The State Government is threatening Spanish mackerel fishers with the closure of fisheries or
a substantial reduction in harvest numbers.
Either decision gambles with the livelihoods of fishers right across Queensland’s coast.
I am being inundated with concerns from both recreational and commercial fishers about the
closure or reduction in the Spanish Mackerel Fishery.
The threats are being made with little information and no transparency about stock
assessments.
No one knows why.
The Spanish Mackerel Working Group has only met twice in the last year.
The Premier and her Agriculture Minister owes it to every Queenslander to be open and
transparent with decision making.
They are too distracted by their self-inflicted integrity crisis and only care about how things
look, not how they are.
The Agriculture Minister thinks this is just a PR problem.
He is doing nothing.
He is gambling with the livelihood of thousands of businesses across the State.
The effects of a reduction or closure of the Spanish Mackerel fishery will be large and wide
reaching.
The effects across the supply chain, to restaurants and hospitality traders will be significant.
Queensland’s peak fishing body, the Queensland Seafood Industry Association, has been
calling on the Government to recognise the importance of food security.
Its calls are being ignored.
This week in Parliament I’ve asked the Agriculture Minister to detail information on stock
assessments. *
I’ve also asked the Minister to share the results of modelling that a harvest reduction would
have on the thousands of Queensland small businesses reliant on Spanish mackerel.
Fishers deserve transparency.
The Minister must come clean on the data used to justify decisions including how it is
collected and if there is any form of bias in the data collection.
*QUESTION ON NOTICE ASKED Wednesday, 16 March 2022
Answer Due: Tuesday, 19 April 2022 180
MR A PERRETT ASKED MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRY
DEVELOPMENT AND FISHERIES AND MINISTER FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES
(HON M FURNER)
With reference to reports that stock levels of Spanish mackerel have decreased—
Will the Minister advise (a) the biomass of each assessment of the Spanish mackerel fishery
since 2015 (reported separately by date and location), (b) the results of modelling on the
impact of a harvest reduction on small businesses and (c) has Fisheries Queensland
conducted a Spanish mackerel stock assessment in areas which have been closed as Green
Zones in the Great Barrier Reef since 2004, and if not, why not?