limit access, making the sport unviable, and changes to currents caused by displacement could shift fish behaviour.

Documents produced by the federal department overseeing the wind zone process state that wind farm developers will have to co-exist alongside other industries, including fishing. Fishers that use trawling and longlines will be subject to exclusion around infrastructure, including towers and cables, the documents state.

UOW Associate Professor Michelle Voyer said there was evidence of recreational fishers and offshore wind farms co-existing overseas, but how this would work in the Illawarra's case was an open question.

"It will depend on how individual developers negotiate with communities around how close they can go to individual structures," she said.

No decision has been made on any exclusion zone for the Illawarra offshore wind zone.

Outside of the wind zone itself, researchers have suggested that anchor points, the floating foundations and chains could create artificial reefs and act as fish attraction devices, as had been observed internationally.

This prospect has encouraged recreational fisherman Simon Guerrera, who fishes up to about 10-15 kilometres offshore.

"It could turn it into a real fishing mecca," he said. "It could be something really special."

Mr Guerra said this effect could be particularly good for species such as snapper, who would be attracted to the baitfish that would come close to the turbines.

As consultation on the zone concludes, Professor Voyer said how users such as fishers could be accommodated in future offshore wind developers if a zone is declared would be a matter for further debate.

"We need to engage people in discussions about what they want to see and what they don't want to see," she said.

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