Please forward this letter to as many of your fishing friends as possible.
Update on proposed closure
of Gaden Trout Hatchery
Despite what you may have heard the NSW government has NOT reversed its decision to close Gaden Trout
Hatchery. Several media organisations reported that ‘the decision to close the hatchery was reversed’ and
‘backflip: hatchery to remain open’. Unfortunately this is not correct and the most that the Minister for
Primary Industries has offered is to ‘delay the process’ of closing the Gaden Hatchery in Jindabyne, following
discussions with the NSW Council of Freshwater Anglers and key stakeholders’.
Anglers must keep up the pressure on the government to keep the hatchery open! Please write or email the
Premier and the Minister before 15 December and ask them to keep Gaden open.
What has happened so far:
• The NSW government announced in its Mini‐budget of 11 Nov 2008 cost‐cutting including
“Consolidation of excess offices and research stations over the next three years at Alstonville, Berry,
Condobolin, Glen Innes, Gosford, Griffith, Temora, and Jindabyne Hatchery.”
• On 12 November Hon Ian Macdonald, Minister for Primary Industries announced in a media release
“Eight facilities that are no longer needed by the Department will be closed,” he said. “These facilities
are at Alstonville, Berry, Condobolin, Glen Innes, Gosford, Griffith, Jindabyne Hatchery and Temora.”
• Numerous fishing organisations, business owners and individual anglers have used letters, emails,
petitions and meetings with local MPs to lobby the Minister and other people in the NSW government
to keep the hatchery open.
• A public rally was held at Jindabyne on 16 December, organised by the NSW Council of Freshwater
Anglers (NSW CFA) and local Labor MP Steve Whan, who has campaigned against the closure. The
rally was attended by approximately 250 anglers, local business people and representatives of the
Nationals and Liberal Party.
• The issue has received coverage in metropolitan and regional TV, radio and newspapers.
• Questions were asked in State Parliament by The Shooters Party, the Nationals and Liberals.
• Representatives of the NSW CFA were invited to a meeting with the Minister on 21 November 2008.
The meeting was also attended by Steve Whan, Labor Member for Eden‐Monaro, and Robert Brown
MLC of The Shooters Party. The Minister agreed to delay a decision until a further meeting with the
NSW CFA, planned for around 15 December, and asked the NSW CFA to make a submission on
options and alternative strategies that might achieve the savings required without jeopardising the
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long term operation of the hatchery. At that meeting we discovered that the operating cost that the
government wishes to save is only $417,000 per year.
• NSW CFA President made a formal request to the Recreational Freshwater Fishing Trust Expenditure
Committee (RFFTEC) on Monday 24 November 2008 for the required funds.
• RFFTEC met on Wednesday 26 November 2008 and agreed to the NSW CFA request. RFFTEC did note
that some adjustments may have to be made to other trout related programs to satisfy the request.
The NSW CFA believes this to be acceptable. This agreement now needs to be ratified by the Advisory
Council on Recreational Fishing (ACoRF). ACoRF is expected to meet on Thursday 11 December 2008.
What the NSW Council of Freshwater Anglers is doing:
• The Council is preparing a submission with a number of options to be sent to the Minister prior to the
15 December meeting. That submission is based on the numerous responses received from our own
member organisations and from other clubs, associations and individual anglers and actions taken by
the NSW CFA to date.
• The submission is likely to include the recommendations that the government should not close Gaden
Trout Hatchery but should appropriate other departmental funds and work with anglers to review
management practices and ensure the hatchery’s long term sustainable operation; that $417,000
from the Recreational Freshwater Fishing Trust should be used, subject to certain conditions, to meet
recurrent costs at the hatchery; that those conditions include an agreement with anglers to ensure
the long term future of the hatchery, formation of an advisory group with adequate angler
representation and a moratorium on further closures or cutbacks to DPI hatchery operations without
consultation with RFFTEC.
Other issues that have been raised with us:
• Many anglers have suggested increasing the angler fee or imposing an additional trout fishing fee.
We have not included any recommendation that angling licence fees be raised. We do think an
increase is appropriate, but that matter requires wider consultation with all angling groups including
saltwater anglers, and we will be strongly recommending to RFFTEC and ACoRF that fees be reviewed
as soon as possible.
• We have considered a number of other viewpoints, including that the proposal is a ploy to make the
local Labor member look good, and that the closure is a conspiracy between the Government and the
Greens. We don’t place any store in those theories and consider them a distraction from the main
issues that need arguing.
• Many view points have expressed the notion that the Department of Primary Industries made the
unsolicited recommendation to the Minister (to close Gaden) knowing that anglers would use licence
funds to keep it open. While we make no call on this theory at present, should it turn out to be true it
would be a significant breech of good will between anglers and the Department.
• We have considered the widely expressed view that anglers are being blackmailed, ie that the
government knows that anglers will cave in and agree that Recreational Freshwater Fishing Trust
funds, which come from angler licences, be used to bail out what should be a core activity of the NSW
DPI. This is a view that we have a lot of sympathy with, but we feel we cannot afford to risk the
hatchery by ‘calling the government’s bluff’ as some have urged us to do, by refusing to allow the use
of funds. We understand that the Recreational Freshwater Fishing Trust may need to adjust its annual
expenditure on other trout related activities to meet the cost of running the hatchery and we will be
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expecting significant compromises and undertakings from the government on other fronts in return
for allowing those funds to be used. If Trust funds are used in this manner saltwater or native fish
expenditure will not be compromised.
• We continue to seek comments by anglers on these issues—they can be emailed to NSW Council of
Freshwater Anglers President Steve Samuels at
steve_samuels@bigpond.com.
• We recognise that some anglers may have differing views and we hope they will express them directly
to the Minister.
What you can do BEFORE 15 DECEMBER:
The outcry against the proposed closure has been enormous, but anglers must put immediate and intense
pressure on the State Government to reverse the decision. PLEASE take some time and contact as many
people as you can, by post, email or phone, and make your views clear.
At the very least you should contact the Premier Nathan Rees, the Minister for Primary Industries Ian
Macdonald and your local Member of Parliament. Keep your letters clear, polite and to the point.
Key issues to raise are: the necessity of trout stocking in NSW; the importance of hatcheries being managed to
ensure ongoing availability of fish stocks for public angling; the role of trout fishing in the Snowy Mountains
economy, (estimated in 2001 by Dominion Consulting as $70 million per annum); the contribution made by
recreational anglers, clubs and acclimatisation societies over the past 100 years, volunteering time and effort
and contributing the financial support that made Gaden Trout Hatchery possible in the first place; the lack of
any other hatchery operation in the State capable of producing significant amounts of disease free stock for
the Snowy Mountains region. When writing please request a reply to the questions you have asked.
The Hon Nathan Rees (ALP)
Premier of NSW
GPO Box 5341
SYDNEY NSW 2001
Phone (02) 9228 5239
Email
thepremier@www.nsw.gov.auThe Hon Ian Macdonald (ALP)
Minister for Primary Industries
Level 33 Governor Macquarie Tower
1 Farrer Place
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9228 3344
Email
macdonald.office@macdonald.minister.nsw.gov.auRemember to send this letter on to other anglers and ask them to do the same
