The Great Barrier Reef : An Environmental History by Daley Ben

Author:Daley, Ben [Daley, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1744127
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2015-10-10T20:11:24+00:00

Figure 8.2 A large stingray captured in the Great Barrier Reef, c. 1930. Source: Negative No. 44419, Historical Photographs Collection, John Oxley Library, Brisbane

In part, however, the success of the fishermen could be attributed to fishing methods which are now regarded as unsustainable, such as the blocking of creek mouths using fishing nets, which was a practice recommended by Boyd Lee. Another destructive practice was the shooting of fish in rocky pools on coral reefs, using pea-rifles, which was advocated by Northman (1933, p39) at Magnetic Island.

By 1939, the resources of the Great Barrier Reef fisheries were no longer perceived as being unlimited, and restrictions on the pelagic fisheries had been introduced. On 20 July 1939, an Order in Council prohibited ‘the taking of all or any kind of fish as defined by those Acts in any Queensland waters specified in the Order’; those restrictions were enacted under The Fish and Oyster Acts, 1914 to 1935.6 Subsequently, reports of damage to fish populations were received by the Queensland Department of Fisheries. One example of destruction concerned the sardine stocks at Green Island, which were reported to be experiencing increasing pressure as the number of visitors to the resort increased. In 1941, the lessees of that cay, Hayles Magnetic Pty Ltd, complained about the destruction of sardines at Green Island.7 The company stated:

We would like to stop the destruction of sardines which visit the shores of Green Island in large shoals, and [are] an attraction for tourists. It has been known people throwing cast-nets from the jetty will catch ¾ of a sugar bag of sardines in one cast. After this happening for a month or so the sardines disappear for from three to twelve months. We would not like to stop people securing sufficient bait for fishing while they were on the Island, but to fill cases and bags of sardines to take away should be stopped.8

The Queensland Chief Inspector of Fisheries responded to this complaint, reiterating that the use of cast nets was illegal throughout Queensland; the caretaker at Green Island, W. D. Scott, who was also a Queensland Honorary Inspector of Fisheries, was instructed to seize cast nets under Section 44 (1) (d) of The Fish and Oyster Acts.9

If the increasing exploitation of the Great Barrier Reef fisheries had become a cause for concern by the end of the 1930s, the intensity of fishing in these waters nevertheless increased in the subsequent decades: that increase was a consequence of the economic importance of the commercial fisheries to the development of the State. In addition, the significance of charter operations for fishing parties increased. For example, the charter fishing industry expanded during the 1960s, stimulated by the growth of the black marlin (Makaira indicus) fishing industry; that industry commenced in 1966 in the waters between Cairns and Lizard Island (Dodds, 2004).

Another type of fishing that grew in popularity between 1930 and the 1960s – with severe consequences for reef fish populations – was spearfishing. This activity was controversial since

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