2019-07-18 OM Agenda - Item 1 - Attachment 1 - Noosa Fishing Futures

Table 4
                                  Year       Fishing Method Group              Catch (t)
                                  2013     NetComplex                            167.55
                                  2013     Ocean Beach Netting                    98.05
                                  2014     NetComplex                            123.65
                                  2014     Ocean Beach Netting                     84.34
                                  2014     Tunnel Netting                           0.61
                                  2015     NetComplex                            165.74
                                  2015     Ocean Beach Netting                    153.17
                                  2016     NetComplex                            178.09
                                  2016     Ocean Beach Netting                   159.34
                                   2017    NetComplex                            253.22
                                   2017    Ocean Beach Netting                     85.22
                                  2018     NetComplex                            205.83
                                  2018     Ocean Beach Netting                   140.18


Commercial Fisheries catch data for the K8 Ocean Beach Net fishery and the T5 Beam Trawl fishery has been
provided by Fisheries Queensland for the years 2013 through to 2018. Information in this paper is sourced from
Fisheries Queensland5, Fishnet Public, ASIC’s Companies and Business Register, traditional and online media
platforms and stakeholders with a direct and indirect stake in the future management of the Noosa waterways.
Where possible, data on commercial fishers is examined to identify the licenses that have the authority to fish
in the Noosa River, estuaries and beaches.

Feedback from local commercial fishers and some stakeholders have identified a range of issues around
current regulations and practices within this component of the net fishery and these have informed some
short-term options for Council to consider. Issues included are suggested changes to net size in the Lakes
Cootharaba, Cooroibah or Weyba, consideration of a regulated weekend closure for the Ocean Beach Fishery,
consideration of a change to the regulated use of nets in the Noosa River at Munna Point to move the line
closer to Makepeace Island, and the development of a code of practice for the mullet fishery.

Net Fishery License and Symbol Listings

The Queensland Fisheries Summary Report, October 2018 indicates for the East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery,
the number of net symbols in the fishery that have an Authority to access the Noosa waterways is 379 as
identified in Table 1. Whilst this statement is accurate, the reality is that only a small proportion of these
symbol holders are active in the Noosa area. This would include the 12 K8 net fishers, between 8 to 12 N1 net
fishers (which may vary from year to year) and some N11 fishers, the N11 being recognised as a symbol that
most commercial fishers use to catch bait fish6.




5
  Fisheries Queensland will not provide data where there are less than 5 boats active in a region. That can result in an
underestimate of the catch of individual species due to data access limitation of the author. Fisheries Queensland privacy
laws prevent it from providing access to this data but it will be made available if a formal proposal for structural
adjustment is considered.

6
  NOTE: Changes to fishing regulations during the last reform of the ECIFF provided all N2, K, N10 and N4 licence holders
with the ability to operate in accordance with the N1 netting provisions. This adds significantly to the number of licences
(just over 240 in total) that could currently access the Noosa system and therefore be ‘entitled’ to seek compensation
under current management arrangements. The same reforms enable any commercial crab or line operators to use ‘small
mesh nets’ to take bait for their own use. This also would add significantly to the number of licenses that could access the
Noosa system (just over 2248 in total). This requires some explanation which will be provided at the formal briefing.

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