STINKER: To learn about a port, ask a fisherman

MY records show that commercial fishing commenced in Port Stephens in the early 1880s.

The industry, in its infancy, was very much restricted by the unavailability of ice. Not having ice meant that the fishermen could only sell their catch locally to the very few residents and to the Chinese who had gathered on the Tomaree Peninsula. Sales were restricted to the winter months.

Such was the importance of commercial fishing, to the growth of the colony, that a ‘Royal Commission into Fisheries of the Colony of NSW’ was appointed on 8 January 1880.

The thorough Report registered the significance of Port Stephens – “Port Stephens, about 24 miles to the northward of Newcastle, with its favorable outer grounds, including the Broughton Islands and extending as far as the Seal Rocks, is probably the grandest fishing station on the entire seaboard of this Colony. Connected with the vast series of lakes (the Myall Lakes) on the north and with the Karuah River, Telligherry Creek, with miles upon miles of beaches fit for seine fishing with an apparent unlimited endowment of the best fish and with a telegraph station within very easy distance, this noble harbour is unquestionably destined to become one of the largest factors in the metropolitan fish supply of the future.

All the Broughton Island group are singularly favorable by their formation for lobsters and the reefs and outlying rocks about Cabbagetree and Boondelbah Islands, off the entrance to the Port and those around Long Island (Broughton Island) abound with fish – but the distance under the existing regime, is rather too remote from market to encourage the development of this Fishery.”

There have been many major changes to the fishing industry since these early days.

Today, commercial fishing remains a major contributor to the ongoing development of the local area.

I would strongly suggest, when we gather to debate the future of Port Stephens, that commercial fishermen should be invited to speak.