Qld Parliament votes against motion to stop three net-free fishing zones

Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA) deputy president Keith Harris said the government had made “an incredibly political” statement by supporting the net-free zones in Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton.

“They are saying to Queenslanders your rights do not matter, fisheries management do not matter and the exclusion of profitable and viable local small businesses do not matter,” he said.

Queensland Parliament voted against the opposition’s bid to stop the passing of the regulation, which will see the net-free zones instigated next month.

"This ludicrous, unfair and unjustified policy is a political ploy and [Minister for Fisheries Bill Byrne] knows this to be true,” Mr Harris said.

“Commercial fishers in Queensland and across Australia need to pay attention to and be very afraid of the precedent set last night."

Mr Harris said the debate over the zones revealed the extent to which the state government had no idea about fisheries management.

"The net-free zone proposals do nothing but give recreational fishers access to net-caught species and prevent commercial fishers from making a living," he said.

Shadow fisheries minister Deb Frecklington, who moved the disallowance motion, described this a rushed process.

“It’s disappointing the motion was rejected because without it there had been no opportunity for anyone opposed to the new regulations to actually have their say,” she said.

“The government has not approached this from a scientific basis and the minister has admitted so.”

Ms Frecklington said the decision had taken away the livelihoods of 53 commercial fishing families and would severely impact other small businesses associated with the fishing sector.

The positions of recreational and commercial fishers should not be mutually exclusive and there was room for all in the net-free zones debate, she added.

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Bill Byrne said the net-free zones were a commonsense approach to resource sharing and would offer significant benefits in tourism and recreational fishing in Queensland.

“It is a key initiative in Queensland’s commitment to the Reef2050 Plan and we stand by our election promise,” he said.

The families affected by the decision will see an increase in compensation, however this is reserved for those “acutely impacted”.

Fishers eligible for the offer need to have logged 60 or more days of netting effort in a net-free zone and had more than 50 per cent of their netting effort in the zones between 2012 and 2104.

This offer, called the impact alleviation scheme, is in addition to the buyback and settlement scheme, where $10 million is set aside to buy back licences and help fishers adjust to the new zones.

Capricorn Coast fishers Kandi and Adam Kelly will be losing their licence this year and say their calls for compromise have fallen on deaf ears.

“There are some fishermen who do go out and manipulate the licences and use multiple licences,” Ms Kelly said.

“We want that to stop, and also to to drop 120 metre nets to 50 metres, and to drop drift nets from 400m to 300m.”

Ms Kelly said they had also asked for beach nets to drop from 600m to 300, and to actually close a section of the Fitzroy River to all net fishing.

“I gave all of this information to Bill Byrne and he said there was no compromise.”

Rockhampton business owners of Glenmore Seafoods, Mark and Vicki Bush, wrote numerous letters and submissions, and questioned why the proposed net-free zones would allow recreational anglers to use bait net, drag nets and cast nets within the three zones.

“Bait nets or drag nets do more damage to the juvenile fish than the six inch nets commercial fishers use,” Ms Bush said.

Commercial fishers paid licence fees and undertook safe food accreditation, unlike recreational fishers, and appeared to have all the costs and none of the advantages.

Others have asked why commercial and recreational fishers can’t work together.