Aquaculture & fishing

Recreational fishers and boaters from all corners of the state will again have the chance to discuss their much-loved pastimes and share ideas to make fishing even better at a series of free Fishing and Boating Forums. These forums, hosted by local fishing clubs, have become an annual tradition, with this year marking the third consecutive instalment.

On a visit to the Torres Strait, Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries Mark Furner announced the composition of the new 10-person Cape York Special Fisheries Working Group to provide advice on fisheries issues in the region.

The Territory Labor Government is investing $2.2 million in the 2023/24 budget to establish a dedicated Fisheries Compliance Unit, comprising of one manager and eight officers, within the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade ... the unit’s core duties will include the monitoring of fishing activities in Territory waterways including catches of high-risk fish stock, such as black jew fish.

Deputy Secretary of Biosecurity and Compliance Dr Chris Locke said new fees and charges for importers would better reflect the true cost of delivering Australian biosecurity services. “While some importers will experience slightly larger increases in the prices, the average increase across all importers is around 28 per cent,” said Dr Locke.

From 7th July 2017, a temporary ban on the importation of uncooked prawn products was lifted and replaced with import conditions which have consequently failed and once again threatened our great seafood industry. Recent detections of White Spot Disease (WSD) at three prawn farms on the NSW North Coast have the SFF calling on the Federal Government to slam the door shut and permanently ban the importation of raw, uncooked prawns and decapod crustaceans into Australia.

A two-year control order preventing the harvesting of prawns from the Clarence River announced as part of a $21.4 million biosecurity response package to White Spot virus could be the death knell for an industry already on its knees, if not managed properly, says the Clarence River Fishermen’s Co-operative ... But Ms Adams said if the control order on the Clarence Estuary is not managed well, there won’t be a prawn industry on the Northern Rivers in two years’ time.

Leader of the NSW Nationals Dugald Saunders and the Member for Clarence Richie Williamson have called on the NSW Government to be more transparent about the support being provided to the Northern Rivers prawn industry. Shadow Minister for Agriculture Dugald Saunders said a last-minute ban has been dropped on the industry without any certainty about the future.

A fishing season for a high value sea cucumber in the Torres Strait has reopened for the first time in 20 years thanks to a concerted conservation and stock restoration effort ... Torres Strait Islanders will have exclusive access rights to black teatfish, which is estimated to be worth $380,000 to the local economy.

Once common across the region, Eel Tailed Catfish had essentially disappeared from our waterways, with only small populations found in isolated bodies of water such as dams and lakes. As luck would have it, Australia’s most genetically diverse population of catfish was right on our door step, in the Barham Lakes.

A record 1.28 million Murray Cod have been produced and stocked in the Narrandera Fisheries Centre during the past year. Minister for Agriculture, Tara Moriarty, said a record number of fingerlings had now been released at more than 50 sites across the State, including Blowering, Burrendong and Copeton dams, as part of the NSW Government’s Native Fish Stocking Program.

The DPIRD researchers are working with commercial rock lobster and crab fishers to deploy and retrieve high tech cameras that film the marine environment and fish on their way down to the seabed as well as record the water temperature on the ocean floor ... DPIRD said by the middle of this year, more than 30 of the so-called POTBots will be deployed off Western Australia...

After 74 years’ service and millions of tonnes of seafood processed the Clarence River Fishermen’s Co Operative has listed its River Street Maclean premises for sale. Clarence River Fishermen’s Co Operative CRFC Chief Executive Officer Danielle Adams said the Co-Op was formed in 1945, and by 1949 it was established in the former premises of the Maclean Cooperative Dairy Company, where it has continued to trade for the past 74 years.

A fishing season for a high value sea cucumber in the Torres Strait has reopened for the first time in 20 years thanks to a concerted conservation and stock restoration effort ... Torres Strait Islanders will have exclusive access rights to black teatfish, which is estimated to be worth $380,000 to the local economy.

Around 200 Murray crayfish have been released into the river as part of a landmark trial to reintroduce the iconic Australian species back into the South Australian River Murray ... "The Murray crayfish release in South Australia would not have been possible without the rescue efforts of OzFish volunteers during the upstream black-water event, and North-West Aquaculture and Nature Glenelg Trust for maintaining them in captivity," said Darren Willis, Team Leader Wetlands at the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board.

White Spot virus has been detected in a third Palmers Island prawn farm leaving around 50 prawn trawler owners staring down the barrel of a two-year extension on the control order preventing them from removing any green prawns from the Clarence River. For an industry already on its knees after no income for the past 16 weeks due to the current control order, this third detection on April 21 on a prawn farm on North Bank Road spells further problems.

Just like on other tropical reefs, corals in the LHIMP undertake synchronised mass spawning each year, releasing millions of tiny egg and sperm bundles into the water. This allows fertilisation to take place, resulting in coral larvae with new genetic combinations which can settle back on to the reef and enhance its diversity and resilience.

The Clarence River Fishermen’s Co-Operative faces losing one third of its annual income due to the ban on commercial fishing in the Clarence River following the detection of the white spot virus at Palmers Island prawn farms ... On Monday April 17, Federal Member for Page, Kevin Hogan and State Member for Clarence, Richie Williamson called on the Federal and State Labor Governments to provide immediate financial assistance to the Clarence commercial fishing and aquaculture industry.