The Fisheries Department says some of Australia’s Northern Territory’s most prized species have been overfished and it could be forced to introduce tighter bag limits or even close some areas.
Department researchers have found Golden Snapper stocks have dropped to 20 per cent of their previously surveyed levels and jewfish are on the cusp of being classified as overfished.
Aquatic resources director Brian McDonald says the department is looking at options to address the problem, including reducing bag limits and introducing seasonal or permanent closures.
He says there is an urgent need to reduce the Golden Snapper catch by about 30 per cent across the board.
“The reality is we do have a problem and need to get on with changing possession limits, looking at new possession limits and, most critically, change behaviour,” he said.
“If we can get those right, if we can get possession limits in place and we can get recreational fishers to change how they do their bit, then hopefully we can avoid going down the path of closures.
“Possession limits will do a little bit.
“The thing that we can do that will make the biggest change is for the practice of recreational fishers to move on to fish in shallow water so they’re not injuring the fish so much when they pull them up from the bottom, and to move on when they have caught enough for a feed.”
2012 ABC