Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / AFANT CEO David Ciaravolo says recreational fishing has contributed $270 million in annual GDP and supports 2,500 full time jobs in the NT according to a recent survey

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AFANT CEO David Ciaravolo says recreational fishing has contributed $270 million in annual GDP and supports 2,500 full time jobs in the NT according to a recent survey · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: We know that the National Social and Economic Survey of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Recreational Fishes for twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one. It's
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  Speaker 1: a report which has just been released last week. Now.
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  Speaker 1: The aim of the study was to better understand the
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  Speaker 1: social and economic contributions of recreational fishing in Australia and
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  Speaker 1: to identify how to best assess those contributions using cost
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  Speaker 1: effective methods. Now joining me in the studio right now
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  Speaker 1: from AFANT, the CEO of AFAN, David Chirrovolo.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, David.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, Good morning listeners.
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  Speaker 2: Lovely to have you on the show. David. Have you
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  Speaker 2: got a bit of a breakdown of this report for
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  Speaker 2: the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 4: I certainly do, and there's some amazing figures here. This
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  Speaker 4: is a study that FAN, along with our National Peak body,
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  Speaker 4: have been pressuring the Komwalth government to invest in for
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  Speaker 4: some time. So it's great to finally have the results.
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  Speaker 4: Look basically some some stellar figures for the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 4: Recreational fishing measured to be too contribute two hundred and
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  Speaker 4: seventy million dollars of annual GDP to the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 4: And support will contribute directly to two and a half
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  Speaker 4: thousand full time ongoing jobs in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: That's a massive number, is it is?
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  Speaker 4: And I don't think it surprises people who go recreationally
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  Speaker 4: fishing or those in the industry. You only have to
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  Speaker 4: look around town to see the jobs in the fishing guides,
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  Speaker 4: the tackle stores, the boat stores, the accommodation facilities, all
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  Speaker 4: of those service industries, marine service industries and so on.
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  Speaker 4: So it's not a surprise that it is that the
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  Speaker 4: numbers are big, but it's great to finally have some
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  Speaker 4: confirmation of this.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, is this the first time that a survey like
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  Speaker 1: this has been conducted or has it happened before?
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  Speaker 4: Look, there was a survey that was done way back
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  Speaker 4: in two thousand and There's been some local attempts to
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  Speaker 4: quantify various values, but that's really focused on expenditure. This
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  Speaker 4: has been a much more sophisticated economic modeling. It's been
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  Speaker 4: a project that's been led by Abears, who are the
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  Speaker 4: Australian Government's Bureau for Agricultural Statistics, along with economists and sociologists.
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  Speaker 2: And so how have they gathered all of this information?
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  Speaker 1: I mean working out how much money it means to
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory funding not funding wise GDP, how much
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  Speaker 1: it means to the territory. But then also I guess
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  Speaker 1: looking at things like employment and well being.
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  Speaker 4: Even absolutely and look, I won't go too much into
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  Speaker 4: the methodology because it's not my area of expertise, but
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  Speaker 4: there is a lot of information in the report about that.
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  Speaker 4: But certainly there were tens of thousands of people involved
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  Speaker 4: in the study and they used three different samples that
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  Speaker 4: were cross checked, so that it's a really rigorous way
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  Speaker 4: of getting at these figures that they've never done before,
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  Speaker 4: and they did have a multimillion dollar budget to do it.
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  Speaker 4: What I think has been some really standout things is
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  Speaker 4: I guess unexpectedly but great to confirm there are four
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  Speaker 4: million Australians going fishing, but we have the highest rate
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  Speaker 4: of participation here in the Northern Territory. Capital or one
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  Speaker 4: in three people are fishing every year in the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 4: and so we certainly have a thirty three percent and
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  Speaker 4: that's the highest per capita. We also have some great
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  Speaker 4: figures looking at the well being of people who go.
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  Speaker 3: Fishing and people who don't go fishing.
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  Speaker 4: And what's an amazing finding here, which again I think
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  Speaker 4: fishers wouldn't contest, is that people who go recreationally fishing
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  Speaker 4: on average happier than people who don't go recreationally fishing.
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  Speaker 3: The more you fish, the happier you are.
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  Speaker 1: And also that if that's not a good enough excuse
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  Speaker 1: for everybody to go out fishing on the weekend.
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  Speaker 4: Then what is I know, as if we needed any
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  Speaker 4: more excuses. But what's I think a really important thing
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  Speaker 4: here is around resilience. So people have experienced some traumatic
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  Speaker 4: events in their life where whether it's divorce, death of
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  Speaker 4: a loved one, job, loss, major illness, they're far more
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  Speaker 4: likely to fully recover and to recover fast if they continue.
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  Speaker 3: To go fishing than people who don't go fishing.
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  Speaker 1: Do you know, to me that's not even a huge
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  Speaker 1: surprise when you catch up with people like the reeling
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  Speaker 1: for veterans and the wonderful work that they do and
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  Speaker 1: the way in which you know that really helps people,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sort of not even surprised to hear that people
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  Speaker 1: are happier and it does help them to be more resilient.
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  Speaker 4: Well, I think when you look at all the challenges
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  Speaker 4: that life throws at people in various different walks of life.
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  Speaker 4: It's really clear to see that their recreational fishing can
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  Speaker 4: support them to live happier, more full lives. And so
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  Speaker 4: whether it is veterans, whether it is youth who have
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  Speaker 4: strayed from strayed from the path, or whether we're talking
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  Speaker 4: about older people who One of the other great findings
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  Speaker 4: here is that beyond the age of sixty five, recreational
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  Speaker 4: fishing is one of the few activities that people can
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  Speaker 4: continue to do, and for those people it's the most
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  Speaker 4: important physical exercise that they do. So it is a
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  Speaker 4: really really important thing for people's lives. I think really
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  Speaker 4: makes it clear that we need to continue to invest
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  Speaker 4: in supporting the optimization of recreational fishing in the territory
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  Speaker 4: and in the space of you know, cuts and changes
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  Speaker 4: and all those kinds of things, especially around access. It
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  Speaker 4: highlights how important it is for territorians to keep fishing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, on that topic of sort of access and
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  Speaker 1: the permits, I know that you and I had spoken
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  Speaker 1: quite a bit about this towards the end of last year.
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  Speaker 1: Has there been much movement in that space.
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  Speaker 4: Well, one of the things around the permits, of course,
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  Speaker 4: is that most of those permits that are available relate
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  Speaker 4: to fairly far away places. We've had a pretty strong
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  Speaker 4: wet season and that's there's a real you know, kick
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  Speaker 4: in the tail of it. So there are probably not
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  Speaker 4: as many people traveling as far to regional places at
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  Speaker 4: the moment, so less people probably you know, certainly going
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  Speaker 4: to the ROPA are going to places where they need
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  Speaker 4: those permits. But we certainly do encourage people to share
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  Speaker 4: with us at our fand their experiences if they have
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  Speaker 4: any troubles with that system, to let us know.
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  Speaker 3: We've had a few people get in touch and want
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  Speaker 3: to be sort of talked through how to do it.
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  Speaker 4: But of course people do need to go to the
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  Speaker 4: NLC website for those fishing permits.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, fair enough.
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  Speaker 1: And has it been fairly easy for people to be
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  Speaker 1: able to jump on that website and try to get
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  Speaker 1: those permits.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's fair to say it hasn't been tested
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  Speaker 4: yet because of the fact that people are not fishing
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  Speaker 4: in those areas at the moment, and also that a
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  Speaker 4: lot of the places that people can get permits too
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  Speaker 4: are quite far afield places.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I do want to ask as well.
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  Speaker 1: I know that the Northern Territory government has announced that
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  Speaker 1: they've got some recreational fishing grants that are open at
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  Speaker 1: the moment.
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  Speaker 2: What can those funds go towards from your understanding.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it's a really good thing and really timing,
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  Speaker 4: I think when we're thinking about all the benefits of
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  Speaker 4: recreational fishing. So the grants applications are open now, and
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  Speaker 4: this is again something that our fan has worked really
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  Speaker 4: really fortunately with the government to make sure that we've
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  Speaker 4: got a good recreation fishing grant scheme to support the community.
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  Speaker 4: So certainly fishing clubs or not for profit associations can apply.
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  Speaker 4: There's grants of fifteen thousand dollars for the small grants
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  Speaker 4: or grants up to one hundred thousand dollars for large projects,
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  Speaker 4: and they can fund a range of a range of
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  Speaker 4: projects from participation events to sustainable fishing programs. And with
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  Speaker 4: it being open right now, I would certainly encourage those
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  Speaker 4: people in our community who need a little bit of
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  Speaker 4: help to make sure that they can share the benefits
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  Speaker 4: of recreational fishing that they get on there and apply.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Well, David Girovolo, it is always great to catch up
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  Speaker 1: with you.
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  Speaker 2: No doubt we'll talk to you again very soon.
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  Speaker 1: And wonderful to see the results of that survey so
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  Speaker 1: positive for the Northern Territory as well when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to fishing.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah great, Katie, thank you, thanks for having us on.
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  Speaker 4: And just a reminder to people that they can google
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  Speaker 4: Anty Recreational Fishing Grant scheme if they want to apply
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  Speaker 4: for a.
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  Speaker 3: Grant, and they can contact us if they want more information.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good stuff. Good on you, David. Thanks so much
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  Speaker 2: for catching up with me this morning.