15/08/2026
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🚨 BREAKING: WA CABINET OFFICIALLY DECLARES RECREATIONAL FISHERS PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1 🚨
In a stunning display of executive overreach, the Cook Labor Government pulled the trigger on a massive "snap demersal fishing ban."
Without warning, boat-based recreational demersal fishing across the entire West Coast Bioregion—stretching 1,000 kilometres from Kalbarri down to Augusta—was slammed shut, locking recreational fishers out until Spring 2027.
A 21-month lockdown on local families trying to catch a dhufish or pink snapper on their own boats. 🎣❌
And what a disgraceful cast of characters steering this boat:
👏 Premier Roger Cook: Skipper of the SS Not My Fault, lecturing 700,000 WA rec fishers on "making sacrifices" while his Cabinet punishes taxpayers who just want to drop a line on the weekend.
👏 Jackie Jarvis (Fisheries Minister & South West MLC): An absolute disaster for the portfolio. Sitting comfortably in her ivory tower while wielding a bureaucratic sledgehammer to obliterate family businesses, destroy decades of coastal heritage, and replace local seafood with imported rubbish. Her "consultation" is a farce, and her leadership is an insult to every person who lives by the coast.
👏 Don Punch (Member for Bunbury & Regional Development Minister): The ultimate local sellout. As the Member for Bunbury, Don represents a proud coastal city built on marine lifestyle, boating, and fishing. Yet instead of fighting for his own electorate, he sits around the Cabinet table nodding along while Bunbury tackle shops, marine mechanics, and local families get systematically screwed. When local boat owners asked how they’re supposed to use the vessels they paid good money for, Don essentially told them: “Just take a bucket and spade to the beach.” Absolute betrayal from a local member.
👏 The Entire Cook Cabinet: Every single Minister rubber-stamped this scorched-earth ban.
WHAT ABOUT THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR? 🚢⚖️
And let's expose the Government's fraudulent "balanced approach" narrative regarding commercial fishers.
The Cook Government claims this was fair because they permanently closed the commercial demersal scalefish fishery in the West Coast Bioregion. But let's look at the brutal reality:
1️⃣ Multi-Generational Executions: Commercial operators didn't just lose a season—their family businesses, built over generations to supply local WA restaurants and fishmongers with fresh local dhufish, were executed by government decree.
2️⃣ Pennies on the Dollar: Operators are being forced to walk away from millions in capital investment through predatory buyback schemes, while local consumers are forced to eat frozen, imported farmed fish.
3️⃣ Divide and Conquer: Instead of working collaboratively with BOTH rec fishers and commercial operators on smart spatial management or targeted stock recovery, Jarvis and Cook chose to burn the entire house down.
Local fish shops will now sell overseas imports while local commercial boats rot in the harbor.
Brilliant work, Minister Jarvis. 👏
THE POLICY MATH: A "SUBSCRIPTION" WITH NO PRODUCT 💳
The Government claims stock recovery science left them no choice. Fine. Science matters. But management strategy matters more.
Instead of target-based tagging systems, species-specific depth limits, or localized seasonal windows, the Cook Government chose the lazy, authoritarian option: a blanket 21-month lockout.
Consider what WA boat owners are left paying for:
✔️ Boat Registration Fees
✔️ Recreational Fishing from Boat Licences (RFBL)
✔️ Marine Insurance & Trailer Registration
✔️ Fuel at over $2.00/L for a vessel now rendered useless for its core purpose.
This isn't fisheries management. It’s a government subscription service where they collect your hard-earned cash and delete the core feature.
THE ECONOMIC INSULT: "GO FISH OFF THE ROCKS" 🏖️
To add insult to injury, the government’s response to the financial carnage inflicted on small businesses is a joke:
1️⃣ The Tackle Shop Mockery: A pathetic, insulting drop-in-the-ocean rebate scheme for family-owned bait & tackle shops facing TWO YEARS of decimated sales.
2️⃣ The Charter Wipeout: Small charter businesses built over decades wiped out overnight by out-of-touch bureaucrats in Perth.
FISHERS HAVE LONG MEMORIES 🗳️
Premier Cook, Minister Jarvis, and Minister Punch can hide behind departmental media releases all they want. They can pretend they made "the tough choice."
What they actually did was punish everyday West Australians—and gut our local commercial seafood supply—to cover up years of lazy, delayed policy decisions.
Don Punch thinks Bunbury voters will forget. Jackie Jarvis thinks the South West will roll over.
They are dead wrong.
⚓ Boats might be forced to sit idle in driveways until Spring 2027.
🗳️ But fishers and regional voters will not be staying home on Election Day. Remember who did this.
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