Gladstone Harbour closed to fishing pending biosecurity tests

by Media Services on 19 Sep 2011 Fisheries Queensland has put in place a temporary closure on fishing in an area centred on Gladstone Harbour while Biosecurity Queensland conducts tests to identify a condition affecting some locally-caught fish.

Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI) Director-General Ian Fletcher said some fish had been reported with cloudy eyes and lesions.

'The boundaries for the closed area are between Deception Creek at the top end of The Narrows down to Rodds Peninsula and to the outer edge of Facing Island,' he said.

'While the temporary closure is in place commercial, charter and recreational fishing, including catch and release, are not permitted but waters upstream of the Awoonga Dam wall are still open to recreational fishers.'

Initial test results are expected late next week.

Local residents reported 'hundreds' of sick fishin the Boyne River last week, just hours before news broke of the ban on fishing in Gladstone Harbour.

Gladstone Sportfishing Club president Dennis Sullivan went to the Boyne River on Thursday and saw 'hundreds of sick barra'.

'All with sores and sick and moving pretty badly,' he said, adding that there were also other species, obsviously in poor condition. 'I was a bit shocked,' he said. 'I have come across fish with sores in the past, usually after floods, but never anything like this.'

Sullivan said he would attribute the effect on the fish to the overflow of Awoonga Dam earlier this year.

The Gladstone Observer reported two local men hospitalised last week after apparently eating contaminated fish.

The Capricorn Conservation Council (CCC) says State Government agencies and industry bodies are failing to properly monitor industry pollution in central Queensland after sick fish were found in Gladstone harbour.

CCC spokesman Michael McCabe says if industry is the cause, it has the potential to affect the entire central Queensland coastline.

'We need to apply much more precautions in terms of the damage we're doing to our coastal environment,' he said.

'This is just in the Gladstone harbour and we're about to see this massive, massive expansion of the Gladstone harbour into the Fitzroy Delta and Keppel Bay. The whole coast may be totally affected if it's caused by industrial growth.'

Premier Anna Bligh said today scientists believe they can find the cause some time this week. She added that it is still too early to consider compensation for commercial fishermen in the areas affected.

For more information or to view a map of the closed area visit www.fisheries.qld.gov.au or call 13 25 23.