Great Barrier Reef Gillnet Ban Countdown: How Small Fishing Communities in North Queensland Are Pushed to Closure by "Environmental Promises"

Great Barrier Reef Gillnet Ban Countdown: How Small Fishing Communities in North Queensland Are Pushed to Closure by "Environmental Promises"

According to ABC News, less than nine months remain before the full ban on gillnets in the Great Barrier Reef takes effect on July 1, 2027, but the alternative fishing gear promised by state and federal governments three years ago has yet to be delivered to fishers, and compensation negotiations for downstream small seafood retailers have not yet commenced. In North Queensland, some families reliant on local gillnet catches face the reality of being forced to shut down.

Peter Bradford, who runs a seafood shop in Alford, told ABC News that his store supplies local seafood to about 150 families each week. He said bluntly: "Removing gillnet catches amounts to cutting 80 per cent of our business, and we have no choice but to close." His wife Heather Bradford added that they had previously tried to supplement stock through imports but could not compete on price with the major supermarkets, saying "that path simply does not work," and that fish-and-chip shops along the north coast would likely struggle to survive.

Neville Green, a commercial fisher at Alva Beach in South Townsville, is one of 25 NX-licensed fishers in Queensland. The NX licence is a transitional arrangement established under the 2023 state-federal framework for the phase-out of gillnets on the Great Barrier Reef, allowing fishers to continue using gillnets under strict on-board camera monitoring. But Green noted that the government's stated goal of having alternative gear in place by 2027 has fallen short: "The plan was to have alternative gear in place by 2027; this is a failure." He told ABC News that he himself could retire, but what truly concerns him is the livelihood of the next generation of fishers: "this is not about me personally, but about the next generation of fishers coming into the industry."

The failure of alternative-gear trials is leaving both fishers and downstream retailers in simultaneous uncertainty. ABC News noted that the 2023 phase-out decision was accompanied by a package of financial assistance to licensed fishers, and that the state government had led trials of alternatives such as traps and longlines over the past three years. Yet with the deadline approaching, no solution has been formally delivered to fishers.

On the political front, Opposition Shadow Minister for Northern Australia Susan McDonald supports fishers' call to extend the NX licences by three years. In an interview with ABC News, she warned that once the 2027 deadline is triggered, the reduction in local catches will further increase reliance on imports. She said: "If we let more seafood come in from overseas, we are effectively handing over seafood production to countries whose standards do not match Australia's."

The environmental camp, however, firmly opposes any extension. Simon Miller, Great Barrier Reef fisheries campaign manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), stressed in ABC News reporting that the current NX gillnet fishery still catches thousands of threatened species each year, and urged both levels of government to fully phase out gillnets in line with the commitment by 30 June 2027, while the society also supports finding genuinely sustainable alternative gear for fishers.

The critical questions of responsibility and compensation remain unresolved. Queensland Minister for Primary Industries Tony Perrett told ABC News that the department "has not yet commenced compensation negotiations with downstream small businesses affected by the ban." A spokesperson for the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water made clear that "the Australian Government does not support delaying these reforms from taking effect," but at the same time attributed fisheries management and regulatory responsibility to the state government. This division of responsibility between state and federal levels leaves small businesses and fishers caught in the policy gap with neither a transition plan in sight nor compensation arrangements forthcoming.

Looking at policy implementation, the 2023 phase-out decision has effectively passed on the cost of protecting threatened species to licensed fishers and coastal retailers reliant on local catches. With the promised alternative gear unable to be delivered on schedule and compensation negotiations yet to begin, the "environment-first" policy narrative is in effect being paid for up front by these small operators; once the threshold passes and imports fill the gap, what will be hit is the entire local seafood livelihood chain in North Queensland, from port to shopfront.