Fishers To Stop Clowning With Nemo's Habitat

December 20, 2007

Release from: Padraic Murphy
The Australian

North Queensland commercial aquarium fishers are still able to find Nemo, but now they'll have to leave him alone.

Under a groundbreaking voluntary agreement between commercial operators and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the sought-after clown fish and anemones will no longer be caught at reefs off Keppel Island, near Rockhampton.

Lyle Squire, a commercial fisher and industry representative whose family has run aquariums in Cairns and fished the reef since the 1960s, said the moratorium was a precautionary measure to allow habitats, affected by coral bleaching, the best chance to recover.

The agreement was reached after several outbreaks of coral bleaching on reefs near Keppel Island reduced the numbers of sea anemones in which the fish lived and threatened the valuable tourist industry.

"We recognise the importance of these fish to the tourism industry," Mr Squire said.

"People come from all over the world to snorkel the Keppels, so we are happy to exercise our stewardship and stop taking clown fish from those reefs."

Although most clown fish sold in aquariums were bred in captivity, their popularity, particularly overseas, meant Queensland's 30 or so commercial aquarium fishers still caught them in the wild.

"There is a real worry that, because of climate change, they will become less common on the reef and that will be a tragedy, not just for us, but for all users of the reef," Mr Squire said.

The agreement to protect wild clown fish has been welcomed by the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

"This strategy is an important step towards effective co-management of this small but economically valuable fishery," department spokeswoman Brigid Kerrigan said.

"We will continue to work with the industry to achieve the best outcomes for sustainability and economic productivity."

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said voluntary agreements between government and commercial operators would help protect the reef from climate change, which some experts say could destroy the reef in decades.

"(This agreement) forms part of a wider strategy to adapt to the effects of climate change," the authority's Bruce Wallner said.

"Such an initiative is probably a world first in addressing this growing problem."

Under the agreement, commercial aquarium fishers will collect data about fish populations and provide the information to state authorities.