Understanding the East Coast Commercial Net Fishery
The first thing to understand is some of the terminology of commercial fishing. To be a commercial fisher, you must first hold a commercial fishing licence. Once you have one of these, you then must have "symbols" attached to your licence that dictate which areas of the fishery you are allowed to access and fish in and in some instances, what species you can take.
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For example, net symbols start with the letter "N", Crab symbols start with the letter "C" and trawl symbols start with the letter "T". This letter is then followed by a number that dictates exactly what type of apparatus you can use and/or what geographical area you can fish and what species of fish you can take.
Queensland is currently (2024) in the middle of the biggest shake-up of the inshore net fishery in living memory. UNESCO looked at the health of the Great Barrier Reef and decided that it was under serious threat from a range of factors - climate change, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from the land and unacceptable threats to charismatic mega-fauna like dugongs, turtles and sawfish from commercial netting. An upshot from that, is the progressive buyout of all large mesh commercial gill netting in the GBR
That means all N1, N2 and N4 symbols north of Baffle Creek, which is just north of Bundaberg, were bought out early in 2024.
However, in their infinite wisdom (sic), the State government and Fisheries Qld have issued around 28 entirely new NX symbols to eligible applicants to continue gill netting in this area until 30 June 2027. The rationale for this short sighted move is to continue to supply fresh local fish to local people during the period. This urban myth of there being a large and important market for locally net-caught fish just wont go away and will cause a huge amount of unnecessary grief and conflict on the water until June 2027.
If that isn't bad enough, there is another symbol N11 still out there, that was originally created to allow commercial mackerel line fishers to net gar for bait, that has been effectively overlooked and ignored in the GBR net buyout. The original intent was fine, but sadly there are still, after the buyout, around 300 N11 symbols out there, plus a ridiculous anomaly that allows every commercial fisher in the state, whether they are a crabber, a trawler operator or whatever, to use an N11 net. So there could still be over 1,000 N11 net users still in the fishery. They are only supposed to use it for catching fish/bait for their own purposes (yeah right!) and we all believe in the Easter Bunny don't we?
Here's the kicker - an N11 net can be up to 400m long north of Baffle Creek and 600m long to its south, with a mesh size of 12mm-45mm. This net is a small mesh commercial gill net that can be hauled, set, ringed and pretty much used however and wherever they like. No prizes for figuring out that it catches just about everything that swims and the undersized and unwanted bykill is horrific. They also are effective in catching turtles and any lonely sawfish that haven't already been killed by nets.
Finally for SEQ residents, you have to contend with N10 (Tunnel nets) and K (beach haul mullet nets) symbols as well. And now. Fisheries have issued a new netting symbol to all existing netters in SEQ called an N15. This replaces the previous N1 symbol, but now allows them all to take barramundi which they never could before. No prizes for figuring out that the relatively small barra populations south of Baffle creek in places like the Burnett and Mary Rivers, will be wiped out in very short shift post Feb 2024. What a stupid and short-sighted "initiative" by Fisheries!
To bone up on the complexities of commercial netting symbols in Queensland, go to the DAF website as follows - https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/56191/Commercial-Fisheries-handbook.pdf
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For example, net symbols start with the letter "N", Crab symbols start with the letter "C" and trawl symbols start with the letter "T". This letter is then followed by a number that dictates exactly what type of apparatus you can use and/or what geographical area you can fish and what species of fish you can take.
Queensland is currently (2024) in the middle of the biggest shake-up of the inshore net fishery in living memory. UNESCO looked at the health of the Great Barrier Reef and decided that it was under serious threat from a range of factors - climate change, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from the land and unacceptable threats to charismatic mega-fauna like dugongs, turtles and sawfish from commercial netting. An upshot from that, is the progressive buyout of all large mesh commercial gill netting in the GBR
That means all N1, N2 and N4 symbols north of Baffle Creek, which is just north of Bundaberg, were bought out early in 2024.
However, in their infinite wisdom (sic), the State government and Fisheries Qld have issued around 28 entirely new NX symbols to eligible applicants to continue gill netting in this area until 30 June 2027. The rationale for this short sighted move is to continue to supply fresh local fish to local people during the period. This urban myth of there being a large and important market for locally net-caught fish just wont go away and will cause a huge amount of unnecessary grief and conflict on the water until June 2027.
If that isn't bad enough, there is another symbol N11 still out there, that was originally created to allow commercial mackerel line fishers to net gar for bait, that has been effectively overlooked and ignored in the GBR net buyout. The original intent was fine, but sadly there are still, after the buyout, around 300 N11 symbols out there, plus a ridiculous anomaly that allows every commercial fisher in the state, whether they are a crabber, a trawler operator or whatever, to use an N11 net. So there could still be over 1,000 N11 net users still in the fishery. They are only supposed to use it for catching fish/bait for their own purposes (yeah right!) and we all believe in the Easter Bunny don't we?
Here's the kicker - an N11 net can be up to 400m long north of Baffle Creek and 600m long to its south, with a mesh size of 12mm-45mm. This net is a small mesh commercial gill net that can be hauled, set, ringed and pretty much used however and wherever they like. No prizes for figuring out that it catches just about everything that swims and the undersized and unwanted bykill is horrific. They also are effective in catching turtles and any lonely sawfish that haven't already been killed by nets.
Finally for SEQ residents, you have to contend with N10 (Tunnel nets) and K (beach haul mullet nets) symbols as well. And now. Fisheries have issued a new netting symbol to all existing netters in SEQ called an N15. This replaces the previous N1 symbol, but now allows them all to take barramundi which they never could before. No prizes for figuring out that the relatively small barra populations south of Baffle creek in places like the Burnett and Mary Rivers, will be wiped out in very short shift post Feb 2024. What a stupid and short-sighted "initiative" by Fisheries!
To bone up on the complexities of commercial netting symbols in Queensland, go to the DAF website as follows - https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/56191/Commercial-Fisheries-handbook.pdf
Gulf of Carpentaria
Net symbols in the Gulf of Carpentaria (Qld side) are slightly different from the east coast. All still start with the letter N, but the numbers after the "N" are different and net sizes and types are different in some cases from the east coast, but the issues remain the same. The 2024 review has resulted in the long overdue gazetting of three new Net Free Areas on the west cost of the Cape. There should also be a proportionate reduction in the number of netting licences in the Gulf fishery, but details on this are not available yet. This review should deliver some tangible benefits for fish stocks and fishers in the GoC. Watch this space as this review evolves.
