Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee, , 7:32:01 to 7:35:23
Senators inquire about the termination of gilnet fishing in the Gulf of Carpentaria and Great Barrier Reef. The discussion covers the lack of data on threatened species interactions and the jurisdictional split between state and federal management.
Topics: Fisheries, Marine parks
Speakers: Speaker 21, Speaker 23, Speaker 12, Speaker 4
Um finally uh chair if I could just turn to Gilnet fishing please.
>> Thank you. us. We'll get colleagues up to the table.
Thank you very much. I'm sorry. I'm just going to do the squinty bit, Miss McCormack. >> Thank you. No, it's my eyes. Um, I wanted to ask you about the uh the termination of gil net fishing in uh the Gulf of Carparia and uh the Great Barrier Reef catchment areas. Um, has all the gil net fishing in the Gulf of Carparia been finalized?
>> Uh, George, the assistant secretary fisheries and agriculture branch. We can take that on notice, Senator.
>> All right. Um well then when you take that on notice if you could also provide the full program of the implementation of the ban. Um what data does the department have over the last five years on the number of threatened and endangered species killed by gil net fishing in far north Queensland?
>> Thank you Senator. Yeah, that the information on protected and endangered species is reported to DQ by the different fisheries. So in that case, the fisheries from Queensland would report the information to DQ uh Department of Environment.
>> I I'll give you a a um you know, I'll steal the the thunder on it. It's none. So we've shut down an industry because there has been no interactions. Um, but that information I have to get from DQ, the data collected from the commercial fishes and the department and the Queensland department.
>> Is that correct? >> Yes, senator.
>> Okay. Um, so am I right then that any scientific evidence around fishing in the Gulf of Carpent and the Great Barrier Reef, their effects on fish stocks, won't sit with this department, won't sit with fisheries. that will sit with DQ.
>> I think for the fisheries you're interested in, Senator, that's the case. There are fisheries managed by the Commonwealth in that area. Uh so that's the Coral Sea fishery and the Northern Prawn fishery managed by Aphma, but the Gil net fisheries up there are managed by Queensland.
>> Okay. All right. So, um, it's always been a bone of contention because it was Minister Plebec who wrote to UNESCO banning gil net fishing and yet the Queens government has no evidence of the of the impacts. So, I'm going around in circles. Oh, do you know if we're importing more seafood following these bans? Uh in terms of just general numbers, >> yes, the food the the fish that would have been previously caught. So wild baramundi, king thread fin, and uh gray