MORE end of the world stories for barra consumers based around the Queensland
government’s decision to continue the phase out of gill netting in that state.
As usual, facts get lost in the reporting. For instance, already 60% of the barra eaten in Australia
comes from overseas. Of the local product, more is farmed than wild caught. And, anecdotally, some of the barra you think you’re eating is really mis-labelled Nile perch.
So maybe it’s time for brave decision making re our wild barra generally. Of around 300 tonnes harvested in Australia each year, about two-thirds came from Queensland. NT amateur fishers are already emboldened by the Queensland decision and are pushing for a similar gill net ban in the Territory. More power to them. Here’s a couple of case studies in support, one local and one from the USA.
A 2023 WWF-commissioned report co-authored by Queensland’s former chief scientist looked at the effects of creating three gill net-free zones in late 2015. In the Fitzroy River, the average length of barra increased by 23%, from 50.4cm to 61.9cm. Threadfin increased by 24%, from 63.1cm to 78.4cm. Before the net-free zone, 2% of threadies caught were over 1m in length. Since the zones, 63% exceeded 1m. Locals reckon the removal has been a tremendous outcome for both them and fishing tourists. Catches of 1.2m barra and 1.5m threadies are being reported regularly. In the last year of commercial fishing in the Fitzroy, 2015, 85.6 tonnes of barra and 56.1 tonnes of threadfin
were netted.
In the USA, there’s a fish that’s similarly revered as our barra is here. Related to our jewfish species, the redfish or red drum was hammered commercially until regulators recognised its value as a gamefish and made it recreational only in many states. The red drum grows to around 1.5m and 45kg. The Gulf of Mexico’s federal waters are a complete no-take zone. Key red drum fishing states including Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas all have either no, or a greatly reduced, commercial red drum fisheries.
Anglers have tight bag and size limits, typically from one to five fish each in slots from 36cm to 76cm, depending on which states you’re fishing in. All the big breeding fish must be released. Since the commercial closures started in the late 1970’s, stocks have recovered well.
Red drum are being farmed in the USA to take up the loss of availability of wild caught fish. But if our barra farmers are worried about 60% of our product being imported, it’s reported that container loads of red drum come into the USA from Asia each year. In the early 1990s, Texas provided Taiwan with red drum fry. The Taiwanese are great at aquaculture. They bred fish successfully and subsequently exported fry and fingerlings all over Asia. China now produces twenty times as much red drum as the USA.