Western Australia's bitter fight over a sweeping demersal fishing ban now has a formal venue. After hours of debate, the state's upper house this week backed a parliamentary inquiry into the health of WA's fisheries, with every party throwing its support behind the probe for very different reasons.
The vote followed one of the most charged speeches of the session. Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis, who imposed the ban, told parliament she had been subjected to threats — including shark heads and fish guts dumped outside her office — and accused the opposition of standing with commercial fishers who had crossed the line. The Nationals, who have championed the inquiry, firmly rejected that characterisation.
Jarvis said she had nothing to hide and would support the motion, but she did not hide her anger either.
"To stand there and support fishers who have made threats against my family, to stand there to support fishers who have dumped shark heads at my door, where my staff have to deal with that," she said.
She described one episode in detail. "I came to Perth to meet with commercial fishers on December 28. I said I would meet them at any time, and as I'm driving to Perth, they're driving to my office to dump 200 [kilograms] of shark heads at the door for my staff to deal with."
Jarvis insisted the decision delivered her no advantage. "It would be great if someone could tell me what political gain I have achieved here because as far as I can tell, I've just basically annoyed everyone," she said. Pushed on her reasoning, she kept returning to the science: "This is about overfishing."
For the Nationals, the inquiry is about how the ban was reached, not just whether it was right. Legislative Council leader Julie Freeman said the process had been backwards from the start.
"It's around good decision-making, and it's around having a transparent and accountable and consultative process," Freeman said. She added that the closure had blindsided the sector: "The minister then announced [the demersal fishing] bans, which came as an absolute shock out of the blue."
The Nationals have pushed for an inquiry since October, when they backed Anthony Haygarth, a commercial and recreational fisher from Geraldton who launched a petition calling for one. That petition became the largest in the state's parliamentary history.
The inquiry's scope reaches well beyond bag limits. It will examine marine parks, the demersal closure and the impact of seismic blasting on fish stocks — an inclusion welcomed by conservationists who want the resources sector's footprint examined alongside fishing.
"When we're asking local fishing communities to give our demersal population every chance of recovery, we cannot turn around and hand the oil and gas industry yet another free pass," said Matt Roberts, executive director of the Conservation Council of WA.
Whatever the inquiry finds, the ban itself looks set to stand. It carries the support of both the Greens and Labor and is scheduled to remain in place until spring 2027. Enforcement, meanwhile, continues: a 35-year-old man was recently fined $4,700 and stripped of his fishing gear for repeated breaches, including taking demersal fish during the closure.
