Commercial fishers from one of Queensland's most productive Spanish mackerel fishing grounds fear mismanagement has cost them their future, but the state government insists no decisions have been made.
Fisheries Queensland this week outlined options including drastic cuts to catchable quota and bag limits in response to a damning stock assessment which estimated the East Coast Spanish mackerel fishery had reached a critically low level of 17 per cent of its un-fished biomass.
It's caused a huge backlash from the commercial and recreational fishing sectors, with some unconvinced by the science.
"I've got no confidence in it at all," said Trevor Purkis, who has been fishing out of the port of Lucinda in north Queensland since 1971.
"I think it's a forgone conclusion — for some reason they just want to get rid of us out of the marine park.
'It's our way of life'
Proposals in a discussion paper released this week include reducing total allowable commercial catch (TACC); full or partial closures of the mackerel fishery; revised recreational limits; adjustments to minimum size limits; and better collection of recreational fishing data.
Lisa Putzka and her husband Walter also fish commercially out of Lucinda, near Ingham, which is identified as the region where approximately 40 per cent of the state's commercial harvest is caught during Spanish mackerel spawning aggregations each year.
"It's our way of life. When the weather comes good, we go fishing," Ms Putzka said.
"The season is when we can make the bulk of our money, but my biggest concern is that (Fisheries Queensland) haven't actually managed it properly.
"I do think there might be an issue with hyperstability of the Spanish mackerel out there."
Former fisheries researcher, commercial fisher and seafood retailer Andrew Tobin said hyperstability meant a fish species was easily targeted by fishers because of its predictable aggregating behaviour.
"Spanish mackerel are very predictable in time and place," Dr Tobin said.
"You can keep catching reasonable numbers of fish, even though the population in the background is diminishing."
Writing on the wall
Dr Tobin said he had examined the stock assessment released by Fisheries Queensland and it was "solid research and modelling".
He said fault for the disappearing fish stocks, and ultimately the bleak future of the commercial fishers who rely on them, lay solely with the government.
"The writing's been on the wall for a while," he said.
"There's been a breakdown in communications, or probably more clearly a lack of communication, between the management department at Queensland Fisheries over probably the last 10 or 15 years about the true state of the fishery.
Fisheries Queensland executive director Dallas D'Silva defended the fishery's management and the science which underpinned the latest stock assessment.
He said the assessment, completed with an improved methodology to those done previously, had been independently reviewed and deemed scientifically sound.
"We've actually had four years of further fishing pressure since the previous assessment was done, so it's quite reasonable and expectable to come up with a different result and a new figure of 17 per cent," Mr D'Silva said.
'Empty words'
Fisheries Queensland maintains no decisions have been made yet about which management actions it will take to rebuild stock levels.
"Doing nothing is not an option and would go against the fundamental principles of the Queensland Sustainable Fisheries Strategy: 2017 – 2027," the discussion paper stated.
Ms Putzka said those were empty words to commercial mackerel fishers who have had few interventions or regulatory measures put in place since Green Zones were introduced to Great Barrier Reef fishing grounds in 2004.
"They've been doing nothing for a long time," she said.
"For us to be shut down in the space of one year, that's our life.
"Walter's been fishing since he was 17. He's got no tickets to do anything else, so what do we do?"
Mr Purkis has saved enough to retire if management actions make it financially unviable to keep fishing, but his love of "the game" will keep him fighting.
"It's a way of life, I've always done it and I've been going out there for 40-odd years," he said.
"I like catching them, I like cutting them up and I like the money — it's all likes."
A draft harvest strategy for the East Coast Spanish mackerel fishery is due to be released in May.
