Fishing News

MACKAY Regional Council is carrying out some fishy business at Kinchant Dam. In an effort to improve fishing at the popular recreational spot, council and the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries have joined forces to install devices that will help aggregate fish within the impoundment and attract more anglers to Kinchant Dam. Council has been gathering materials to create the …

AN international study led by Monash marine ecologists has found that large fish are much more important to feeding the planet than previously thought. The new research, published in the prestigious journal ‘Science’, has major implications for how fisheries are managed and the value placed on marine protected areas. Most theories on how reproductive output increases with body size assume …

THINK twice next time you consider interfering with someone else’s crab pot. A man was prosecuted in Mackay recently and fined $10,000 for interfering with fishing apparatus. There are multiple operations and investigations into illegal crabbing activity across Queensland, with day and night patrols on waterways and at boat ramps including the use of specialised surveillance equipment like hidden cameras …

FISHERIES Queensland has fined three people thousands of dollars for illegal netting after fisheries officers seized a net measuring almost 130 metres at Nudgee earlier this month. Queensland Boating & Fisheries Patrol District Manager Brett Depper said a tip off to the Fishwatch hotline number 1800 017 116 led to the seizure. “We rely on the community reporting suspected illegal …

A NEW program was today launched to further develop responsible recreational fishing of southern bluefin tuna. Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston launched the Tuna Champions Program at Hobart’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. “This initiative will work to improve stewardship, fish handling and responsible fishing practices in the SBT recreational sector,” Minister Ruston said. “Sustainability, …

THE latest round of surveillance has been completed in the Moreton Bay area for white spot disease, with some initial tests returning positive results for the virus that causes white spot disease. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner said the positive results were found in crab and prawn samples from the northern Moreton Bay region near the …

WHITE spot disease movement restrictions are in place to stop the spread of the virus that causes white spot disease and help protect Queensland’s natural waterways. Raw prawns, yabbies and marine worms cannot be moved out of the white spot disease movement restriction area. These restrictions are in place from Caloundra to the NSW border and west to Ipswich. They …

REFORMS to modernise Queensland’s fisheries laws, including stronger compliance powers and penalties for serious offences such as seafood black marketing, have been proposed by the State Government. Minister for Agricultural Industry Development Mark Furner recently released a discussion paper on amendments to the Fisheries Act 1994 for public feedback. “The government is committed to protecting Queensland’s valuable fisheries resources and …

GRAB a hook, make it sharp, pitch a tent, catch a carp!  That’s what hundreds of environmentally conscious anglers will be doing at Lake Keepit this Easter long weekend, with the annual Carp We Don’t Keepit fishing competition set to take place. As a fishing competition with a sustainable twist, the weekend will improve Keepit Dam for native fish through …

QUEENSLAND is a step closer to having a world-leading fisheries management system with the release of proposed reform options for several key fisheries. Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said a range of options have been put forward in discussion papers for managing the trawl, crab and east coast inshore fisheries. “A priority of the Queensland Government’s Sustainable Fisheries Strategy is to develop …