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Tremendous work with the launching of the The Inshore Flats Project. Hopefully this site will educate anglers of all types of the significant risk to Queensland Inshore fisheries should Tunnel Netting be allowed to continue.
Many thanks to Chris and others who are driving the project!
Respectfully, contrarian view here.
It’s important that people are educated, but much of the info getting about seems to me to be a bit misleading.
RE threatened species impacts: the stated aim of the tunnel netting trials is to identify alternatives to gillnets. The risks to threatened species posed by tunnel nets seems to be about as close to zero as humanly possible. Certainly much lower than virtually every other form of commercial fishing on the planet. Surely this is a step in the right direction?
RE lack of biomass estimates of bycatch/ by-product species: this is a catch-22. Biomass estimates require long-term commercial catch data. For species that haven’t been subjected to significant commercial fishing, researchers can’t estimate biomass. This doesn’t mean that fishery managers can’t enforce conservative management arrangements. Finding new markets for relatively unexploited species (sicklefish, gars etc) seems to me like a good outcome of transitioning away from gillnets.
RE unknown post-release mortality: this is true for almost all species and is notoriously difficult to quantify. Generally requires expensive acoustic/ satellite tagging work. But if unwanted/ discarded fish are simply netted from the holding pen and immediately released over the side – you’d expect that mortality is going to be pretty negligible. The obvious solution would be to enforce strict rules around take of perms, GTs etc. Since there’s limited commercial value in them, I can’t see it being a deal-breaker.
Anyway, just my 2 cents as a non-QLD affiliated fish ecologist/ flyfisher.
Quick ask for anyone who cares about flats fishing. If you’ve got a minute, please write a short letter to the Minister — it’s simple. Just go to the Inshore Flats Project website (below) and follow the steps. We’re aiming to encourage the Minister to end the use of tunnel nets rather than spend more public money on what could become a destructive form of commercial fishing on our shared inshore flats in QLD. It will take less than two minutes, and every voice counts.
Make Your Voice Heard, Email Minister Perrett.Most of us here are trout anglers, but what happens in the east coast fishery in QLD could still affect all of us over time — including future opportunities for sight fishing in arguably one of the best fisheries in Australia.
Cheers,
Tocs
If you care about flats fishing in Queensland — and the future of sight fishing more broadly — please take a couple of minutes to sign the Inshore Flats Project petition.
We’ve already had over 5,600 people sign in just two weeks, which shows how much concern is building — but we need to keep that momentum going.
Petition · STOP a new tunnel net fishery in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area – Australia · Change.org
It takes less than two minutes.
Please also share it with your networks.
Cheers,Tocs
Hi everyone,
Last Wednesday, it emerged during a Queensland Parliament Estimates Committee Hearing that the tunnel net trials have been suspended while an independent, internal investigation is underway by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. While few details were disclosed, the transcript of the Estimates hearing suggests the focus of the investigation may be possible breaches of marine park permits during last year’s tunnel net trial program.
The Inshore Flats Project’s facebook and instagram features a snippet of recent ABC news coverage about the tunnel net trial suspension.
IFP has written to DPI about the investigation and trial suspension. Among other things, the IFP letter has asked that the investigation outcome (including any findings), together with any decision to lift the trial suspension, are promptly made public.
Hopefully, this development is the beginning of the end of the Central & North Queensland tunnel netting proposal. However, the risk remains that DPI may seek to recommence trial activity after its “internal, independent” investigation is complete.
Accordingly, IFP continues to call for all tunnel net trials to permanently cease in Central & North Queensland. If you haven’t signed its public petition yet, please consider joining the 10,550 + people who have done so. The petition is free to sign and can be accessed here.
Cheers,
Chris
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