Recreational fishing increasingly popular in Sydney Harbour
David Lockwood Date November 7, 2014
The fish are back: John Newbery fishes for luderick off the rocks at North Harbour. Photo: Wolter Peeters
John Newbery cuts a statuesque figure fishing from the same rock platform at Fairlight as he has done for more than 50 years.
As the Manly ferries criss-cross the Harbour, a luderick bite snaps him to attention. His float shoots under, the angler strikes with gusto, as his rod arcs over, and line zings across the guides. Fish on!
Not that Newbery is the only one hooked on Sydney Harbour.
According to the 2011 Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are more than 490,000 adult recreational fishers in the Sydney region alone. At holiday time, kids might account for another 100,000 dangled lines.
But after 55 years of watching his fishing fortunes ebb and flow, Newbery says he's never seen it so good. The water is clearer and cleaner and, without commercial fishing, the fish are back and snapping in our beloved harbour.
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