August 1995 Newsletter

SPEARFISHING ALONG THE REEF

Spearfishing is one of the most exciting recreational activities in coastal waters along the Great Barrier Reef. This sport requires physical fitness, skill and knowledge of fish behaviour. Spearfishing brings about very little, if any, by-catch. Compared to line fishing, few participate in spearfishing, but this sport is sometimes seen as incompatible with other user activities. Public misconceptions, described in GBRMPA `s Basis for Zoning the Cairns Section publication, are that "spearfishing is dangerous and that spearfishers can easily catch whatever they like, whenever they like," may have caused some conflicts between spearfishers and other user groups.

Unfortunately little is known about the people who enjoy this sport and their activities.

JCU postgraduate student, Seiji Nakaya, is undertaking CRC-funded research into spearfishers and spearfishing on the Reef. He is identifying the types of people who spearfish, spatial and temporal distribution of spearfishing efforts as well as catch characteristics. He is also interested in the spearfishers' motivations for participating in the sport, perceptions of their sport and conditions surrounding their activities.

Data are being gathered by means of

Spearfishing competition records were collected mainly from four spearfishing clubs adjacent to the Marine Park.

Spearfishers between Cooktown and Yeppoon were contacted through a newspaper advertisement, direct distribution of brochures to Queensland Underwater Federation members, customers of 16 diving or tackle shops and personal contact with six spearfishing clubs. Also, 64 spearfishers (25 club members and 39 non-club members) are keeping one-year logbook records of their catch.

Questionnaire surveys are under preparation. A pilot survey will be conducted shortly with members of a Townsville spearfishing club.

Analysis of competition records is nearing completion. Records held since the late 1970's consist of 240 competitions from 52 venues - totalling more than 2,400 diver days - were checked. Preliminary results indicate spearfishing efforts are decreasing since the mid-1980's until 1994. Mean catch rate is 6.7 fish per diver per day - and 14.4 Kg per diver per day. The most commonly caught fish are sweetlips (27%), coral trouts and cods (20%), parrotfishes (18%), surgeons and unicorns (9%), tuskies and wrasses (6%). Competition catch characteristics may differ from those of non-competition spearfishing and will be confirmed through further studies.

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