FISHING trawlers licensed by the federal government are threatening the numbers of King George whiting in Port Phillip and Western Port bays, according to the Futurefish Foundation.
The foundation’s chairman Michael Buxton says the trawlers’ catch breeding-sized whiting off Wilsons Promontory could lead to fewer fish available to recreational fishers in the bays and 18 commercial fishers at Corner Inlet.
Buxton says he twice wrote to Flinders MP Greg Hunt who passed on his concerns to federal Fisheries Minister Jonathon Duniam “who replied he was not prepared to change anything”.
Buxton says he has also expressed his concerns to the Liberal Party’s candidate for Hunt’s seat, Zoe McKenzie.
“Our concerns are falling on deaf ears at Commonwealth level,” Buxton said. “Even the Victorian fisheries minister has raised concerns with her counterpart in Canberra and is receiving the same inaction we are.” He said the Victorian catch was permitted despite King George whiting being off the menu for Commonwealth trawlers in South Australia and Tasmania.
The Futurefish Foundation describes itself as a “fearless watchdog” for recreational fishers and counts bans of commercial netting in Port Phillip and Western Port among its victories. It backs the installation of artificial reefs, including to be placed within weeks on the seabed near Point Nepean (“Artificial reef stirs environmental anger” The News 7/3/22).
Buxton said little was known about where King George whiting breed in Victoria “other than that small larvae drift into our bays from the ocean and then settle in seagrass”.
The juvenile whiting lived in Port Phillip until they were about four years old before heading into the ocean.
“Victorian fisheries scientists rarely find a breeding whiting in the bay, but they don’t know exactly where they go to breed,” he said.
“That is why we are concerned that the Commonwealth trawlers are targeting the breeders off Wilsons Promontory.
“They take tonnes of large breeding fish in a very short period once a year when they are easily targeted as they aggregate and get ready to spawn.”
Buxton said he wanted Hunt and McKenzie to commit to stopping the targeting of the breeders “but, so far, they are not doing anything”.
“The Liberal federal government must act now or they will have King George whiting blood on their hands if the small fish stop coming into our bays and the fishing for whiting becomes depleted,” he said.
“Hunt and McKenzie should be concerned as it will affect many thousands of their constituents as well as the whole of Victoria’s recreational anglers and seafood consumers”.
McKenzie did not respond when asked to comment.
First published in the Mornington News – 17 May 2022
