A recent ABC News article discusses a Queensland Fisheries consultation on the use and potential banning of the controversial ‘opera house’ yabby trap which is well known for also drowning turtles and platypus. Queensland remains the only state not to fully ban the use and sale of opera house nets which are used in freshwater dams and waterways to catch red claw, yabbies and shrimp.

The consultation is much broader than just whether a particular type of yabby pot should be banned – the DAF website includes:

The management reforms for consideration are:

1. recreational fishing gear changes
   1. banning opera house style traps
   2. banning lightweight crab pots, and new minimum gear specifications
2. size and possession limit changes, and new closed season
   1. separating possession limits for crimson and saddletail snapper and other considerations
   2. new black jewfish closed season
   3. increasing possession limits for black jewfish
3. expanding the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme
4. banning recreational take of coral.

To read more and have your say, please follow this link:

Recreational fishers, commercial fishers, tackle retailers and environmental groups have until May to weigh in on the Recreational fishing in Queensland: Consultation on Fishery Reforms Discussion Paper.