2015-11-10 - P&O Agenda - Item 7, Attach 1 - Historical Ecology of the Noosa Estuary Fisheries

Results

Data sources uncovered

Sources uncovered included annual government reports on the early fisheries in
the Noosa River, Lakes and wider region, information on recreational fishing
competitions, recreational and commercial catches, fishery inspector reports and
correspondence concerning fishing licenses, oysters leases and complaints about
net fishing, catches or sightings of megafauna within the Noosa River system,
observations of indigenous fishing activities (although these were restricted to
second-hand reports, i.e., observations by settlers rather than first hand accounts
by indigenous people), archaeological studies of the Cooloola Coast (but not the
Noosa River specifically), and previous academic and government reports on the
fisheries and local history of the Noosa region.


In addition to searching through hard copies of local newspapers (Noosa
Advocate, Noosa News), government reports, fisheries inspector correspondence
and academic reports, approximately 10,000 individual digitised records were
searched using Trove. From these popular sources nearly 900 records were
extracted that provided either descriptive or quantitative information on the
Noosa Estuary and its fisheries, spanning the years 1871-2014. Government
records also provide commercial landings of finfish from 1946 to the present
day, and prawns from 1959, although not for the Noosa River specifically.
However, earlier records do provide insights into the Noosa River oyster fishery,
which once exported oysters to Brisbane but which ceased to exist as a
commercial fishery by the 1930s.


Thirty long-term residents including commercial, charter and recreational
fishers, business owners, historians and Traditional Owners were spoken to
about their observations of the Noosa River, its wildlife and people, with
questions adapted according to their individual expertise and experience.




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