Great Barrier Reef

An OzFish Young Leaders Program participant, Katie Broadfoot was recently selected to attend the Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia Great Barrier Reef Leadership Intensive in Townsville. This program aims to empower and uplift women who are working to drive change in the climate and environmental space. In partnership with the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, WELA brought together 21 like-minded women for …

On Tuesday, a UNESCO heritage committee stopped short of listing the Great Barrier Reef as a site that is “in danger” but warned the world’s biggest coral reef ecosystem remained under “serious threat” from pollution and the warming of oceans. Australia has been lobbying for years to keep the reef  – which contributes about $6 billion to the economy and …

Finally, we have a fourth winner in the Fish n’ SIPS Tagged Fish Competition – with only eleven tagged fish remaining to be caught in the five impoundments. Mark Hennessy from Brisbane with a 109cm barramundi caught in Lake Tinaroo on the Atherton Tablelands was a very happy chap. Mark has $3000 to fund his next trip to Lake Tinaroo …

The Albanese and Palaszczuk Labor Governments have announced critical funding to better protect threatened species that call the Great Barrier Reef home. Over $160 million will be delivered to significantly reduce net fishing and other high risk fishing activities impacting the reef. This includes ensuring the Great Barrier Reef is gillnet free by mid-2027. Destructive gillnet fishing injures and kills …

Happy World Oceans Day! Did you know about 70% of the planet’s surface is covered by oceans? That’s one of the many reasons it’s so important to protect our seas. Sustainable fisheries are just one way we can ensure our oceans stay healthy, so future generations can enjoy fishing as much as we do. World Oceans Day is an international …

THERE’S not much to report on my fishing charters because I’ve only been out once over the past month. We caught a couple of flathead and a few small snapper, but I just haven’t been able to line up with any good weather, so hopefully next month will be better – we’ll see how we go. Saumarez Reef On the …

THE snapper and pearl perch closed season for this year is now done and dusted and the overall feedback from most people is very supportive. There have been a few negative and veiled swipes at the closure conducted through the media, but they all link back to people who have a vested interest or who earn good money from being …

DESPITE issuing a pre-Easter warning, Great Barrier Reef authorities were disappointed to encounter a high volume and array of illegal activity, including zoning offences, threatening the health of the Reef, and the communities dependent on it, over the long weekend. While data is still coming in from partner agencies, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service and the Great Barrier Reef Marine …

PICKING up where I left off last month on my week-long live-aboard Swain Reefs charter trip with Carlo Fishing Charters, we’d just wrapped up an incredible morning of fishing a glassed-out Great Barrier Reef. This unreal start to the fishing had us salivating, but not for lunch, rather to get back out in the dories and catch more epic fish! …

GOLDEN opportunities don’t come along too often, so when they do, you’re well advised to grab them with both hands. I was lucky enough to find myself in this situation recently when owner and operator of Carlo Fishing Charters Karl Kleimeyer invited me on a seven-day Swain Reefs fishing trip aboard the recently completed Carlo II mother ship. Karl has …