A group representing fishermen in south-east Australia says it will be forced to stop cooperating with offshore wind projects in Bass Strait if shark fishing is further restricted in marine parks.
The South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association, which represents fishermen and sellers in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, said it was concerned about a ban on the practice.
It comes as a new South-east Marine Parks Network Management Plan is drafted.
The current plan, which expired last month but is active until the new plan is finalised, allows some shark fishing within mixed-use zones in marine parks.
“Our concern is shark fishing with hooks and gill nets and that that will be stopped in some of these marine parks,” trawl fishing association chief executive Simon Boag said.
“It’s allowed in some, but [the environment minister] might choose to disallow it in those marine parks.”
He said his industry was “trying really hard” to work with wind farm proponents to find a solution.
“But what we don’t have space for is wind farms and fishing and more marine park impacts,” he said.
The South East Marine Park Network includes 13 marine parks, covering more than 226,000 square kilometres.
Mr Boag said limiting flake fisheries would reduce the catch, making it more difficult for fisheries to pay government levies that funded research and management.
“So it’s lost 90 per cent of the fishing grounds it had to marine parks and fishery closures and other things like oil and gas and other activities,” he said.
He said fishers could lose 4,000 square kilometres of shark fishing grounds in Gippsland because of wind farms.