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

                                                                                    THE T5 BEAM TRAWL FISHERY

The T5 Beam Trawl Fishery is one of three sub-fisheries within the Queensland East Coast Trawl Fishery
(ECTF). It represents the smallest component of the ECTF in terms of annual effort and number of vessels with
an estimated Gross Value of Production (GVP) of approximately $1.3 Million. Operators in the fishery tow small
beam trawls targeting prawns in rivers, creeks and inshore areas within 3 nautical miles of the coast. The catch
of by-product species in the fishery is negligible and consists mainly of small fin fish species. Commercial catch
is almost entirely composed of banana prawns, greentail (bay) prawns, and school prawns.




                              View looking backwards from a T5 Beam Trawler

School prawn is the main species caught in the Noosa T5 areas D and E. The biological stock structure of school
prawn remains largely unknown. Eastern School prawn inhabit numerous estuarine habitats in Queensland
and a portion of this biomass remains unfished, with fishing effort confined to accessible sections of larger
river systems due to vessel size. The average annual catch (4t) in recent years (2012–17) has been well below
the long-term average of ~60t (1990–2015). Long term catch levels are variable and nominal catch rates are
fairly-stable but with occasional very high catch and high catch rate years9.
                                                               Trawling is defined by the use of beam trawl
                                                               gear which results in a small trawl footprint. The
                                                               vessels are entitled to work in specified areas,
                                                               are limited to a maximum size of 9 meters
                                                               towing a single 5m wide trawl net made of mesh
                                                               no smaller than 28mm for nets used in rivers and
                                                               creeks. The net is attached to 2 'sleds' connected
                                                               by a rigid pole, or beam, that holds the net open
                                                               for fishing, a ground chain is connected to the
                                                               net footrope across its mouth and contacts the
sediment to stir up prawns. Trawl shots are generally short (less than 1 hr), occur in shallow water and result in

9
 Submission for the reassessment of the Queensland River and Inshore Beam Trawl Fishery Wildlife Trade Operation
approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
A report prepared by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, December 2018

                                                                                                                   17