John Dunphy’s Memory Lives On
A rich lifetime of contribution to the Australian recreational fishing community was celebrated on the evening of Monday, 18th September with the dedication of a bronze plaque honouring the late John Dunphy.
This plaque acknowledges the imminent installation of the John Dunphy Offshore Artificial Reef complex in a stretch of coastal water popular with anglers. NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Niall Blair, officially unveiled the plaque at the headquarters of Shimano Australia, in the southern Sydney suburb of Caringbah.
Amongst his many other achievements, John Dunphy (better known to many simply as “JD”) established the Shimano brand in this country during the early 1980s and headed up the organization for more than 30 years. The John Dunphy Offshore Artificial Reef is set to become famous in fishing circles simply as “JD Reef”.
It will be constructed of 36 individual concrete modules, each standing five metres high. Ten of these modules will have steel towers fixed to their top sides, to add a vertical aspect extending the structure some nine metres above the surrounding sea bed, thus increasing its attractiveness to free-swimming pelagic fish as well as more sedentary reef dwelling species.
The modules will be carefully lowered into place in 30 metres of water just south of Port Hacking at the beginning of October, 2017.
The John Dunphy Offshore Artificial Reef will be the fourth structure of its type deployed along the NSW coastline. Similar reefs have already been established off Sydney, the Shoalhaven region and Port Macquarie using funds generated by the sale of recreational fishing licences in that state. Further reefs are due to be installed off Merimbula in 2018, and Tweed Heads in 2019, with even more projects to be announced soon. “The NSW Government is proud to be able to provide a small token to pay our respect to Mr Dunphy and his family, with this commemorative plaque to be on permanent display at Shimano Australia’s Sydney headquarters,” a DPI Fisheries spokesperson said. Speaking on behalf of his entire Shimano team, Managing Director Colin Tannahill warmly thanked Minister Blair and the NSW Department of Primary Industries for their acknowledgment of John Dunphy’s enormous contribution to enhancing the access rights and opportunities of all recreational fishers. Mr Tannahill confirmed that the plaque would be displayed with great pride at Shimano Oceania Headquarters.
Speaking further in his capacity as President of AFTA (the Australian Fishing Trade Association), Mr Tannahill also congratulated DPI Fisheries for their ongoing artificial reef program, and described how these installations would benefit anglers for generations to come by providing wonderful new fishing hot spots. Colin Tannahill concluded by explaining how John Dunphy had been inducted into AFTA’s hallowed ‘Hall of Fame’, and expressing his firm belief that all AFTA members would unite in encouraging and educating anglers on the sustainable enjoyment of these artificial reefs, thus helping to preserve JD’s wonderful legacy in the fishing world.
