Illegal Fishing Impacts On The Great Barrier Reef

The overfishing and illegal fishing taking place around the Great Barrier Reef is ruining the marine life's population and habitats. The overfishing of predatory fish is having a significant impact on the ecosystem of the reef. In the article Fishing Impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, it explains that removal of large amounts of predatory fish such as coral trout and snapper, had an impact on the balance of the ecosystem in which they lived in. These imbalances have caused cyclones, coral bleaching, and climate change. (“Science Daily”). Illegal fishing, especially in marine protected areas is destroying the marine life around the reef. The article What are Marine Protected Areas, helped explain the topic. Marine protected areas are

Removing predatory fish such as coral trout and snapper, through excessive fishing, causes significant changes to the makeup of the reef's fish populations (“Science Daily”). Coral trout and snapper fish remain to be the main target of both recreational and commercial fishers. Both fishes are predators that consume smaller prey fish. The reduction in predator abundance through fishing has altered the balance and structure of the coral reefs ecosystem. Trawling for prawns is permitted in over one third of the marine park. Due to how the reef is subjected to high levels of fishing high numbers of non targeted fish capture (bycatch) has increased and there has also been some damage to the seafloor. This is important because the seafloor is home to many plants and animals (“Threats”). Many animals throughout The Great Barrier Reef have been affected massively by illegal fishing and the occurrence of bycatch. Dugongs that live in the shallows of The Great Barrier Reef have been affected by illegal fishing. Due to illegal fishing Dugongs, an already endangered species, get entangled in fisheries gear and become bycatch which is making their numbers in the marine park dwindle. If illegal fishing continues at the rate it’s going right now the ecosystem will collapse. Due to the high amount of predators being caught

The Australian government has recently come out with a 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan, which aims to ensure the Outstanding Universal Value of the Great Barrier Reef continues to improve each decade between now and 2050. In this, they plan to address the issues of illegal fishing and create stricter laws against fishing in and around The Great Barrier Reef. The Australian government plans to not entirely ban fishing in The Great Barrier Reef but rather track the areas of endangered species and where vast amount of fish are and mark it off so recreational and commercial fishers know not to fish in or around there. By doing this helps with solving bycatch and also the massive amount of predators that are being caught. Another major thing being done to fix this problem is providing extra protection to turtles and dugongs through tough new laws against poaching, and improved sustainability agreements with Indigenous communities (“Highlights of”). Because Indigenous communities are one of the big groups fishing in The Great Barrier Reef by having sustainability agreements between them and the Australian government solves the amount of fish they are catching and where they are allowed to fish and the amount of bycatch. The Joint Field management program has