November 18, 2025 • 10 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now earlier in the week you've probably heard on the show,
we're talking about some concerns that rob Hampton might be
emerging as the Barrow Monday Capital of Australia thanks to
the success of its net free.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Zone in the Fitzroy River.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now joining me in the studio to talk about this
and talk about plenty more, including the AGM that is
on this evening for a fan t It is AFANS
CEO David Chiivolo.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning to you, David.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Great to have you in the studio mate, and obviously
all eyes on this cyclone, but all eyes tonight on
a Fans AGM as well.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
No doubt going to be a really big meeting.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, look, absolutely will be.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
There's always big issues on the agenda for the AGM,
and as you quite rightly said, people are wondering, is
the territory still the Barraw capital? Yeah, you know, yes
it is, I would say, but I think there is
work to be done.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I think that's really important.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
But we're also going to be hearing about what the
plans are to make sure that that is the case.
But we've also got some other really big challenges on
the horizon, like the management of golden snappers. So yeah,
absolutely going to be a big meeting tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It will be and you know, so many important things
to discuss when it comes to fishing in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Now mate on these on the barrow in Rockhampton.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
People are talking about the fact that you can go
to Rocky, you can fish the Fitzroy River. You're catching
you know, there's all these meterries being caught, particularly at
a recent all the Fitzroy River barrow Bash where they
apparently had hundreds of competitors two hundred and seventy three
fish more than a meter landed.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I mean, what do you think that seats.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, look, firstly, you can't say anything other than that's
a tremendous amount of meteries and it's a wonderful to
see a territory and go over there and show them
all how it's done and you know, claim the title.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So that's absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
And the fact that there are lots of big fish
there is no doubt testament to a number of things,
the banning of netting in the Fitzroy catchment, the fact
that the Fitzroy is a huge catchment. I don't know
if people appreciate it's three times the size of the
Daily River catchment, or twice the size of the Roper catchment,
which is our biggest catchment in the Northern territory.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So it's a really big river.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And they're also doing the fishing there towards breeding time
in the lower reaches of the river, which is the
exact opposite end of the season too, when we have
our competitions reaches towards the end of the runoff high
up in the river systems, like in the Daily River,
where you do get a much greater mix of fish,
and particularly a lot more small fish because the smaller
(02:36):
fish push up into the floodplains when they're younger and
migrate into the lower reaches when they're older. So you know,
a bit of apples and apples and oranges there in
some ways taking nothing away from the great fishing. But hey,
let me say, the territory is not about one river.
We've got a lot of great rivers and we've got
a lot of big fish.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
David, do you reckon we're at the point like do
we need to try and phase out these skillnets more quickly,
and do we need to do more to try and
increase our barren numbers.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Look, I think it's absolutely important that we send a
really clear signal around where we're at with the government's
commitment to phase out Barra Mundy guil netting. So, firstly,
the COLP has been completely unequivocal about this. They're going
to end gilt netting and they're going to do it
by the end of the twenty twenty eight term of government. Now,
(03:28):
a logical time to end that is probably around the
end of October twenty twenty seven, which is only two
years away, because that's when the season ends, and I
think to have a half season for baraon Mundy gill
netting is probably going to be a disaster both for
industry and politically. So Look, we're only a couple of
years away as it is, and what we're hearing from
(03:50):
fisheries is that most of the licenses are out aren't
out there fishing anymore I can, so that's a positive.
But at the same time we do need to be
on the front foot and be really positive about why
we're doing this. You know, we've heard the Minister say
on other interviews that it's about supporting recreational fishing and tourism.
That message needs to be front and center that the
(04:12):
territory remains the barrier capital of the world, and we
really need to do a good job of promoting that
we have a net free and t something we've been
talking about for a long time.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
How important do you reckon that is?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
You know, to fishermen that come to the Northern Territory,
do you think that that's like do you think that's
something that they're looking at if they're choosing between Rocky
and Darwin.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I think it's about the experience, and you know, working
with a lot of people in the tourism industry, we
know that people come here for the experience that they've
booked in years in advance for the runoff. Fishing in
Rockhampton at the moment is closed. The season has closed.
It ended at the end of October. Our season's open.
We've got million dollar fish running. You know, I heard
(04:56):
some talk about shoulder season. Million dollar fish is the
shoulder season competition. It ensures that we've got fishing through
the build up, through the wet season and into the
beginning of the run or into the runoff. And so
the territory has offerings and fishing experiences that a place
like Rockhampton simply can't offer.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh look, there's a lot that we offer that Rocky
doesn't if you ask me as a girl who grew
up in Queensland.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But I won't go into that now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Let me ask you though, in terms of the AGM tonight,
I would imagine this is definitely high on the agenda.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You've got the Minister attending, don't you.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
We certainly do.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
We certainly do, and I would be wrong for me
not to mention that my colleague has just come back
ready for the AGM, been away for a week fishing.
Her family caught fifteen meteries in the past week. It
spot come to the AGM, you'll find out where she went.
And you're quite right, we've got Minister Meilee is coming
to address our meeting, the Deputy Chief Minister. We're really
(05:53):
looking forward to hearing from him and where his government's
at with the Barramundy Gilneting buyout, what's happening with the
Golden Snapper management and so we're really looking forward to
having Minister Maitly there because not only is he a
Deputy Chief Minister, but we know that he's a mad
keen fisher.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
He certainly is. So where are things that with the
golden snapper issue.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Well, look, we've got a presentation from Fisheries tonight on
golden snapper.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Twelve months ago at our AGM.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
In fact, the week of our AGM, I think I
might have been standing here talking to you, and Fisheries
had released a stock assessment saying that they were concerned,
still concerned that management that was put in all the
way back in twenty fifteen appeared not to be doing
the job and that stock levels were depressed. Now we're
twelve months down the track and we've got another update
(06:42):
coming from Fisheries. Help We've also had some sector based
working groups getting the latest information from Anti Fisheries, which
they hopefully will be talking about with the community tonight.
But it looks like there is more management required for
golden snapper. But this there also a lot of unanswered
questions about this stock. Like people may not realize, but
(07:04):
we've not actually been actively managing these stocks for a
very long time. You go back twenty five years and
they're just beginning to start to understand what the golden
snapper stock is in the Northern Territory and we own.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
We still don't know.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Where they breed, how far out to see they go.
There's a lot of unknowns, but a lot of long
term fishes also would say the fishing has declined around
Darwin for golden snapper, so we probably do need some management,
but we want to try to make sure that balances.
But we're innovative about it so that we don't just
(07:41):
know ruin all of the benefits that come along with
being able to go and fish for other species. So
I would say to people you want to find out
what's going on with that, come and hear from fisheries.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So can anyone head along, what like do they need
to be you know, does there need to be any
prerequisite for them to come along?
Speaker 4 (07:58):
David, There is one very important prerequisite, and it's that
you are interested in recreational fishing.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
If you're.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
If you're interested in recreational fishing, we'd love to have
you along at our AGM. You'll be hearing from myself
around some of the big issues, what we want to
see with the barrel mundy netting buy out over the
next twelve months, what we want to see on golden snapper.
There's also going to be a presentation from Water Resources
about water allocation plans for the Daily River and the
(08:29):
Adelaide River to really important barrel Monday fisheries. There's going
to be an update on artificial reef trial that's happening
out there in Darwen Harbor. So really, if you love fishing,
there's only one place to be tonight and that is
to come along to the FNAGM.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It's at the Lear which is was the travel Lodge?
Oh yeah, yes, sixty four Kavanagh Street in the city.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
What time is that kicking off?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Well, it starts at six sharp with registrations from five
to fifteen, So please come along early, have a drink
on arrival.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I've got some great lucky door prizes.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
You could win a Roden reel, you could win a
NAFA subscription, maybe even a few Lamb based fishing guides also.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So they went off, they went absolutely, have you sold
a heap of it?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
We have sold thousands of them to our wholesalers, our retailers,
and what.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
A good Christmas gift as well, don't you reckon?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And that's why the retailers have been stocking up for
Christmas because the demand for them has been huge. And
I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a lot
of people fishing around the shore. Million dollar barrow does that,
but also people knowing where to fish, when to fish,
what tides to fish.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
They've got the Bible in their pocket.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Now it's perfect, It's so good. It is such a
great thing to have.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Hey, really quick question, Now the well, Kathleen says to me.
She'd imagine that fishermen are going to be hoping there
is a well. This is the signe of a potentially
good wet season, which would mean a good runoff, but
only if the rain continues.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
David, what do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Look, absolutely sustained rain that arrives early, rises on the
floodplains and keeps the floodplains up. That is the engine
room of our barrel Mundy fisheries. That is what really
brings in all of that energy potential that's actually sitting
on the land and the floodplain and turns it into
food for fish, and then those fish take it out
(10:20):
back into the rivers for the years ahead.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So fingers crossed for it.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
I'd prefer it to come without the wind, Katie. I'm
more than happy for just a nice slow rolling monsoon
and hopefully you know, everyone stays safe. And I'd love
this cyclon just to skirt us, but you know, keep.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Its distance exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I'm with you. I'm definitely with you. David Girovolo, CEO
of AFA. Lovely to catch up with you this morning.
Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Thanks Katie, thank you,
Now earlier in the week you've probably heard on the show,
we're talking about some concerns that rob Hampton might be
emerging as the Barrow Monday Capital of Australia thanks to
the success of its net free.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Zone in the Fitzroy River.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Now joining me in the studio to talk about this
and talk about plenty more, including the AGM that is
on this evening for a fan t It is AFANS
CEO David Chiivolo.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Good morning to you, David.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Good morning Katie, and good morning to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Great to have you in the studio mate, and obviously
all eyes on this cyclone, but all eyes tonight on
a Fans AGM as well.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
No doubt going to be a really big meeting.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, look, absolutely will be.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
There's always big issues on the agenda for the AGM,
and as you quite rightly said, people are wondering, is
the territory still the Barraw capital? Yeah, you know, yes
it is, I would say, but I think there is
work to be done.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I think that's really important.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
But we're also going to be hearing about what the
plans are to make sure that that is the case.
But we've also got some other really big challenges on
the horizon, like the management of golden snappers. So yeah,
absolutely going to be a big meeting tonight.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
It will be and you know, so many important things
to discuss when it comes to fishing in the Northern Territory.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Now mate on these on the barrow in Rockhampton.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
People are talking about the fact that you can go
to Rocky, you can fish the Fitzroy River. You're catching
you know, there's all these meterries being caught, particularly at
a recent all the Fitzroy River barrow Bash where they
apparently had hundreds of competitors two hundred and seventy three
fish more than a meter landed.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I mean, what do you think that seats.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
Well, look, firstly, you can't say anything other than that's
a tremendous amount of meteries and it's a wonderful to
see a territory and go over there and show them
all how it's done and you know, claim the title.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So that's absolutely wonderful.
Speaker 4 (01:54):
And the fact that there are lots of big fish
there is no doubt testament to a number of things,
the banning of netting in the Fitzroy catchment, the fact
that the Fitzroy is a huge catchment. I don't know
if people appreciate it's three times the size of the
Daily River catchment, or twice the size of the Roper catchment,
which is our biggest catchment in the Northern territory.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So it's a really big river.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
And they're also doing the fishing there towards breeding time
in the lower reaches of the river, which is the
exact opposite end of the season too, when we have
our competitions reaches towards the end of the runoff high
up in the river systems, like in the Daily River,
where you do get a much greater mix of fish,
and particularly a lot more small fish because the smaller
(02:36):
fish push up into the floodplains when they're younger and
migrate into the lower reaches when they're older. So you know,
a bit of apples and apples and oranges there in
some ways taking nothing away from the great fishing. But hey,
let me say, the territory is not about one river.
We've got a lot of great rivers and we've got
a lot of big fish.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
David, do you reckon we're at the point like do
we need to try and phase out these skillnets more quickly,
and do we need to do more to try and
increase our barren numbers.
Speaker 4 (03:06):
Look, I think it's absolutely important that we send a
really clear signal around where we're at with the government's
commitment to phase out Barra Mundy guil netting. So, firstly,
the COLP has been completely unequivocal about this. They're going
to end gilt netting and they're going to do it
by the end of the twenty twenty eight term of government. Now,
(03:28):
a logical time to end that is probably around the
end of October twenty twenty seven, which is only two
years away, because that's when the season ends, and I
think to have a half season for baraon Mundy gill
netting is probably going to be a disaster both for
industry and politically. So Look, we're only a couple of
years away as it is, and what we're hearing from
(03:50):
fisheries is that most of the licenses are out aren't
out there fishing anymore I can, so that's a positive.
But at the same time we do need to be
on the front foot and be really positive about why
we're doing this. You know, we've heard the Minister say
on other interviews that it's about supporting recreational fishing and tourism.
That message needs to be front and center that the
(04:12):
territory remains the barrier capital of the world, and we
really need to do a good job of promoting that
we have a net free and t something we've been
talking about for a long time.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
How important do you reckon that is?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
You know, to fishermen that come to the Northern Territory,
do you think that that's like do you think that's
something that they're looking at if they're choosing between Rocky
and Darwin.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
I think it's about the experience, and you know, working
with a lot of people in the tourism industry, we
know that people come here for the experience that they've
booked in years in advance for the runoff. Fishing in
Rockhampton at the moment is closed. The season has closed.
It ended at the end of October. Our season's open.
We've got million dollar fish running. You know, I heard
(04:56):
some talk about shoulder season. Million dollar fish is the
shoulder season competition. It ensures that we've got fishing through
the build up, through the wet season and into the
beginning of the run or into the runoff. And so
the territory has offerings and fishing experiences that a place
like Rockhampton simply can't offer.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Oh look, there's a lot that we offer that Rocky
doesn't if you ask me as a girl who grew
up in Queensland.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
But I won't go into that now.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Let me ask you though, in terms of the AGM tonight,
I would imagine this is definitely high on the agenda.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
You've got the Minister attending, don't you.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
We certainly do.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
We certainly do, and I would be wrong for me
not to mention that my colleague has just come back
ready for the AGM, been away for a week fishing.
Her family caught fifteen meteries in the past week. It
spot come to the AGM, you'll find out where she went.
And you're quite right, we've got Minister Meilee is coming
to address our meeting, the Deputy Chief Minister. We're really
(05:53):
looking forward to hearing from him and where his government's
at with the Barramundy Gilneting buyout, what's happening with the
Golden Snapper management and so we're really looking forward to
having Minister Maitly there because not only is he a
Deputy Chief Minister, but we know that he's a mad
keen fisher.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
He certainly is. So where are things that with the
golden snapper issue.
Speaker 4 (06:15):
Well, look, we've got a presentation from Fisheries tonight on
golden snapper.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Twelve months ago at our AGM.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
In fact, the week of our AGM, I think I
might have been standing here talking to you, and Fisheries
had released a stock assessment saying that they were concerned,
still concerned that management that was put in all the
way back in twenty fifteen appeared not to be doing
the job and that stock levels were depressed. Now we're
twelve months down the track and we've got another update
(06:42):
coming from Fisheries. Help We've also had some sector based
working groups getting the latest information from Anti Fisheries, which
they hopefully will be talking about with the community tonight.
But it looks like there is more management required for
golden snapper. But this there also a lot of unanswered
questions about this stock. Like people may not realize, but
(07:04):
we've not actually been actively managing these stocks for a
very long time. You go back twenty five years and
they're just beginning to start to understand what the golden
snapper stock is in the Northern Territory and we own.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
We still don't know.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
Where they breed, how far out to see they go.
There's a lot of unknowns, but a lot of long
term fishes also would say the fishing has declined around
Darwin for golden snapper, so we probably do need some management,
but we want to try to make sure that balances.
But we're innovative about it so that we don't just
(07:41):
know ruin all of the benefits that come along with
being able to go and fish for other species. So
I would say to people you want to find out
what's going on with that, come and hear from fisheries.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So can anyone head along, what like do they need
to be you know, does there need to be any
prerequisite for them to come along?
Speaker 4 (07:58):
David, There is one very important prerequisite, and it's that
you are interested in recreational fishing.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
If you're.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
If you're interested in recreational fishing, we'd love to have
you along at our AGM. You'll be hearing from myself
around some of the big issues, what we want to
see with the barrel mundy netting buy out over the
next twelve months, what we want to see on golden snapper.
There's also going to be a presentation from Water Resources
about water allocation plans for the Daily River and the
(08:29):
Adelaide River to really important barrel Monday fisheries. There's going
to be an update on artificial reef trial that's happening
out there in Darwen Harbor. So really, if you love fishing,
there's only one place to be tonight and that is
to come along to the FNAGM.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
It's at the Lear which is was the travel Lodge?
Oh yeah, yes, sixty four Kavanagh Street in the city.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
What time is that kicking off?
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Well, it starts at six sharp with registrations from five
to fifteen, So please come along early, have a drink
on arrival.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
I've got some great lucky door prizes.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
You could win a Roden reel, you could win a
NAFA subscription, maybe even a few Lamb based fishing guides also.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
So they went off, they went absolutely, have you sold
a heap of it?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
We have sold thousands of them to our wholesalers, our retailers,
and what.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
A good Christmas gift as well, don't you reckon?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (09:22):
And that's why the retailers have been stocking up for
Christmas because the demand for them has been huge. And
I don't know if you've noticed, but there's a lot
of people fishing around the shore. Million dollar barrow does that,
but also people knowing where to fish, when to fish,
what tides to fish.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
They've got the Bible in their pocket.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Now it's perfect, It's so good. It is such a
great thing to have.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Hey, really quick question, Now the well, Kathleen says to me.
She'd imagine that fishermen are going to be hoping there
is a well. This is the signe of a potentially
good wet season, which would mean a good runoff, but
only if the rain continues.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
David, what do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Well?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Look, absolutely sustained rain that arrives early, rises on the
floodplains and keeps the floodplains up. That is the engine
room of our barrel Mundy fisheries. That is what really
brings in all of that energy potential that's actually sitting
on the land and the floodplain and turns it into
food for fish, and then those fish take it out
(10:20):
back into the rivers for the years ahead.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So fingers crossed for it.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
I'd prefer it to come without the wind, Katie. I'm
more than happy for just a nice slow rolling monsoon
and hopefully you know, everyone stays safe. And I'd love
this cyclon just to skirt us, but you know, keep.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Its distance exactly.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I'm with you. I'm definitely with you. David Girovolo, CEO
of AFA. Lovely to catch up with you this morning.
Thanks so much for your time.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
Thanks Katie, thank you,
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