Throughout 2008, AMCS was in negotiation with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries to stop shark fishing along the Queensland coastline, including the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.
The fishery at the heart of our World Heritage Shark Campaign is the Queensland East Coast Inshore Finfish Fishery. During 2000-2004 shark fishing in Queensland increased four-fold. This fishery peaked at around 1400 tonnes (about 175,000 sharks) per year, but has more recently caught around 900 tonnes of shark a year (about 112,000 sharks). The drop is thought to be caused by a decline in shark populations - however the management regime of this fishery is so poor that the cause cannot be confirmed.
AMCS and our supporters are outraged that in an age where shark populations are collapsing around the globe, our own governments allow our World Heritage sharks to be killed, in part to service the international trade in shark fin.
With an unprecedented surge of public support, we pressed the Queensland and Australian Governments to ban shark fishing along the Queensland coastline, particularly within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. In response the Queensland Government has committed to reducing the total annual catch from 900 to 600 tonnes. Whilst the catch has been reduced, this still means that the government will allow 75,000 World Heritage sharks to be killed in 2009.
In addition to the catch reduction, the Australian Government has placed conditions on the fishery, such as the requirement of a robust observer program, catch validation and monitoring and an annual management review. Other requirements by the state government include a commitment to investigate further compliance measures to detect illegal finning at sea.
While this represents some progress, the fishery remains completely unacceptable. AMCS will continue to press Government to make sure - as a minimum - the conditions are being met by this shark fishery. To see the restrictions placed upon the operation of this fishery by the Federal Government click here.
AMCS developed a package of practical and feasible changes in consultation with the Queensland Government. If implemented, they would have reduced shark landings from 900 tonnes to less than 150 tonnes of non-target, or bycatch landings only within four years. Our proposal would have phased out targeted shark fishing in this fishery in the near future. This remains our goal and the campaign continues.
AMCS strongly believes that sharks should not be targeted at all. Global fisheries agencies have yet to prove that sharks can be fished sustainably anywhere on the planet. Australia, with our flourishing ecotourism industry and wide blue jurisdiction must take leadership on the issue of shark conservation. Otherwise sharks will be swept away in the next wave of global extinction for our oceans.
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Send a letter to the Hon Peter Garrett, AM, MP, Australia's Environment Minister by clicking here. |