Tag Archives: Great Sandy Marine Park

Great Sandy Marine Park fisheries could shut down and seafood prices increase

Commercial fishing is the only job Brett Fuchs has ever known, but the Hervey Bay fisher says plans to increase no-fish zones in the Great Sandy Marine Park will be enough to sink his business, as retailers predict seafood lovers will wear the cost of limited supplies. The Queensland government has proposed to expand the green zone by almost 9 per cent in the 6,000-square-kilometre marine park that stretches from Baffle Creek to Double Island Point. Commercial fishers would be forced to remove large gill nets and ring nets from the water. “There’s nothing left for us,” Mr Fuchs said.  >click to read< 11:12

Plans to increase no-fish zones in Great Sandy Marine Park worry Queensland seafood industry

It is considered a win for conservationists and recreational fishers, but seafood lovers and commercial fisheries will pay the price for proposed changes to one of Queensland’s greatest marine parks, an industry body says. The state government has released the draft for the new Great Sandy Marine Park Zoning Plan, which would see green zones increase from 3.9 per cent to 12.8 per cent. But the Queensland Seafood Industry Association said the expansion of no-fish zones had little regard for local fishers and felt the government had ignored their concerns. “The plan will have a massive impact on the supply of fresh fish … 95 per cent of the net fisheries will be shut down in the Great Sandy Marine Park,” CEO Eric Perez said in a statement. >click to read< 13:07

Tin Can Bay businessman rejects recreational fisherman’s call for net fishing ban

A Tin Can Bay businessman has rejected calls by recreational fishing spokesman Lindsay Dines for a net fishing ban to be implemented from the Mary River to Noosa. Mr Dines has strongly backed moves to World Heritage list the Cooloola section of Great Sandy Marine Park and the Sandy Strait. Cooloola Coast Seafoods owner Warren Sullivan sells local and imported seafood, fish and chips. He buys fish direct from local fishermen, processes them on site and then sells it on site. “I wonder what scientific evidence (Mr Dines) has about the fish fleeing nets or is he just making claims with no evidence to back this up?” Mr Sullivan asks. Read the rest here 10:54