25 November, 2008
This paper documents a decline of commercial and recreational line-fishing catches of grey mackerel at Snapper Island post-2007, believed to be the result of overfishing by gillnet boats in 2006 and 2007. Catches for the following three years were a small fraction of catches prior to 2003. By 2011, numbers had rebuilt somewhat, but to a level still much below those prior to 2003. NB: the original report is supplemented here by a few notes and photographs available only following the report’s release.
PREFACE
An earlier draft of this study was presented to Premier Anna Bligh and Jason O’Brien, MP, by hand by the author, upon their visit to Mossman, October 2008. It was also submitted to the Independent Review of the Proposed New Management Arrangements for Queensland’s East Coast Inshore Finfish Fishery, commissioned by Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, to assist in his assessment of the fishery under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The main differences are the addition of a few notes and more material to section 1.9 the “History of the Call to have Netting of Grey Mackerel banned in Local Waters” and the Appendix. The Appendix is the minutes of the meeting of senior community members of the former Douglas Shire with DPI&F in February 2008.
The purpose of this meeting was to attempt to convince the DPI&F that the inshore waters of the former Douglas Shire were returning catches of inshore predatory fish species that were a fraction of what they used to be and that the community considered the waters overfished. The community recommended that local inshore waters be closed to all offshore and itinerant netting by 1 June 2008.
SUMMARY (with additional photographs)
Since the early 1970’s and until recently (2008), locals and visiting holiday makers have built up a considerable informal knowledge base whilst fishing large schools of grey mackerel (greys) at certain specific localities within the inshore waters of the former Douglas Shire. The season lasted from late May or early June to mid September.
Every year large schools of greys would be found at the same localities. Some fishers have noted that the greys caught often contained roe from as early as June in the 1970s-80s. More recently the roe have been found to be largest from mid August through to mid September. The authorities dispute the fact that the greys reach spawning condition at Snapper Island at this time of year. The proof is shown below, photographs taken over 4 different years.
Some experienced grey mackerel line fishers consider the greys spawn in the area and then move on. (Ed.’s note: Given the above photographic evidence of near spawning condition over four different years, the community finds it extremely frustrating that some “authorities” try to claim that the grey mackerel do not spawn at this time of year and never in Douglas Shire waters.)
The author is unaware of any records of large numbers of greys being caught in Far North Queensland later in the year (e.g. from October onward). A few are often caught by line around Christmas after the first floods.
Experienced grey mackerel fishers can often tell when grey mackerel are feeding by visual observations of schools breaking the surface (usually accompanied by feeding terns, often used to pin point school location). As the greys chase baitfish, they may leap from the water. The number of greys breaking the surface as a school feeds, the size of the school that shows up on the echo sounder and the period over which the schools are present, provide local fishers with an indicator of annual stock abundance. This, combined with the annual catches of two commercial line fisher, who fish the schools consistently, weather permitting and with the same gear and methods from year to year, is considered, by the community, to be sufficiently accurate to determine whether the stock is relatively large or small for any given year.
Locals are not aware of exactly when offshore (i.e. in waters deeper than two metres) gill netting for grey mackerel commenced in neighbouring waters but consider it was around 2003. In 2006 two large (15-20 m) net boats commenced day and night netting of the local grey mackerel inshore line fishing grounds and took 11 tonnes of greys from the local area shortly before they were due to spawn (as indicated by line caught fish such as those shown above, caught in late August and early September showing almost ripe roe).
Experienced local line fishers consider the net boats, operating without any quota or season to restrict catches, caught most of the breeding stock prior to spawning in 2006.
The offshore net boats returned in 2007 and whilst they commenced catching later in the season, claimed to have caught 17 tonnes in the local area, i.e. between 16° and 16.5° South. The line fishers, who worked the same grounds as the netters and observed their operations and also the numbers of fish on the grounds, do not accept this figure. Many locals consider it is a false claim, made in an attempt to secure a larger share of any compensation that may be forthcoming if the area is closed to nets.
Liners request that DPI&F check the claim of 17 tonnes against the netters invoices to confirm whether that quantity of fish was landed and scrutinise their log books to check declared positions at the time.
Since 2003, the local line fishery for grey mackerel has collapsed with each year fewer fish being caught by line than the previous year. Line catches in 2006, 2007 and 2008 have been negligible.
Two commercial line fishers who each used to catch hundreds of grey mackerel every season caught only 55 and 43 greys respectively in 2008 for a similar expenditure of effort and using their normal method, despite the net boats not returning this year. (Ed’s note: following production of this report, the community and two line fishers reported minimal catches of greys until 2011.)
There is also concern about the rapid decline in other large inshore finfish numbers in waters off the former Douglas Shire. In 2006 the Douglas LMAC reported the findings of their subcommittee on netting, namely that there is widespread community concern over declining stocks of all the main inshore species in local waters, to both GBRMPA and DPI&F. The public largely attributes this decline to the recent heavy increase in large scale netting by persons who live outside the local area and who have done very little of their past fishing in local waters.
Since presenting their local MP with a petition, in August 2006, of over 600 signatures, calling for a ban on grey mackerel netting in local waters, the community has liaised with DPI&F and run an active media campaign to have the netting stopped. DPI&F following their Inshore Fin Fish Fishery Consultations have frustrated the local community by presenting proposals in late 2007 which actually favour netters.
Gill netting is a relatively non-selective method and, when targeting grey mackerel, may have a by-catch of turtles, dugongs, dolphins, large shark, Spanish, school and spotted mackerel, northern bluefin tuna and, possibly, humpback whales depending on the abundance of these species, which all occur in the area netted during the season when the greys are aggregating.
Whilst it is illegal to keep Spanish and spotted mackerel caught in nets (Ed.’s note: now some bycatch is permitted, opening up new possibilities for over-harvesting of Spanish) it is very hard to distinguish between mackerel species as frozen fillets. As a 15kg Spanish mackerel has a wholesale value of well over $100, the temptation to keep and illegally mix Spanish and spotted with the catch of greys (and exceed the bycatch quota) is probably irresistible to some fishers.
Some netters also hold line licences for Spanish and spotted so the illegal transfer of net caught Spanish and spotted mackerel to licensed line boats at sea is a possibility. Moreover netters are now allowed to keep a number of Spanish mackerel if they caught these on lines. This presents a temptation to keep large Spanish mackerel caught in their nets on board and declare them as being caught on handlines in order to “prevent wastage” and obtain their market value.
The gill netters also quite legally target schooling aggregations of queenfish and fingermark which, since they are not considered reef fish, although possibly every bit as vulnerable, do not have a closed spawning season. The “Queenies” were previously common at 1 m length in local inshore and estuary waters and valued as a great fighting fish when hooked by anglers. Fingermark are large snapper which inhabit both estuaries and inshore waters and a valued table fish.
The observed recent rapid decline in local inshore fish catches, including these two species, in local waters, has had a marked effect on tourism with caravan park managers complaining that many regular visitors, who used to return every year for the fishing, have stopped coming back since 2006 because of poor catches.
An offshore gill netter has claimed a loss of up to 75% of their netting grounds as a result of the GBRMPA RAP. A close examination of the Cairns regional GBRMP zoning map reveals that this is a gross overstatement if it refers to inshore waters such as the grey mackerel fishing grounds as very little of this area in the Cairns Area zoning map has been closed to netting.
A paper by Cameron & Begg summarises the published scientific information known about grey mackerel up to 2002 and concludes that there is insufficient knowledge of the species to manage its stocks other than by rough guesswork. The authorities have not followed the recommendations of their own researchers, namely Cameron and Begg recommended that:
- Small mackerel species (i.e. incl. Greys, author) should be managed with utmost caution until detailed stock assessments are undertaken”;
- There is a need to develop “a reliable indicator of stock abundance for each „small‟ mackerel species;
- The respective stock structures (of the three mackerel species) … should be integral in considering management arrangements for each species;
- research should be undertaken to determine breeding grounds.
As the authorities have no means of estimating stock size or the proportion of the stock that is taken each year by the fishery, have only a partial knowledge of their stock structure, and are unsure of their spawning areas, they have an inadequate knowledge base on which to manage the grey mackerel fishery to ensure the ecological sustainability of the fishery.
Despite claims to the contrary, there is no evidence that Grey mackerel travel long distances while there is documented evidence from a retired commercial gill netter that the Bowen grey mackerel seasonal fishing ground for greys was fished out by netters (including him) in 1971 and by 2004 had never recovered.
Research results released in October 2008 reveal that the grey mackerel landed in Mackay are from a different stock to those landed in Townsville, less than 400 km distant. Bowen lies halfway between Mackay and Townsville and may well have had its own local stocks prior to their being fished out in 1971.
Given that the local fishery is more than 400km north of Townsville, it is quite possible that this area has its own local stock of greys that does not travel large distances as was previously assumed by the fisheries administration.
The study presents information and discussion about the collapse of local grey mackerel stocks and the decline in other inshore species in local waters and notes factors contributing to this decline. It concludes the current level of inshore fishing under present day environmental conditions has lead to depleted inshore fish catches. This has lead to a serious conflict between a handful of large scale netters and hundreds of individuals in the recreational, charter and commercial line fishing and tourism sectors in the Port Douglas to Daintree/Cape Tribulation area.
The current management of Queensland East Coast gill netting provides significant risks of serial overfishing and serial depletion of vulnerable inshore breeding aggregations of a number of inshore finfish species as there is no protection afforded to stocks during the breeding season. Pre-breeding aggregations of a number of inshore species have apparently already been depleted in FNQ by netting during their pre-spawning aggregation and spawning season.
The potential for bycatch of large iconic marine animals and implications for the management of a World Heritage Area and the Precautionary Principle are also highlighted.
Richard Banks, fisheries economist and director of Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management was commissioned by the Network for Sustainable Fishing in Far North Queensland, working with the Mossman Boat & Fishing Club, to make an independent assessment of whether the Precautionary Principle should be applied to close down the area to net fishing.
Briefly, the resulting Poseidon ARM report finds that the management authorities are required by law to apply the Precautionary Principle, or at the very least undertake a participatory risk analysis evaluation in the event of any doubt as to the state of stocks. The Poseidon ARM report should be read in conjunction with this study, find it here.
The present report recommends that the authorities take a common sense approach and formally recognize (but not advertise) that local stocks are overfished to the extent that production is now a fraction of what it could be if stocks were allowed to rebuild.
Findings further south from Moreton Bay to Bowen and Sarina indicate gillnetting pre-spawning aggregations of mackerel of any of the four Queensland mackerel species is a “boom-and-bust” activity, politely known as “pulse fishing“.
Common sense tells one that gillnetting grey mackerel in the Douglas Region provides zero return to the local community. Experience has shown it is damaging to the local economy and general self-sufficiency. Very substantial quantities of mackerel are landed in the community by liners in a “normal” season, i.e. one without gillnetters. No fish are landed by netters. The result is a loss of recreational opportunities for both locals and tourists, including clients of charter fishers; charter fishing being the ultimate value-added fishery.
If proper resource management measures are to be followed according to environmental sustainability principles the precautionary approach should be applied immediately to close local waters to all offshore and itinerant set gill netting.
Furthermore the community recommends the buy back, by 2012, of all local netting licences held by residents who have a history of netting the area prior to 2003.
Authorities do need to implement common sense strategies to allow fish stocks to rebuild to levels that would sustain a considerably higher level of production under sound management.
GBRMPA are tasked with ensuring that management of the WHA of the GBR is up to world class standards. In response to community observations, knowledge and concerns, they should commission an independent review of the grey mackerel fishery and the offshore gill net fishery as a whole, within the entire WHA waters, as serial overfishing may be an on-going phenomenon as netters move north. This should be carried out by a suitably qualified and independent fisheries management specialist.
In order not to lose the opportunity of recording some level of knowledge of what catches and inshore fish stocks were like in the period 1975 – 2000 and to avoid the trap of distorted baseline perception, GMRMPA should commission a short local community study to interview fishers with extensive long-term experience of fishing in the local area and formally document the reported abundance and size of different species in their catches during past years.
Sustainable Fishing FNQ 