But Wednesday's announcement by Police Minister David Elliott that fishing will be regarded as 'passive exercise' and therefore allowed should be approached with common sense by all would-be anglers in the greater context of the coronavirus crisis.

The overall advice from Health Authorities continues to be remain at home unless absolutely necessary in order to contain the spread of the virus and therefore limit the burden on the health system. This is a life or death message.

If people who don't know they are are contagious move about the community unnecessarily they will spread the virus, leading to a potentially exponential increase in infections with disastrous impacts on the community.

For anyone in any doubt what those impacts will be, look at what's going on in Italy, Spain and America at the moment. And the danger is far from over.

However, following mixed messages in the wake of new restrictions on movement that came into effect at midnight on March 31, it is now official - if you need to fish, you are able to do so.

Just do it responsibly - observe the two person and the social distancing rules.

Confusion amongst anglers reigned on Wednesday after the Public Health Order (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) came into effect stipulating that individuals can potentially be fined $11,000 for leaving their home, jailed for six months, or both, unless they had a "reasonable excuse".

Sixteen "reasonable excuses" are listed but the two that mattered most for anglers are: a) obtaining food (reasonable excuse number 1); and b) exercising (reasonable excuse number 5). Anglers wanted to know if it was OK to go for a fish to a) put food on the table or b) for exercise.

"Mate, we were fielding phone calls every five minutes or less on this," Jason "One For" Nunn, from Fisherman's Warehouse at Marks Point said. "Mixed signals were playing havoc.

"We're all on board with the health message to stay home yet people are being told it's OK to go surfing, get your hair cut, play golf or have 100 guys on a building site or 200 people down a mine, or get a haircut.

"Fishing would have to be one of the most socially isolating activities you could think of and getting outdoors is great for your mental health.

"The confusion was unavoidable and was getting farcical - we needed a call."

You didn't have to drill down too far to see how quickly things got complicated in terms of policing the new restrictions.

"If you had a waterfront property with a jetty that backs onto the lake, was it OK to throw out a line because you hadn't left your place of residence?" Jason asked.

"But if you lived two blocks back from the waterfront and you were doing catch and release, was that illegal because you weren't fishing to obtain food? Or was it OK if you were doing it for exercise?"

On Wednesday morning, based on legal advice, police made the call that fishing was not allowable because it wasn't an essential activity.

But by Wednesday afternoon, based on new legal advice, and approaches from local MPs like Sonia Hornery and Greg Piper, the minister announced that boating and fishing were allowable as exercise.

"This is a win for commonsense and will no doubt make a lot of people very happy," Ms Hornery said on Wednesday.

Greg Piper concurred, reporting he had received a large number of inquiries about whether or not fishing or boating was allowed.

Jason applauded the decision in terms of removing the confusion and had this to add.

"If fishing is OK it would seem to me at the moment that the most appropriate thing to do in terms of limiting potential social gatherings in a fishing or boating context would be to shut down all the boat cleaning and fish washing tables at the boat ramps because they are potentially places of congregation.

"You just go out for a fish, and then go home."

It's worth noting that NSW Maritime has also advised against fishing and boating, saying that in the event of problems, calling out rescue groups creates a new set of problems with virus transmission on top of the inherent risks associated with rescue.

Lake Macquarie and Newcastle boat ramps remain open but Port Stephens has closed their's to encourage people, and tourists from other part of NSW, to stay home.

"Staying home continues to be advised, unless essential, so people wishing to go fishing should make their own decision on whether they believe fishing is essential during this lockdown," a statement on Port Stephens Fishos Facebook page advised.

This point is worth considering very seriously because if the exercise ruling is flaunted it won't be the fun police coming down on everyone, but the actual police - and who could blame them?