Hi guys,

I've just received a formal letter from Adelaide County Council,
by way of Trevor Watts, the SARFAC Executive Officer

Elsewhere on this forum there has been much doom and gloom and not a
few irate comments from anglers all over the state on this issue.

To start at the beginning,I'll go back to the recent SARFAC/PIRSA meeting organised by the Government to build bridges with Anglers and associated groups to make better communication and also a strong recreational fishing sector

At this meeting the question was raised about the expiation notices for anglers and there was a total disbelief by those attending!

The representative for the disabled anglers told us they regularly fished there with 200 disabled anglers and once had 450

Trevor said that SARFAC had long had a cordial arrangement with ACC and the Mayor in particular

Long story short, Trevor sent a letter to ACC to seek an answer and they replied in the positive to this An excerpt follows:

"I can confirm that fishing in and around "Torrens Lake" is NOT a prohibited activity (underlined in red ink!my comment)
However, individuals or clubs wanting to do so must have Council approval"

The above is embraced by "Adelaide City Council by-law #3, Part 2"

Another part of the legislation says that Anglers must abide by the Code of Conduct for SA Recreational Anglers especially relating to non-native species and native species!

The letter is signed by Debra Just, Adelaide Chief Executive Officer

The contact person for any queries on this matter is

a Mr Andrew Smith,Asset Manager(Water) on 8203 7235

My understanding is that this by-law only applys to "Torrens Lake" and that other sections of the Torrens ie Bonython Park etc are excluded from the permit system and therefore legal to fish for Carp!

Good work in my opinion by the much maligned and very dedicated guys at SARFAC

Thats great news Tony
And great work by SARFAC and Trevor




I wonder if applications by email are sufficient and if permission is on a one off basis rather than trip by trip.

Kelvin wrote:


Really good point Kelvin, as this is hot off the press, I guess the boundaries of the Lake would be the first bit of detective work we need to do

Next is to find out if a cost applies for individual anglers or merely an application for the permit? Also if an annual or day permit is needed? I assume when the permit is issued it will include the regulations on it, ie disposal of fish etc.

so a bonython pk day could be a goer ?

brent

OOOoooh! OOOoooHh!, I gotta BITE!!!!

keen for more info Tony...

I was wondering if were supposed to contact the assett manager every time we go in there

tonyb wrote:


Careful asking or suggesting anything about a charge, you might give them ideas !

Thanks very much for the clarification Tony, it should help ease a few minds

[/quote]

Careful asking or suggesting anything about a charge, you might give them ideas !

quote]

precisely

Just had a bit more dialogue with Trevor Watts on this topic and he

tells me that there is a need for a "blanket" style permit to cover

all organizations and also individuals as this bye-law does NOT allow

for spur of the moment visits to the Torrens Lake!

I have offered a few helpful suggestions (hopefully) to get the wheels

in motion and wait with anticipation on Trevor's reply!

dont know anyone that fishes "the lake" i'm assuming opp festival theatre to morphett st.

so anywhere else is a go for it ?

brent

Brent61southoz wrote:


Im sure there are people who do or have done in the past. It would be difficult to define a boudary of the lake, as opposed to the river, assuming this makes a difference.

I guess all will be revealed in good time though

Might be an idea to check with Mr Andrew Smith

I think the Torrens Lake is from the Torrens Weir to the King William

Street Bridge!

This gives an awful lot of open slather to the general public I suspect

tonyb wrote:


I think you're probably right Tony, but if "push came to shove" a clearly marked area might be appropriate.

I also have heard talk of redeveloping many of the rivers edges to make them more attractive to tourists etc , so maybe they just want to keep an eye on things a bit more, rather than letting us smelly ruffians run amok

am i reading this right, you want people to buy a permit to dispose of the fish/carp so eventually there will be few or no fish in the torrens, then it will not be worth fishing there!! as we know no native fish will survive or breed in such polluted water,

wouldn't it be a good idea to encourage kids, families and disabled anglers to enjoy the fishing, look after the surroundings care for all the fish rather than have this obsession that you must kill the fish regardless, you have really got to get over the fact that if you get rid of all the carp you are going to have a fishing paridise on the torrens where it's going to thrive, full of silver perch, callop and the like, don't get me wrong i would love to go into the city and regularly catch all sorts of native fish but thats never going to happen with all the general human pollution dumped into the river, so come on guys lets embrace what we've got enjoy the fishing, don't shoot yourself in the foot coz if you do you're have to travel up to the murray for a good days freshwater fishing, sorry guys but it's a no brainer