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

This section of the paper focusses on the K8 and N1 net fisheries and the current activities of the commercial
fishers operating in the Noosa region, the regulatory framework they operate within and their catch data from
2013 to 2018. The areas of the relevant net and beam trawl fisheries are shown in diagrams 1 and 2.

The East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery

The East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery runs the full length of the Queensland coastline and is made up of three
main components, the inshore net fishery, the line fishery and the crab fishery. The fishery operating in the
Noosa River, estuary and beaches of interest to the Noosa Council and community is the net fishery.
Commercial net fishers require a Queensland commercial fisher licence to be in charge of commercial fishing
activities aboard either their own commercial fishing boat or another person's commercial fishing boat. The
commercial fisher licence allows you to:
     use authorised equipment to commercially take fish species under fishery symbols appearing on
         a commercial fishing boat licence
     supervise crew members assisting you in those fishing activities.

The net fishers operating in the Noosa region predominately use two types of gear; an N1 net fisher will use a
50mm – 165mm mesh net and K8 netters use 12mm – 75mm mesh nets, that can be no longer then 500m. The
length of an N1 net varies according to the specific area regulations and can range from 200m to 1500m. There
are also spatial rules that restrict access to a fishery symbol that apply in the Noosa River, estuary and beaches.
Commercial fishers who have an authority to fish in the Area 8 Net Fishery (Ocean Beach – Area 8) are required
to hold a K8 symbol and can only access the fishery from the 1st April to the 31st August. Commercial net fishers
who have an authority to access the net fishery outside of the K8 season (for the remainder of the year) will
have an N1 or an N11 symbol. An N1 symbol1 is an authority to fish the East Coast of Queensland and an N112
symbol is essentially an authority to bait fish. Presently, there are 12 K8 symbol holders with the authority to
fish in the Ocean Beach – Area 8 Net Fishery. This includes the Noosa River, estuaries and beaches extending
from Noosa Heads up to the northern tip of Fraser Island. Any fish, other than barramundi or regulated coral
reef fin fish, may be taken. Targeted species will typically include bream, mullet, tailor, whiting and flathead.
The holders of a K8 symbol have an as-of-right-use for N1 apparatus within Queensland waters, which allows
them to fish anywhere in state waters for those species permitted to be taken with that apparatus.

The K8 symbol is essentially an extra right that allows the holder to use a particular net for the ocean beach
fishery for a specified time period being 1st April to 31st August. However, outside of that period, any licensed
commercial fisher with an N1 and N11 symbol has the right to fish in those areas. Presently there are 86 N1
symbol holders and 281 N11 symbols holders who have the authority to access these fisheries. The
jurisdictional arrangements for fisheries management in Queensland are as follows:

          The Fisheries Act 1994 (Qld) provides Queensland’s principal legislative framework for the regulation
           of commercial fishing, recreational fishing, indigenous fishing, coastal areas that are important as
           fisheries habitat and marine plants. The Act provides a range of mechanisms aimed at the sustainable
           management of fisheries including management plans, quotas, offences, licences and declarations of
           closed seasons, closed waters and fisheries habitat areas.
          The Fisheries Regulation 2008 (Qld) provides technical and geographic detail for these mechanisms.
          Management plans such as the Fisheries (East Coast Trawl) Management Plan 2010 (Qld) are
           subordinate legislation created under the Act.


1
    https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/61252/n1-fishery.pdf

2
  N11 symbol (small mesh net)
The new N11 fishery symbol was introduced to replace the N6 fishery symbol and allow the use of small mesh nets to
collect fish for commercial purposes. It was only allocated to licences with demonstrated previous activity in the
commercial sale of baitfish. This change aimed to address latent effort and to remove unnecessary fishery symbols.

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