Gillnet fishers in Great Barrier Reef say report shows they can be sustainable

Commercial fishers in North Queensland are hoping a new report will convince the state and federal governments to reverse a planned ban on gillnets within the Great Barrier Reef.

Operators in the fishing zone have commissioned a report they say shows their netting practices are likely to pass international sustainability standards.

Temporary licences were introduced in 2024 to allow commercial fishers to continue using gillnets ahead of the planned phase-out in 2027.

The Queensland Seafood Industry Association, working with the operators, released a summary of findings from the report, which was conducted by sustainable seafood consultants FishListic.

Townsville commercial fisher Nathan Rynn said the association hoped to use the report to obtain a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) "blue tick" on their boats and products to show the fishery was sustainable.

"I'm sort of positive about the net fishery moving forward, albeit the legislation issues," Mr Rynn said.

"I think we can overcome that and have the best-managed fishery on the planet … but we'll actually have the accreditation behind it, possibly."

Reef impact under review

According to the released section of the report, FishListic said it found the fishery would meet half of the MSC's standards without any conditions imposed and could pass others after further consultation.

The company reviewed the ecological risk of four threatened species that had interactions with the large mesh nets.

Great hammerhead sharks, scalloped hammerhead sharks, green sawfish and hawksbill turtles all returned a medium risk of being impacted by the nets, down from high risk under the current Queensland government assessment.

Blue tick for consumers

The Queensland Seafood Industry Association's David Bobberman said the east coast inshore fishery produced between 200 and 300 tonnes of seafood annually.

"To be clear, it's not MSC-certified at the moment, but it's been pre-assessed, and the pre-assessor has given them a pass mark," he said.

The MSC uses third-party auditors to conduct in-person reviews of fishing practices against international standards, following a pre-assessment.

Minister investigating options

The office of Queensland Minister for Primary Industries Tony Perrett said it would "welcome" the opportunity to conduct a "robust review" of the report, but it was waiting to receive the full document.

However, the Federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said the phase-out of gillnets was being led by the Queensland government.

Fishers 'making a real effort'

Leslie Roberson, a researcher at the University of Queensland, said governments should be taking notice of MSC certifications.

"I think it does mean something to consumers. To the government, I think it should mean something," Dr Roberson said.

"The fishery has paid for an independent assessment of themselves so, obviously, people are going to have questions of whether that's biased."

"They've taken steps to get that reviewed [by MSC auditors]. They are making a real effort."

Dr Roberson said gillnetting had a bad reputation partly stemming from a lack of data.

She said information about protected species interactions was previously filled out by fishers without a "third party" to check them.

East coast inshore fishery operators have been required to use onboard cameras and log interactions with threatened species since February 2024.

Queensland government data shows 188 fatal interactions with endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks and seven narrow sawfish deaths in that time.

No other threatened species deaths were reported.