Net Free North! By Dave Donald
In a press release on 5 June 2023 that took everyone by surprise, a joint statement involving both state and federal ministers announced the provision of more than $160 million to significantly reduce net fishing and other high-risk fishing activities impacting the Great Barrier Reef. The funding has been allocated to ensure that the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon is gillnet free by mid 2027.
Senator Nita Green went on to say, “Establishing a ‘Net Free North’ is an important step required to protect the Great Barrier Reef as an ecosystem and an economic asset. The Reef supports 64,000 jobs including thousands in regional Queensland. By working together with partners in science, tourism, agriculture and Traditional Owners we can continue to protect the Great Barrier Reef for generations to come.”
Trevally are another big loser where nets are concerned. To get big ones like this one Notso Bright has just landed, there needs to be lots of small ones. Nets do not discriminate between species!
That was a bitter sweet moment for a passionate fisher and marine advocate like myself, a complete turnaround, on one hand, by a fisheries management regime that had always focussed on maximizing commercial fishing output, but a huge relief, on the other, to hear that, finally, the plundering of our marine species was to be dramatically reduced. Then, the anger cut in, the decades and thousands of voluntary hours spent engaging time and time again with various fisheries think tanks, advisory committees, inquiries and stakeholder groups, boiling to the surface as a result of more than half my life spent frustrated by bureaucrats and Ministers who treated myself and fellow recreational fisher advocates as nothing more than a group of nonsensical whingers.
How dare these bureaucrats and associated politicians choose to execute a back flip on the fate of our fishery when they’ve been made well aware of its deterioration since the late 1980’s. I attended my first barramundi management conference with Bill Bowtell in Cairns way back in 1985 and we were made well aware of the fact that the barra and threadfin salmon fishery was in trouble, particularly in the Gulf, way back then.
Fisheries management in Queensland has been a litany of lost opportunities since then – the Burns Inquiry, the MAC and ZAC process, the MRAG review under Campbell Newman, the excruciatingly slow and repeatedly trimmed Fisheries Reform roll out of the 2010’s. The only bright spot, the establishment of the three Net Free Zones by Bill Byrne, cost him his portfolio and ultimately his seat in parliament. Queensland’s fisheries history is definitely not pretty!
In 2002, ANSA Queensland passed a vote of ‘No Confidence’ in the then Queensland Fisheries Management Authority that saw that department disbanded. The leopard that rose in its place, Fisheries Queensland, hadn’t changed its spots at all, it just became even more hard line towards recreational fishers, meeting out bureaucratic punishment for having the audacity to criticise their agenda. That toxic situation within fisheries halls of power has continued to simmer since.
As usual, the politicians will think they deserve a ‘get out of jail free’ card for this cynical about face! Don’t be fooled, they will be frantically looking at ways to soften the electoral backlash and find suitable scapegoats. There’s still a long way to go to alleviate the damage already done to our Reef and marine environment – without even expanding on the threats on our horizon from global warming!
The Weipa Fishing Classic brings over 3,000 people to the remote town for the weekend providing an economic windfall that alone brings more income than local commercial fishing over the entire year. Ethan, from major sponsors, Cav’s Marine, Tully, landed this lovely fingermark during a ‘thankyou’ day trip.
The other protagonists in this debacle are the commercial fishers. Suffice to say I have deep concerns for the future of the more responsible displaced net fishers – and the many wholesale and retail businesses who rely on them providing product. $160million would appear to be a budget that is severely inadequate for the buyout process, particularly in respect of compensating the lost revenue of fish shops and restaurants.
But – and it’s a big BUT – commercial fishers largely have themselves to blame. Their representatives have failed dismally to participate in a cooperative manner throughout the decades long consultative process, focussing more on pushing the regulations to maximize income rather than husbanding their industry with a view to long term sustainability. Most were well aware that the fishery was being heavily overfished but opted to follow a hard line instead of acknowledging that there were serious problems. Fishers repeatedly flouting the rules were supported rather than being condemned, dodging the fisheries inspectors recognized as an art form. That is not the sign of an industry behaving in a ‘professional’ or responsible manner!
Why the commercial fishing hierarchy decided that pursuing an increasingly hard line during our more recent Fisheries Reform roll outs is a question that more responsible fishers should be shouting. There have been heaps of opportunities to rationalize their industry and move into the ‘modern’ era but they screamed blue murder instead. This sudden political about face would not have needed to happen if a more conciliatory, forward-thinking industry policy had been actively pursued.
The press release also noted that the Gulf of Carpentaria would finally see the establishment of some net free zones, an initiative way overdue, but very satisfying to those, like myself, who have pursued their establishment for 30 years. While most recreational fishers think of the Gulf as a fisherman’s ‘paradise’, the reality is far from the truth. Queensland Gulf waters have seen a massive depletion of marine stocks, particularly by netting in offshore waters.
With 25 charter guides working out of Weipa, species like Trevor’s permit are highly prized. Beach nets from Tweed Heads to Karumba kill untold numbers – and most are dumped!
The effects of urban development, land clearing and pollution are miniscule compared with our east coast yet I’ve personally witnessed species like longtail tuna and some trevallies almost disappear in recent years. If you’ve had the opportunity to watch the recent documentary on the disappearance of Bevin and Brad Simmonds, ‘The Cape’, you get an inkling of why this is so! ‘Lawless’ and ‘wild west’ are some of the descriptions mentioned. Our Gulf waters are also way overdue for a major upheaval.
On 17 July 2023, another press release gave hope that, finally, the mooted reforms just might be fair dinkum, announcing the formation of a Future Fisheries Taskforce:
“John Tanzer has been appointed as chair of Queensland’s independent Future Fisheries Taskforce and brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the role. Mr Tanzer was Chairman and Chief Executive of Queensland Fisheries Management Authority before becoming Executive Director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.”
Quite a few recreational fisher representatives remember Mr Tanzer from his QFMA days as someone genuinely prepared to listen to our concerns. Perhaps that’s why he jumped ship (as did a couple of other senior staff) to a position in the fledgling GBRMPA following the departments rebirth. Knowing the locations of historic skeletons in the Queensland Fisheries closets, amongst other things, should arm him well for the job of sorting out the huge mess he has been tasked with unravelling. Maybe, in Mr Tanzer, we will have an adjudicator strong enough to cut through the massive pile of bullshit decades of ineffectual management has left behind.
I don’t get excited any more about fishery initiatives in Queensland after being ‘burned’ so many times in the past. As one of the ‘lucky’ generation, a fisher who has repeatedly experienced situations ‘too good to be true’ and had the privilege to visit rarely fished, pristine places on a regular basis, I know I’ve seen the best of what our marine world has to offer. The immense personal satisfaction such a life has provided always fuelled my desire to try and preserve such an environment for future generations.
Sadly, that hasn’t happened – and probably won’t ever fully again. While I would have preferred for our fisheries transition to occur in a more measured and less confrontational way, the tide may finally have started to flood. We should all wish Mr Tanzer and the Future Fisheries Taskforce fair sailing!
hreadfin salmon in Qld Gulf waters have been commercially fished to dangerously low levels by years of overexploitation. The establishment of Net Free Zones in the Gulf is extremely urgently needed to rejuvenate stocks, a fact already proven via the east coast NFZ’s in Rockhampton, Mackay and Cairns.
