MEDIA RELEASE Rockhampton and Capricorn Coast Survey sheds light on fish availability

Findings from a recently completed survey of the availability of fresh fish through 44 different outlets across Rockhampton and the Capricorn Coast have raised serious questions about claims that people across Queensland would lose access to fresh fish if proposed Net Free Areas went ahead. Nathan Johnston, a spokesperson for Nets Out Queensland Campaign said “We knew that the claims of fish disappearing from the shelf were dubious, but even we were a bit surprised at the results” “Of the 18 supermarkets, clubs, pubs and taverns surveyed, no fresh fish product was offered for sale that was identified as being sourced from the proposed new Net Free Area”. “Of the 14 fish and chip stores surveyed, there was only one instance of fish being for sale identified as being sourced from the proposed Net Free Area.” “Of the 10 restaurants surveyed, only 2 had fresh fish product offered for sale potentially being sourced from the proposed Net Free Area.” Mr Johnston said. “If a customer wanted to source fresh fish from the local areas it appears the retail specialist seafood outlets are the place to go, with the two establishments surveyed both offering fish sourced from the proposed Net Free Area at the time of survey, but they also offered a range of fish species for sale sourced from areas outside the proposed new Net Free Areas.” Rockhampton and Capricorn Coast are directly adjacent to the largest of the 3 proposed Net Free Areas. It is also the area that produces 250 of 319 tonne of the fish netted from the three areas combined. “With Rockhampton and Capricorn coast being directly adjacent to the most productive of the three net free areas, we were expecting to see a lot more local product being offered for sale than was actually the case”. “The reality was that only one in nine instances of fish being offered for sale potentially came from the proposed net free area” “One can expect that this low prevalence of fresh local fish would slip back even further as you move away from adjacent areas.’ Mr Johnston said. Only 319 of over 10,500 tonne of Queensland’s total fish catch and production is currently sourced using gill nets in the three proposed net free areas. At the national level, these areas only account for 0.2% of Australia’s 163,811 tonnes total annual fish catch and production. The survey data also revealed that a significant segment of the market is seeking out high quality Australian farmed products like Atlantic salmon, which was available from 25% of all outlets surveyed. For the last decade Australians have been enjoying fresh farmed fish like barramundi and Atlantic salmon produced in aquaculture facilities across Australia. This has led to major and continuing expansion in the industry to help meet demand. “Our survey has found that closing three small sections to commercial netting will not result in the disappearance of fish from our shops. Queensland’s coastline extends almost 7,000 kilometres, most of which would remain open to commercial gill netting operations.” Mr Johnston said “We are deeply concerned about a recent disallowance motion tabled by LNP” “This motion aims to block regulations that would have led to the introduction of these net free areas” “A petition developed to bring about this disallowance motion was based on the availability of fresh fish and we are concerned the people of Queensland are forming their opinions on misleading information.” Nets Out Queensland campaign believe this may only be the tip of the iceberg, when it comes to recent claims and encourages members of the community, the media and politicians to carefully scrutinise the survey and other information on the matter and judge for themselves where the truth lies. The full report is available at www.netsoutqld.org ENDS Media Contact: Nathan Johnston Nets Out Queensland Campaign Spokesperson 0400221055