The Australian Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries has reached a milestone this year with its Commercial Fisheries Information System or CFISH , clocking up 20 years of operations.
Minister for Primary industries and Fisheries, Tim Mulherin, said since starting in 1988, more than 10 million records outlining commercial fishing activity and catch in Queensland had been entered into the CFISH system through commercial fishing logbooks.
"The first logbooks were issued in January 1988 to the commercial industry which at that stage totalled some 2000 operators,'' Mr Mulherin said.
"When the program began just two logbooks were used by the industry - one for otter trawl fishery and one for all the other fisheries.
"Now some 1600 commercial operators are required to fill out logbooks covering 20 different fisheries throughout Queensland.
"The logbooks record daily fishing locations, catch by species and types of fishing gear used by each boat operating in the fishery."
Facts gleaned from this information includes:
• The total value of Queensland managed fisheries is just over $200 million
• The total seafood catch in 2006-07 was 25,000 tonnes
• The top three species in catch were: king prawns at 2700 tonnes, scallops at 3000 tonnes and mullet at 1300 tonnes
• The top three species in value were king prawns at about $32 million, coral trout at $29 million and tiger prawns at $26 million
CFISH manager Lew Williams said information was used extensively by the industry and the Government to assess the condition of Queensland's fisheries and in developing fisheries management plans to ensure future sustainability.
"The information also feeds into national statistics and provides information such as the value of individual species, fisheries and the industry as a whole in Queensland,'' Mr Williams said.
"The program has expanded to such an extent that it is now one of the most comprehensive fisheries information systems in Australia.''
