Fishing News

QUEENSLANDERS are being asked to have their say on proposed and future locations of fish-attraction devices to create the next batch of world-class fishing spots when they are deployed this summer. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the Queensland Government wants to install the devices, known as FADs, off the Gold and Sunshine Coasts. “FADs are …

The NSW Government has successfully relocated more than 1100 native fish as part of a targeted fish rescue operation in the Lower Darling, where drying pools and warming temperatures pose an imminent threat to fish survival. Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall recently visited Menindee and the Lower Darling River where the latest efforts were focused. “The relocation operations have been …

IF there’s one species that holds a very special place in sportfishers’ hearts, it’s got to be lutjanus argentimaculatus, the mangrove jack. This handsome, brick red-coloured ball of muscle is the bully boy of the mangroves, an ambush expert powered by a broad tail, an operator so smart, it’s already heading back to its snaggy home by the time the …

NSW Department of Primary Industries’ fifth annual Gone Fishing Day is set to attract thousands of individuals and families to the water this Sunday, October 20 for a fun-filled day of fishing. NSW DPI Group Director Recreational and Aboriginal Fisheries Pete Turnell, said Gone Fishing Day offers the community a great excuse to get outdoors to celebrate our love of …

FISHERIES Queensland supports ongoing research as part of Shark Control Program operations. Several projects and a Scientific Working Group are examining the effectiveness of the program and investigating better ways of reducing the accidental capture of other marine animals (non-target species). Review of shark control alternatives The Queensland Government has committed $1 million a year to research and trialling alternatives …

IN what is a first for Queensland, an ‘early warning’ detection system has been placed in the water at the Port of Mackay to find any traces of exotic marine pests. Member for Mackay Julieanne Gilbert said Queensland boasted some of Australia’s and the world’s best marine environments, but they were at risk from unwelcome visitors. “We need to keep …

MARINE Parks helicopter patrols across north Queensland are continuing to catch fishers poaching in green zones, with several offenders fined and convicted in the past month. A series of no-take green zone poaching offences recently went before the Cairns, Townsville and Mackay Magistrates’ Courts, with fines up to $2850 and four convictions recorded — three out of the four were detected by aerial surveillance. …

THE longest-serving Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol Officers have welcomed a new generation of recruits to Parliament House on their induction day. The fisheries compliance officers are part of a new intake under the Queensland Government’s $20 million Sustainable Fisheries Strategy 2017-2020. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the inductees included three Indigenous officers and an …

THE latest round of surveillance tests conducted by Biosecurity Queensland show no signs of white spot disease in southeast Queensland waters, more than two-and-a-half years after the virus devastated the big prawn farms on the Logan River. It’s a big relief for the prawn farmers whose stocks were destroyed after white spot disease was first discovered two-and-a-half years ago, and …

CAN Australia successfully manage a pest fish population such as carp by commercial fishing? And would it have a lasting success? The answer is probably not on its own, at the continental scale. Commercial harvesting to control carp could be used to support biocontrol methods such as the virus control being investigated by the National Carp Control Plan. The research …