Safety
Northern Territory Guided Fishing Industry Association The Northern Territory Guided Fishing Industry Association (NTGFIA) represents a significant number of the Territory’s fishing tour operators—a hefty $34 million industry. The association’s Vice-Chair Dennis Sten spoke with Becca Posterino about some of the challenges faced by the sector. By Becca Posterino and Sarah Cameron
The Northern Territory’s selling points are iconic—Barramundi, crocs, sunsets, a laid-back attitude and plenty of fish to be caught from coastal fishing lodges, to billabongs, rivers and reefs. Bringing customers safely up close with this natural beauty involves a fair amount of safety planning. Dennis’ active work to promote safety and compliance practices in the guided fishing sector has seen the NTGFIA membership grow rapidly into a large and loyal network. He explained that many of the association members are family operators who—when not conducting remote fishing tours—are busy doing their paperwork and getting ready for the next day’s activities. He sees his role as assisting members to find out what regulations and requirements apply to them so they can make sure 37
Working Boats May 2020
they are safe and compliant while offering a top-rate service. When the association and AMSA Liaison Officer Steve Whitesmith met with operators across the Territory to identify what information and guidance the sector required, operators openly discussed issues they faced. Of particular concern for operators is the location of boat ramps open to the sea. ‘Some vessel operators have to travel 150 kilometres per day just to go fishing, which gives rise to other risks,’ Dennis said. The obvious issue for operators doing this day after day is fatigue. ‘For example, Darwin to Shady Camp is just over a two-hour drive each way. Add to that, eight hours of fishing— that’s a long day considering four of those hours are spent traveling on a
remote highway,’ Dennis explained. Another concern for operators is passengers who underestimate the potential dangers in and on the water. As Dennis explained, operators provide clear safety briefings before tours start so passengers are aware of the risks, rules and safety requirements. Despite this, passengers forget or underestimate the risk, so operators take other precautionary measures to reduce the chance of passengers coming into direct contact with crocodiles. Currently there’s a move across the Northern Territory to install pontoons with safety railing at all boat ramps to remove any risk of people coming into contact with crocodiles when embarking and disembarking vessels. Dennis also told us that when he ran his own operation, after dark he would take the tour group near the water, and
