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

usual catch. There was worse to come with the starting of Hay’s Island
development […]. What was definitely the fish breeding area of the whole of the
Noosa estuary system, with a teeming mass of mudcrabs, periwinkles, oysters by
the thousands […] and juvenile fish in their thousands – so much so the water
boiled with their presence […] were all destroyed.” Monks 2000.




Figure 13. Aerial photographs of the Noosa River mouth, taken in 1958 and
2008 and showing the development of the Noosa Bar and Sound between the
two periods. Reproduced with permission of the Department of Natural
Resources and Mines.



Contemporary perceptions

Many of the long-term residents interviewed believed that the abundance of fish
in the river had declined in their lifetimes, although it was commonly stated that,
despite declines, a good catch could still be achieved. Fishers stated that they


                                                                                   45