Surf Life Saving NSW’s highly successful rock fishing safety and skills program, Gone Fishing will return in 2025, with funding from the NSW Government allowing for the rollout of phase two which will target at-risk communities with a complete package of critical safety workshops, multicultural resources and free lifejackets.
Grant funding of $300,000 has been committed to the program, which saw nearly 20,000 people educated through its first iteration between 2022 and 2023. During that time, 10 coastal safety sessions were delivered at locations across the state and more than 1,000 fit-for-purpose life jackets were handed out to participants.
The number of free lifejackets will rise to 1,200 in phase two, which Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty – who was on hand to announce the funding – says is an important aspect of the program’s delivery.
“Wearing a lifejacket can be the difference between life or death, and while recreational fishing is for everyone to enjoy, rock fishing is risky and we want to make it safer for those who can be at-risk such as beginners, new Australians, and tourists,” she said.
“By making lifejackets and education freely available through the SLS teams along the coast we can make it more accessible and safer.”
Indonesian-born rock fisher Rahadian (Hadi) Thahar will act as a program ambassador once again, helping to bring the teachings to life for his own, and other, multicultural communities.
Hadi has had first-hand experience of the dangers of rock fishing, and is proud of the opportunity to continue making an impact through the program.
“The stats tell the story – 95 per cent of people who attended a session walked away with something that they learned that was new, and that tells us that the messages made a difference,” he said.
“The key learnings for me were that a lot of people think they’re experts but when you come to one of these sessions you realise you don’t know as much as you think you do.”
Surf Life Saving NSW CEO, Steve Pearce thanked Minister Moriarty and the NSW Government for its support of important in-community programs and acknowledged the organisation’s desire to renew the program following its previous success.
“This is a multifaceted program that we’re very proud of, with continued targeted education events and in-water safety demonstrations along the coastline, and also directly into non-English speaking background communities away from coastal locations,” he said.
“We’ll even be in bait and tackle shops with safety resources, it’s so important to us that we spread this message far and wide.
“It’s not just SLSNSW either, we are collaborating with around a dozen other agencies and councils including the Department of Primary Industries and multicultural groups to ensure the right messaging gets to the right people.”
Monday 28 October 2024