Spanish mackerel fishing ban as stocks fall to worrying 17pc

Six-week seasonal bans on spanish mackerel fishing will be implemented in Queensland to manage plummeting stocks. Agree? Have your say in our poll.

Seasonal fishing bans on spanish mackerel will be implemented in Queensland next month, under a new management plan aimed at boosting dramatically declining stock levels of the in-demand species.

Following public consultation on a new strategy to address the issue – which received more than 1400 submissions – the government announced on Wednesday sweeping changes to the management arrangements.

Among those was a reduction on the total allowable catch for commercial fishers to 165 tonnes from next July, and a bag limit for recreational fishers of one per person or two per boat.

A northern seasonal closure of six weeks in total in east coast waters slightly north of Clairview will run from October 22 to November 12 and November 21 to December 12, to coincide with spawning.

A southern closure will occur for a further six weeks next February and March.

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said with the most recent stock assessments showing spanish mackerel levels had fallen to a worrying 17 per cent, “doing nothing was not an option”.

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Mark Furner

“These carefully considered new management actions are not a ‘set and forget’ approach – spanish mackerel stocks will continue to be monitored annually through a combination of measures including catch rates and stock assessments using the most up to date data,” he said.

“In addition, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation is supporting a new three-year spanish mackerel research project, which will be led by researchers from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries.”

But the Australian Marine Conservation Society blasted the six-week seasonal closures, calling on the government to close the fishery entirely for two years to allow for stock of the species to recover.

The society’s Queensland fisheries expert Simon Miller said he was dismayed at the decision, claiming the government had “thrown their own policies in the bin and gone with what the commercial and recreational fishing sectors have pushed for”.

“If this is how the government thinks they will get a sustainable fishery, they are in dreamland,” Mr Miller said.

“We have serious concerns for the future of spanish mackerel under this ill-conceived approach.

“For spanish mackerel to recover to resilient and healthy levels, the Queensland government must close the fishery for two years and then completely protect the spawning aggregations by banning fishing altogether.”

Mr Furner announced in July years-long total closure would not occur, saying at the time the option was ruled out because of the impact it would have on fishers, jobs and communities.