It is unfortunate that newspapers are sometimes used to promote corporate messaging regarding the health of marine systems and the impact commercial fishing might have on the marine environment. It is unclear whether commercial fishers were contacted regarding the reports to obtain another perspective on the health of the harbour. The Gladstone Observer’s article published on Tuesday 13 February 2018 raises significant questions about the real health of Gladstone harbour versus the public relations documents titled ‘Gladstone Harbour Report Cards’ posing as realistic assessments of harbour health.

Is the baseline for analysis of the harbour’s health a pre-2011 baseline? If not, the health of the harbour is being assessed against a post-2011 baseline when the harbour was under severe development pressure.

Is what is being reported regarding mudcrabs what you might expect to see? The mudcrab fishery is well managed and what is being reported is what you would expect. It seems people are leaving the female mudcrabs alone to maximise spawning success. In the reality, the recruitment of mudcrabs to the fishery is what matters, and while this is maximised by the number of female crabs, overall recruitment of mudcrabs would be much less than expected using a 1970’s/80’s baseline, given so much mangrove habitat has been destroyed by developments in the harbour.

It could be argued that the healthy waterways survey methods do not measure the actual underlying restriction on the productivity of the fishery (e.g. area of suitable mangrove habitat and larval/juvenile mudcrab survival), because these are adversely affected by port development and the reduced water quality that comes with that. It is generally understood that the fisheries habitat in the port have been degraded due to development.

Finally, it might also be argued that the reports provide a biased/shifted ecosystem health baseline. If compared to a proper baseline from say 30-40 years ago, the harbour’s health metrics would fail in virtually all aspects. It would great to see reporting that digs a little deeper than regurgitating report card data.

Gladstone Observer: ‘REVEALED: How healthy Gladstone’s Harbour really is’, 13 February 2018 by Tegan Annett.

Gladstone Harbour Report Card 2017

Author: Eric Perez, CEO – Queensland Seafood Industry Association

Image Credit: K. Harris

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