Unsustainable fishing worsens threats to Great Barrier Reef

Unsustainable fishing worsens threats to Great Barrier Reef

Source: the guardian

9/4/2020

Under-regulated fishing along the Great Barrier Reef is putting the world’s biggest coral reef system at further risk as it deals with repeated mass bleaching events, the Australia government’s marine park authority has found.

Conservationists and recreational fishing groups have told Guardian Australia the Queensland government’s rollout of major fisheries reforms, designed to tackle the issues along the reef, has stalled.

Some recreational fishers have walked away from government-run working groups in frustration, saying they will not rejoin until the state government passes new regulations to cap the amounts and types of fish that can be caught.

Queensland’s fisheries minister, Mark Furner, said the government remained committed to the reforms and they were still “on track”.

The Great Barrier Reef has seen three major outbreaks of coral bleaching in the past five years – events driven by climate heating that can kill and weaken corals and severely disturb the ecosystem.