Queensland’s red tape blamed for recreational bait shortages

Chris Bolton, a commercial fisher based at Kurrimie Beach in northern Queensland, line fishes for wild-caught reef fish that are sold to restaurants and retail customers, as well as net fishing for bait used by recreational fishers.

Bolton said he’d been receiving endless messages asking what he would be doing about supplying bait this year.

However, he said that the overzealous Queensland Government catch monitoring was likely to spell an end to bait fishing as the costs, particularly for complying with new regulations introduced to the commercial fishing industry earlier this year, started to impact the bottom line.

“This year we'll likely be catching/supplying far less bait than in previous years. And the price will certainly [be] higher,” Bolton warned on social media.

While he attributed some of the blame for reducing the amount of bait fishing on the success of his line fishing business – it has been taking up more of his time – Bolton admitted the money was no longer there to make bait fishing viable.

“All said and done, I have been bait fishing for around $15/hr on average,” Bolton said.

“Kim (Bolton’s partner) was spending hours packing bait for roughly the same. Crew was much the same. Can anyone honestly tell me they'd work long hours, and often in unpleasant conditions, for $15/hr?

“Costs have probably near doubled since last season. So at last year's prices, the equivalent hourly rate would be even lower again.”

Bolton also criticised the Queensland Government for introducing onerous new rules and regulations that made it difficult for the business to avoid being fined.

“We have to carry logbooks in the boat at all times, and they must be filled in prior to coming back to a boat ramp,” he said. 

“Now, in a 5.0-metre open boat, quite often operating in rain, wind, and rough weather, filling out a paper logbook is virtually impossible. Get caught without the logbook filled in and I cop a fine.”

Bolton also took a shot at the new requirement for fishing boats in the state to phone Fisheries Queensland and let officials know which boat ramp they will be returning to with their catch.

“We have 24/7 satellite tracking on all boats, but still, for some unknown reason, we have to ring Fisheries Queensland every single time we go fishing and let them know locations of where we are returning to,” he said. 

“Some nights bait netting I'll come and go from two, three, sometimes four different boat ramps.”

That would mean he would have to file up to four pages of logbook and make four phone calls to Queensland Fisheries.

“Tired and busy, it would only be a matter of time before I forgot to make a call,” Bolton said.

“And because we are satellite tracked 24/7, Fisheries Queensland knows full well of where I am and what I'm doing. 

“The minute I forget or make a mistake, which is bound to happen sooner or later, I'm issued a fine and out the window goes my profit. Not only that, I get a mark against my name.”

Victorian recreational fishers face similar issues with upcoming bait shortages, but in this instance, it is the loss of pilchards sourced from Port Phillip Bay. 

A Victorian Government election promise to ban commercial netting on the bay to woo fishing votes saw the last net fishing licences torn up at the start of this month.

The closest commercial pilchard fishery to Melbourne is at the Gippsland Lakes, three hours to Port Phillip Bay’s east.