Anglers say calls to ban a popular yabby net in South Australian waterways would be difficult to enforce and costly for the industry.
Key points:
- Animal welfare groups have called for the popular opera-house-style yabby nets to be banned in SA
- The nets are already banned in four other states and territories
- A Riverland tackle shop owner says it will be hard to discourage the use of the nets if they’re banned
Conservation and animal rights groups have called for “opera house” style nets, commonly used to catch yabbies and freshwater shrimp, to be banned amid fears wildlife such as platypuses and rakali (river rats) can be caught in them.
The nets are already banned in New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania, but remain popular in SA, particularly in the Murray River.
They are regulated by the state government, which mandates the nets be no more than a metre long and have an entrance point diameter of no wider than 7.5 centimetres.
Australian Platypus Conservancy
)Riverland-based tackle shop owner John Cockshell said the nets were widely used by recreational fishers and it would be tough to change habits.
“There’s going to be people who abuse it even if they are phased out; there’s still going to be people who keep using them,” he said.
“But I know the market is there for opera house nets because we’ve been saying to customers for a couple of years that one day they may try and phase them out [and they still buy them].”
Nets should be ‘taken off shelves’: RSPCA
The call to ban opera house nets follows a proposal from the Department for Environment and Water’s Green Adelaide board to reintroduce the platypus to the River Torrens.
RSPCA animal welfare advocate Rebekah Eyres said banning the nets should happen immediately to bring SA in line with other states.
Supplied: RSPCA SA
)“I don’t think that you can tighten the regulations in a way that will ensure that non-target species of animals, including our treasured native wildlife, are not caught in them.
“For that reason, they need to be taken off the shelves and they should not be sold in SA.”
Mr Cockshell said if the nets were to be banned, they should be subject to a “phase-out” period which allowed fishers to find alternatives and retailers to remove remaining stock.
He added a new type of “pyramid-style” net that was currently being trialled could replace opera house traps.
Supplied: Zoopro
)“If the new pyramid net that’s on the horizon gets the approval, I don’t see any real great problem for fishers because they’ll have an alternative.”
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