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

                                                                         THE K8 OCEAN BEACH NET FISHERY




                           Ocean beach net fishing on the Noosa North Shore

Information gleaned from local commercial fishers and Fisheries Queensland recorded catch data for the K8
ocean beach net fishery identified that there are nine owners of K8 symbol holders with the authority to fish
the K8 Ocean Beach Net Fishery, that operates from 1st April to 31st August. They are;

     SYMBOL HOLDER                                       SYMBOLS HELD
     Allan Burton                                        C1, C2, C3, K8, L1(3), L3(1), N11 & T5
     Andreassen Investments Pty Ltd                      C1, K8 & N11
     Jeff Clark                                          K8, L3(1), N11 & T5
     Jeff Clark                                          K8, L3(1), N11 & T5
     Madonna Rees                                        K8, N11, S
     Mark Alexander                                      K8, L3(1) & N11
     Mark Alexander                                      K8 & L2(0)
     Mark Catlow                                         K8, L3(1) & N11
     Michael & Brooke Savige                             K8, L3(1) N11 & T1
     Paddockmist Pty Ltd                                 K8, L3(1), N10 & N11
     Paddockmist Pty Ltd                                 K8, L1(1), L3(1) & N11
     Tracey Eardley                                      K8, N11 & T5

Local commercial fishers have identified that not all the K8 symbol holders are active in the fishery, suggesting
that around 6 have been active each year in the last 6 years. Without being able to identify the individual
fishers, they could be the same or a combination of the twelve symbol holders. The fishery almost exclusively
targets spawning mullet aggregations in the ocean beach in Laguna Bay during the peak winter months of
June and July. The whole mullet fishery is dominated by two major seafood processors, Markwell Fisheries
(Paddockmist Pty Ltd) from Chinderah and SupaFin Seafoods from Brisbane. The processors will often supply
crews on the beach to work with local K8 fishers who will typically catch around 100 tonnes of whole sea mullet
per year depending on seasonal factors. The processors market their product all over Australia, including to a
prominent Sunshine Coast wholesaler and a Noosaville bait outlet. The Fisheries Queensland data in Table 1
identifies the total annual catch for ocean beach netting and haul netting (including the months outside of the
K8 season) with the principle species and a high proportion of the catch, being whole sea mullet. The data is

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