Gillnet fishing ban to wipe out industry in Qld

One industry in Queensland will be effectively shut down in a matter of weeks in a bid to protect the environment.

The gillnet fishing industry in Queensland will be effectively shut down in a matter of weeks in a bid to protect the environment, cutting off the livelihoods of hundreds of gillnet fishers and those who work in the wider sector.

The state government and environmental groups have heralded the end of the industry as a win for the world-heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef and its resident dugongs and sea turtles.

But the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, gillnet fishers and the Katter’s Australian Party have warned this is the death knell of a sector which supports the livelihoods of hundreds of people in coastal communities stretching across the state and into the gulf.

Under the plan, first announced by the federal and state governments in June, gillnet fishing licences will be phased out from December 31, 2023, with a limited number of a newly created licence allowed to operate until mid-2027.

There are about 240 active gillnet licences across Queensland, with 40 of the newly created “NX” licence to be allowed to operate under strict conditions.

Gillnet fishing, the use of long, rectangular nets used to catch fish in the moving tide, represents 2.6 per cent of the east coast wild-caught seafood harvest.

Fisheries Minister Mark Furner on Thursday announced a long-awaited $90m compensation package to buyback active gillnet licences and provide three years’ worth of “ex-gratia” payments to fishers for the income they are set to lose.

It is part of a wider $185m joint-funding package between the state and federal governments to phase out gillnet fishing, which includes reskilling support and provision of financial advice.

Fisheries Minister Mark Furner

But those directly impacted, like Burdekin’s Sienna Green and her partner Dale Vener, said nothing can compensate for the loss of their livelihoods and the industry they’ve worked in for years.

Ms Green, 26, who has been working in the gillnet industry since she was 12, said the shuttering of the industry would have far reaching impacts on those that supply or buy from the industry, including boat builders and hospitality businesses.

Queensland Seafood Industry Association chief executive David Bobbermen said the government’s decision was “depressing” and represented another “straw on the camel’s back” in the destruction of rural communities.

Australian Fishing Trade Association chair Bob Baldwin, a former federal minister, said the use of “indiscriminate gill nets are a death wall that target species not intended” and needed to end.

Mr Furner said the landmark investment to phase out the industry reflected the government’s commitment to a “sustainable fishing industry” and give certainty to the commercial fishing industry.

Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter said the government had “callously shut another industry down in the name of environmentalism” and sacrificed North Queenslanders in the process.

Environmental Minister Leanne Linard said threatened, endangered and protected species like dugongs, snubfin dolphins, turtles, sharks and sawfish can become entangled in gillnets and be injured or killed.

“The latest science tells us that the populations of species such as dugong cannot afford any human-induced mortalities,” she said.