IT seems a knee jerk reaction by the NSW Agriculture Minister last year to ban fishing for blue groper in NSW is coming to a head with the media hot on the trail to see if this ban will end and what did it achieve.
The Recreational Fishing Alliance of NSW has always said that the blue groper stock is sustainable and the biomass of blue groper is stable and fishing pressure is very low and that a lock-out was based on emotion and not science.
We are now finding out that research conducted in conjunction with Fisheries was not even shared with the stakeholders, rather possibly leaked to the media after a year of silence from the Minister.
The ABC report below reinforces what we all knew to begin with, fishing pressure was not to blame, more likely it was easy to ban fishing as its always been low hanging fruit to appease a misinformed public.
“Numbers of eastern blue groper — the state fish of New South Wales — have halved around the Sydney coast since 2008, and are in decline at shallow inshore reefs along the entire NSW coast.
But populations of the groper (Achoerodus viridis) are more stable at reefs in cool deep water and strongest along the southern coast, according to a study published in Marine and Freshwater Research.
Its findings suggest shifts in eastern blue groper abundance, estimated using diver surveys and baited camera footage from 2008 to 2023, could be driven by warming oceans due to climate change”
This ban on the take of groper that was implemented 12 months ago is not how stakeholders expect modern fisheries management to operate and why the Alliance is pushing to legislate a recreational fishing authority that must be consulted before such decisions are made. A full and independent review of the NSW Fisheries Management Act 1994 is also needed immediately based on how the Groper lock out was initiated. The Act is an outdated piece of legislation that’s has been cobbled together over the years and is not fit for purpose.
The Alliance also has a current Freedom of Information request in with the Department looking for additional information and is also now pursuing a case to review all fines issued relating to groper since the ban was imposed and depending on the offence, the fine revenue to be refunded.
We need to stop this lockout immediately and fix the issues in NSW that allows knee jerk and emotive decisions based on feelings and has fishers in NSW asking, what fish is next… snapper or kingfish?
Key points from the study shared with the Alliance
- Data collected from 43 survey sites showed no evidence of overall decline across the species’ range.
- Blue groper are not disappearing—they are likely shifting habitat due to temperature changes or other environmental factors.
- The eastern blue groper is one of the most protected fish species in NSW, with regulations dating back over 50 years:
- If groper populations were truly declining, we would expect to see evidence of recruitment failure—which has not been demonstrated in scientific assessments.
- The claim that groper are “declining” is often based on anecdotal observations rather than comprehensive data.
- A reported decrease in shallow reef numbers in some areas (e.g., around Sydney) does not reflect the total population.
- Marine life is dynamic—fish move in response to temperature, habitat changes, and food availability.
- If groper were truly in decline, we would expect to see: Declining juvenile numbers (not observed); decreasing biomass over multiple decades (not supported by data); increased fishing pressure (not happening)
Instead, what we are seeing is a shift in habitat use, not a species in decline.
Without a consistent multi-decade dataset, any claims of “decline” remain speculative at best.
Eastern blue groper are not in decline—they are shifting habitat use, with populations remaining stable in deeper waters.
Long-term protections have prevented overfishing, meaning their numbers are not threatened by human exploitation.
Natural variability in recruitment and seasonal movements explain localised fluctuations.
No broad ecological signals support the idea of a collapse.
The argument that groper are in decline is not supported by hard data. Localised changes do not equate to a species-wide trend, and deeper reef populations remain strong. This is a classic case of misinterpreting short-term, site-specific data as a larger issue when no real evidence supports it.
