Now, numbers have recovered enough to reopen some northern waters, but southern inshore waters will remain off limits.<\/p>\n
Thrown overboard<\/p>\n
Mr Grunske said the state government ban had “decimated” the local fishers who trawled the seabed for their catch.<\/p>\n
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Paul Grunske says the scallop fishing closure has caused millions of dollars in lost revenue. (ABC News: Tayla Larsen)<\/p>\n
They pull in seafood such as prawns and bugs, but any scallops they catch in their nets must be thrown back overboard.<\/p>\n
“It’s taken millions of dollars out of Bundaberg’s economy and the broader community’s economy,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s been a complete disaster for scallop fishers.”![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/e741045a22bd983795cb9432b15a2008.jpeg\")
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Scallop fishing will restart in the northern inshore fishery, but southern inshore waters remain closed. (Supplied: DPI)<\/p>\n
While scallops can be caught in the north and further offshore, the waters close to shore between Yeppoon and Hervey Bay, known as the southern inshore region, are the main fishery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As early as 2016, population surveys <\/a>in the area showed declining numbers, but an alarming report in 2020, indicating just 12 per cent of the biomass (the total volume of the stock) remained, prompted the state government to take action<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n Population targets not met<\/p>\n Following feedback from fishers, in 2025, the Department of Primary Industries again surveyed the stock, finding the scallop biomass did not meet the 20 per cent benchmark set for reopening the fishery.<\/p>\n The lifting of the ban in north Queensland will see more local scallops on the menu. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)<\/p>\n Fisheries and Forestry director general Pauline Jacob said a six-week survey caught and measured scallops across 420 sites.<\/p>\n “There are patches where we get really good scallops, but we’re just not seeing it across the full inshore area,” she said.<\/p>\n She said the department was investigating whether other environmental impacts, such as flooding, may be affecting the numbers.<\/p>\n “We will be working very closely with those inshore fishers to keep them doing some survey work,” she said.<\/p>\n Ms Jacob said keeping the fishery closed was to ensure it was managed sustainably.<\/p>\n “Otherwise, what we will have is a commercial fishing fleet that won’t be able to operate, and that’s the last thing we want,” she said.<\/p>\n Queensland Seafood Industry Association chief executive David Bobberman said he would like to see fishers allowed to take small amounts to help with data collection.<\/p>\n North Queensland fishers say scallops compliment their catch. (Supplied: Mark Millwood)<\/p>\n “Scallops can be a bit of a temperamental species in that they can be there one year and gone the next,” Mr Bobberman said.<\/p>\n “If we can’t catch some scallops and provide scientists within the department data, it’ll be quite some time before we can do a proper stock assessment.”<\/p>\n A toe in the water for north Queensland<\/p>\n From March, fishers in the central inshore region between Yeppoon and Townsville will be able to catch scallops for the first time in four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mark Millward welcomes the news for north Queensland. (ABC News: Brooke Tindall)<\/p>\n While not as abundant as further south, the species is an added source of income for commercial fishers like Mark Millward.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trawler operators say the population has improved in the southern inshore region. (Supplied: Grunske’s by the River Seafood Market and Takeaway)<\/p>\n Based in Townsville, Mr Millward said reopening was an opportunity to show the department fishers would obey catch limits.<\/p>\n “It’s only for a couple of months, and it’s a toe in the water, but it’s a start for north Queensland,” he said.<\/p>\n Despite being a smaller industry, he said it would still create local jobs in processing.<\/p>\n “It’ll get scallops back on the menu of restaurants in north Queensland and probably further south,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bundaberg fishmonger Paul Grunske has been importing scallops from Japan for the past four years, despite the famed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[131335,246,844,131331,61,60,14733,131334,131330,131333,131332,82,5176],"class_list":{"0":"post-267239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-central-inshore-region-scallop-fishing-reopening","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-fishing","11":"tag-hervey-bay-scallops","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-ocean","15":"tag-queensland-seafood-industry-association","16":"tag-scallop-fishing","17":"tag-scallop-fishing-ban","18":"tag-scallop-stock","19":"tag-science","20":"tag-seafood"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/66165d5c754dc30fd29e473e2e611281.jpeg\")
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