Gillnet fishing on Australia’s Nice Barrier Reef is to be phased out inside 4 years as a part of a multi-million greenback conservation package deal.
The nets cling vertically within the water, trapping fish by their gills. However they arrive with a heavy bycatch toll, indiscriminately snaring dugongs, dolphins, turtles and threatened sharks.
After years of campaigning by conservation teams, the federal and Queensland governments have introduced a AU$160m (£86) plan to ban them by mid-2027. The fund can be used to purchase out current industrial gillnet licences, with the bulk shelved by the tip of the yr. In the meantime, hammerhead sharks can be declared off-limits for industrial fishers.
Dermot O’Gorman, CEO of Worldwide Fund for Nature Australia, mentioned: “If all goes to plan, by June 2027 we’ll have a net-free reef the place dugongs, turtles, dolphins and different threatened species can swim with out the specter of turning into entangled and drowning in a gillnet, and that’s a trigger for world celebration.”
Picture: Daniel Pelaez Duque
