Fisheries & Ecosystem Management

Under offshore constitutional settlement between the Australian States and the Australian Government, the management of fisheries within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is the responsibility of the Queensland Government through the Queensland Primary Industries and Fisheries.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), in its aim to protect the natural qualities of the Great Barrier Reef while providing for reasonable use of the Region, contributes to fisheries management through the use of management zones which restrict fishing activities, and also through involvement in fisheries management planning conducted by the Queensland Government.

GBRMPA recognises that the harvesting of fisheries resources is an important and reasonable use of the Marine Park and consistent with use of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. However, it also acknowledges that fishing affects target species, non-target species and their habitats and consequently has the potential for producing ecological effects in both the fished areas and the reef system as a whole. The GBRMPA is working to ensure that all fishing activities in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area are ecologically sustainable.

Through collaboration with fisheries management agencies and stakeholders, the GBRMPA seeks to:

Minimise ecological impact through the restriction, cessation or mandatory adoption of new technologies to minimise ecological damage of those fishing activities that can be judged, using the best available information, to be significantly damaging the ecosystems
Establish a comprehensive system of protected areas that are representative of the complex range of ecological communities found in the Marine Park (Representative Areas)
Ensure adequate monitoring and assessment are undertaken to determine the impacts of fishing activities and the status of harvested stocks, non-target species and the ecosystems on which they depend
Undertake and sponsor research designed to quantify the ecological impact of fishing activities judged to be ecologically damaging
Ensure that ecologically sustainable fishing activities are managed in a way that is maintained in perpetuity.

The GBRMPA aims to ensure understanding of, and compliance with the management regimes in the Great Barrier Reef Region through public information and education programs and the adoption of satellite monitoring and communications technology.

The GBRMPA is developing ongoing and effective communications with, stakeholders associated with fisheries in the entire World Heritage Area. These stakeholders include commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishers, conservation groups, other community groups and government agencies.

With the increasing national and global demand for fish resources, an increasing population with more leisure time and appreciation of resource use by Indigenous fishers, it is important to develop a strategic approach to the management of commercial, recreational and Indigenous fishing in order to achieve ecological sustainability.

Climate change represents one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef. The consequences of climate change impacts on the industries and communities that rely on a healthy Reef, including fisheries, could be significant. The GBRMPA and the Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA) have formed a partnership to address climate change in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The partnership was formed to meet some key objectives under the Great Barrier Reef Climate Change Action Plan and aims to help the fishing industry "future-proof" itself to be able to adapt to, and mitigate against, the impacts of future change (including climate change). The project is summarised in the QSIA/GBRMPA Climate Change and Fisheries Partnership Project Bulletin.