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South Australia's peak recreational fishing body says anglers are being unfairly blamed for dropping numbers of popular fish species.
Primary Industries and Regions SA (PIRSA) is reviewing the allocations for the commercial sector and bag and boat limits for recreational fishing for King George whiting, bream, garfish and sand crabs in the state's waters.
Recfish SA put forward a further six species it wanted reviewed, but they were left out of the process.
The species included yellowtail kingfish, tommy ruff, mullet, golden perch, mulloway and mud cockles (vongole).
Asher Dezsery says more scrutiny should be placed on commercial operators in SA's fishing industry. (Supplied: RecFish SA)
Executive officer Asher Dezsery said Recfish SA was concerned about overfishing of those species by the commercial sector.
"It's really letting down the 360,000 South Australians [who are recreational fishers] that are really putting in hope that this process can make a difference to seafood sustainability," he said.
Mr Dezsery said PIRSA blamed a lack of recreational data on its decision not to review those species.
He said recreational fishers were being unfairly blamed for drops in fish stocks, while there was not enough scrutiny on the commercial sector.
"Recfish SA had fought hard to get yellowtail kingfish added because since 2021 commercial fishers have been netting the breeding aggregating schools in the northern [Spencer] gulf and sending them to market for as low as $6 a kilogram," he said.
Yellowtail kingfish are found in waters around Australia. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)
"The recreational sector are travelling to regions like Port Augusta and spending thousands of dollars to catch and release these fish.
"While they're there they've got commercial fishers in front of them netting and killing them."
Conversations shouldn't 'get political'
Hugh Bayly has been a commercial marine scale fisher based in Coffin Bay, on the Eyre Peninsula, for five decades.
He was "deeply concerned" about overfishing of some species, including King George whiting.
Hugh Bayly says discussions over catch limits shouldn't be political. (Supplied: Hugh Bayly)
"Of course, they [recreational fishers] have a right to catch the fish, but they need to play their part in stopping the overfishing," Mr Bayly said.
"The main thing we should be trying to achieve is to have the fish stocks rebuild … over time it will improve for everybody.
"It shouldn't have ever gotten to this point, but it has."
Garfish are regularly targeted off jetties and in shallow waters in South Australia. (Supplied)
Mr Bayly agreed comprehensive statistics for recreational fishing were lacking and needed to be rectified, but "playing a game between different groups" was not helping.
"Fisheries management should not be political, it should be scientific," he said.
Fish at 'sustainable' levels
King George whiting and garfish, in particular, are two of the most popular fish species with recreational anglers in SA.
Port Macdonnell Offshore Angling Club and Game Fishing Club of South Australia president Tom Egan said the community believed in looking after fish stocks, but cutting boat and bag limits would be unfair.
Tom Egan says recreational fishers care about sustainability. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
"I'd say 90 per cent of recreational fishers are more than willing to look after and consider the catch rates," he said.
"We all want to look after it ourselves because we all want our kids to enjoy what we're doing."
Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said the review committee was yet to decide what changes, if any, would come to catch limits for the four chosen species.
Clare Scriven says gathering recreational catch data is difficult. (ABC Rural: Eliza Berlage)
"Nearly all of the species in South Australia are at sustainable levels," she said.
"There's a couple of exceptions and where there are exceptions management systems are already in place to deal with that.
"But it's not as though we're facing unsustainable levels in a number of species."
Ms Scriven said gathering recreational catch data was difficult, as it relied on officials surveying at boat ramps and over the phone.