QLD Government releases Directions Paper of fisheries reforms

January 18, 2019

DEAR fisheries stakeholder: The Queensland Government has released the ‘Directions Paper of fisheries reforms’ to ensure all fishers and the broader community are aware of the Government’s direction on how best to manage the priority fisheries and the next steps.
The proposed changes will apply to both commercial and recreational fishers.

The reforms are expected to be implemented by September 2019. There is still an opportunity for people to provide input into the details of the reforms when proposed regulatory amendments are released for consultation over coming months.

There will be further opportunities to have your say on:

Allocation approaches for species moving to quota management and allocation of existing trawl effort units to the proposed management regions for affected commercial fishers; and
Draft regulatory changes for all stakeholders in 2019.

The need for fisheries reform in Queensland has been an ongoing discussion over a number of years, starting with the MRAG review in 2014, followed by the Green Paper in 2016, which received more than 11,000 submissions. The overwhelming message was that all stakeholders want the management of fisheries to be reformed.

We want our fisheries to be sustainable for the future, to be profitable for our commercial fishers, enjoyable for our recreational fishers and to maintain access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to our fisheries for traditional fishing and commercial fishing development. The Queensland Government has sought input from all sectors about reforms needed to our major fisheries.

Independent advice has also been provided over the past 12 months through the Sustainable Fisheries Expert Panel. The Directions Paper intends to provide certainty to fishers about the reforms that will be implemented, through amendments to the Fisheries Regulation 2008, later in 2019.

More information about the reforms and what it means for different stakeholders is available online at fisheries.qld.gov.au
I look forward to working with you as we continue to implement these important reforms. If you require any further information, please contact Fisheries Queensland director Ms Kimberly Foster on 07 3087 8770 or email kimberly.foster@daf.qld.gov.au

Yours sincerely,

Bernadette Ditchfield
Deputy Director General
Fisheries and Forestry
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries