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

War no central board existed to process and market commercial fishers’ net
catches. Fishers were therefore limited to marketing their fish at local
distribution centres (e.g., Gympie) or occasionally the metropolitan market in
Brisbane. A lack of swift and reliable transport meant that fish would sometimes
be unsuitable for purchase upon reaching their destination, while a lack of
freezing facilities meant that fish could not be kept longer than a few days,
meaning that the market would either be starved of fish or glutted with produce.
As a result, steady prices and a reliable income for commercial fishers did not
exist, stifling the growth of the fishing industry. The Queensland Fish Board was
established in 1936 in response to these issues, with its primary aim to improve
the supply of fish to the populace (The Fish Board 1937). The fish distribution
depot at Tewantin subsequently became a branch of the Fish Board (Fig. 3). All
commercially caught fish were supposed to be processed through the Fish Board,
and the commercial catch from the Noosa lakes and estuary would certainly have
passed through the Tewantin depot (Fig. 4), in addition to fish caught from the
ocean beaches and reefs.




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