Fisheries Qld (FQ) & Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA)
State governments are responsible for the management of fisheries in state waters. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) is responsible for fisheries in Commonwealth waters. In Queensland, that translates to the overwhelming majority of our fisheries that have relevance to recreational fishers, being state managed by FQ.
But we have the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), one of the seven wonders of the world, adjacent to our coastline.
The GBR is also a World Heritage listed area (WHA), so the Federal Government is primarily responsible to look after and manage the well-being of the GBR. But, as we all know, fish live on the reef and we all love to catch and eat them, and it's the State government's responsibility to manage them, the fish.
So, the GBRMPA manages the Marine Park and activities that impact on it, but FQ manages fishing within the waters of the Park. That should be simple enough though - NOT!
The 2004 rezoning of the GBR Marine Park saw close to 30% of it being declared "Green Zones", meaning NO FISHING in these zones. The public reason for doing this was to protect the biodiversity in these areas from human exploitation (harvesting). Of course that is a very noble and important thing to do, but it does have a very large impact on fishers, both recreational and commercial.
While it supposedly (in their dreams) prevents fishing in these important areas, in practice, it results in fishing effort being relocated and squeezed into what is left. People haven't stopped fishing because of the Green Zones, they have just moved their effort to other areas. The GBRMPA and governments feel really good about what they've done and they have got huge pats on the back from international conservation groups who also want to believe they have somehow "protected the reef from those irresponsible fishers".
Those of us close to the issues, know the outcomes being achieved by the zoning are nowhere near what were originally predicted for a whole raft of reasons. The majority of those reasons relate to fisheries management - over-fishing, illegal fishing, unsuitable apparatus etc.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a GBRMPA bureaucrat trying to "manage" the Marine Park. He/she can stop fishers from fishing in Green Zones, but they have virtually no teeth when it comes to all the other fisheries issues associated with fishing in the GBRMP, they are looked after by FQ, who incidentally have drastically reduced the effectiveness of their on-water enforcement capacity as directed by the state government.
The GBRMPA undertakes reviews, but has to ignore almost all the serious fisheries issues raised by those consulted, because they are outside the scope and jurisdiction of the Marine Park Authority, despite these issues compromising the goals of the GBRMPA. What a ludicrous situation!
We have it on very reliable authority, that the GBRMPA has repeatedly tried to raise fisheries issues impacting the Marine Park with FQ and the state government, but are quickly told to "butt out" and "don't you worry about that". The points right now are clearly with FQ - you should be afraid, very afraid!
But we have the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), one of the seven wonders of the world, adjacent to our coastline.
The GBR is also a World Heritage listed area (WHA), so the Federal Government is primarily responsible to look after and manage the well-being of the GBR. But, as we all know, fish live on the reef and we all love to catch and eat them, and it's the State government's responsibility to manage them, the fish.
So, the GBRMPA manages the Marine Park and activities that impact on it, but FQ manages fishing within the waters of the Park. That should be simple enough though - NOT!
The 2004 rezoning of the GBR Marine Park saw close to 30% of it being declared "Green Zones", meaning NO FISHING in these zones. The public reason for doing this was to protect the biodiversity in these areas from human exploitation (harvesting). Of course that is a very noble and important thing to do, but it does have a very large impact on fishers, both recreational and commercial.
While it supposedly (in their dreams) prevents fishing in these important areas, in practice, it results in fishing effort being relocated and squeezed into what is left. People haven't stopped fishing because of the Green Zones, they have just moved their effort to other areas. The GBRMPA and governments feel really good about what they've done and they have got huge pats on the back from international conservation groups who also want to believe they have somehow "protected the reef from those irresponsible fishers".
Those of us close to the issues, know the outcomes being achieved by the zoning are nowhere near what were originally predicted for a whole raft of reasons. The majority of those reasons relate to fisheries management - over-fishing, illegal fishing, unsuitable apparatus etc.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a GBRMPA bureaucrat trying to "manage" the Marine Park. He/she can stop fishers from fishing in Green Zones, but they have virtually no teeth when it comes to all the other fisheries issues associated with fishing in the GBRMP, they are looked after by FQ, who incidentally have drastically reduced the effectiveness of their on-water enforcement capacity as directed by the state government.
The GBRMPA undertakes reviews, but has to ignore almost all the serious fisheries issues raised by those consulted, because they are outside the scope and jurisdiction of the Marine Park Authority, despite these issues compromising the goals of the GBRMPA. What a ludicrous situation!
We have it on very reliable authority, that the GBRMPA has repeatedly tried to raise fisheries issues impacting the Marine Park with FQ and the state government, but are quickly told to "butt out" and "don't you worry about that". The points right now are clearly with FQ - you should be afraid, very afraid!