Promoting the Protection and Conservation of Queensland’s Inshore Flats and Coastal Fisheries
The Inshore Flats Project is a collective of industry professionals, local businesses, fishing guides, lodge owners, filmmakers, scientists, fish biologists, writers, and passionate recreational anglers united by a shared commitment to protecting Queensland’s inshore flats. We stand firmly opposed to the proposed new tunnel net fishery being trialled by Fisheries Queensland and the Department of Primary Industries along the World Heritage listed Great Barrier Reef coastline.
The Tunnel Net Threat
Did you know that the QLD Government is trialling tunnel nets as new commercial fishing gear on the coastal flats of beaches, bays and foreshores (‘flats’) in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area?
Most people have no idea.
With wings spanning up to 1.6km, tunnel nets are set on coastal flats and indiscriminately trap everything moving across.
The wings are huge - more than 130 buses parked bumper to bumper.
Imagine closing every lane of a major highway during peak-hour and funnelling all traffic into a single dead-end to be processed for market — that’s how tunnel nets operate for fish moving with the tide.
From our iconic sportfish - Giant Trevally, Golden Trevally and Permit - through to bread and butter species, algae-sucking milkfish, and baitfish like the humble biddie. All can be removed, by the thousands, from shallow inshore waters, including juvenile fish nursery areas. The only fish that escape are any tiny fish that manage to pass through the small mesh gaps without injury.
Among many problems, tunnel nets can disrupt natural movement paths and food webs, remove breeding size fish, injure or kill juvenile fish, harm megafauna like turtles and dugong, and reduce or deplete the local fish stocks that supports Queensland’s world-class recreational fishery.
Allowing a new commercial tunnel net fishery in Central & North Queensland will also seriously threaten the long-term ecological health of our inshore flats with ripple effects in adjacent waters like rivers, estuaries, mangroves and islands.
Healthy flats underpin a healthy fishery. And healthy fisheries underpin local communities - recreational fishing, tourism, small businesses and regional jobs.
The time has come to draw a line in the sand and state the obvious: 1.6 km long nets have no place on QLD’s beaches, bays and foreshores. Especially in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and sensitive Dugong Protection Areas.
That’s why we are calling on:
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The Queensland Government to take tunnel nets off the table as a new commercial fishing gear in Central & Nth QLD. There is now enough trial data to see that tunnel nets are the wrong fit.
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The Federal Government to ensure our federal laws are not weakened to allow a new tunnel net fishery to be established within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
97% of the tunnel net trial catch was “by-product” and “by-catch” with lower value, or no value, as seafood. Starting a new tunnel net fishery for low value species like Permit (Snub nose Dart) & Trevally using 1.6 km long nets along our sensitive inshore flats makes no sense. No modern fishery should be managed this way, especially within a World Heritage Property.
How You Can Support the Project
There are several meaningful ways visitors and supporters can get involved:
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Follow our social media @theinshoreflatsproject (Instagram and Facebook) and subscribe to our newsletter (below) to stay informed.
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Share our message across your own social media, to help get others involved.
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Email Ministers or submit feedback during public consultations periods. We’ll let you know when and how through our social media and newsletter.
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Support responsible fishing practices and encourage others to do the same.
Together, we can protect these remarkable ecosystems and ensure Queensland’s inshore flats remain a treasure for generations to come.