Impacts on whales, sharks and fish - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 122

contrast, Stoddart (1933) suggested that the area between Townsville and Cairns
was unsuitable for trawling, but that area could instead be exploited for the
profitable king snapper ( Lutianus sebae ), kingfish and mackerel. Stoddart (1933)
reported that, further north in the Great Barrier Reef, enormous shoals of Murray
Island sardines could be found throughout the year, and that mullet and garfish
were available throughout the reefs.
If by 1933 the commercial fisheries of the Great Barrier Reef remained under-
exploited, the possibilities offered by game fishing were already being explored,
and Reid (1933, p39) reported that increasing numbers of tourists from New
South Wales and Victoria were visiting the Great Barrier Reef to pursue that
activity. An advantage of the Great Barrier Reef for this sport was that it
contained sheltered fishing grounds, close to continental islands, in which game
fishing could be carried out in poor weather. Tilghman (1933, p223) reported
that game fishing took place from Lady Elliot Island to Torres Strait, and the
sport was concentrated in the vicinity of coral reefs; the base of the activity,
however, was located at Hayman Island, where very large catches were obtained.
Tilghman (1933, p225) stated:
During the winter season these two fishing skippers [Bert Hallam and Boyd
Lee] have each taken enough big mackerel in a morning to fill the ton ice
boxes in their launches. They used three heavy hand lines of course, and
anglers would view such fishing as slaughter, but it shows the fish there are.
The game fishermen landed very large specimens; swordfish, blue pointer sharks,
leaping-tuna and giant turrum were sought in the waters near the Whitsunday
Islands and the islands offshore from Gladstone and Bundaberg. Large stingrays,
such as the animal shown in Figure 8.2, were also sought by game fisherman,
such as an 800-pound specimen that Tilghman (1933) reported was caught near
Hayman Island.
During the 1930s, with increasing access to the resorts of the Great Barrier
Reef - and with increasing boat ownership, which allowed fishing parties to
have direct access to the reefs - the incidence of fishing increased. Some popular
books describing fishing in the Great Barrier Reef were published, and several
individuals became celebrities as a result of their promotion of fishing near
the reefs and cays, including Zane Grey, Bert Hallam and Boyd Lee; Caldwell
(1938, p23) referred to Boyd Lee as a 'Barrier Reef celebrity' and a professional
fisherman. Caldwell (1938, p90) also described a seasonal variation in the most
abundant fishing. He stated:
Winter months are [north Queensland's] great harvest time, when the
immense schools of striped tuna, locally called 'kingies' (kingfish) work into
the warmer waters from the south. The boats bring back huge hauls of this
excellent table-fish. Townsville and Cairns absorb large quantities, the rest
being railed to the Brisbane markets.