Impacts on whales, sharks and fish - The Great Barrier Reef: An Environmental History - page 127

described. Nevertheless, there is evidence to suggest that the actions of shark
fishers (including the capture of sharks for their fins), dynamite fishers, spear-
fishers and other commercial and recreational fishers have significantly depleted
some types of sharks and fish in the Great Barrier Reef, and in some cases have
also directly degraded reef habitats, with unknown ecological consequences.
Those impacts were noticed by many visitors to the Great Barrier Reef, in terms
of reductions in both the availability and the size of fish caught, and the over-
exploitation of sharks and fish in the region extends far back in the historical
record, at least to the period of the earliest development of tourism in the region.
Human impacts on both sharks and fish in the Great Barrier Reef, therefore,
deserve more detailed, specialist investigation.
Notes
1 See the statistics published in the Annual Reports, QDHM, QPP , 1963-1970.
2 See the Annual Reports, QDHM, QPP , 1925-1970.
3 In-letter, J. Wyer, Honorary Secretary, NQNC to Honorary Secretary, GBRC, 20
September 1933, PRV8340/1 Item 1, QSA.
4 In-letter, M. T. Keating, Honorary Inspector of Fisheries, Green Island to Chief
Inspector of Fisheries, Brisbane, 21 November 1937, PRV8340/1 Item 1, QSA.
5 OHC 17, 2 September 2003.
6 Order in Council , Brisbane, 20 July 1939, PRV8340/1 Item 1, QSA.
7 In-letter, Secretary, Queensland Sub-Department of Forestry, Brisbane to Secretary,
QDHM, Brisbane, 19 December 1941, PRV8340/1 Item 1, QSA.
8 In-letter, Secretary, Queensland Sub-Department of Forestry, Brisbane to Secretary,
QDHM, Brisbane, 5 September 1941, PRV8340/1 Item 1, QSA.
9 Out-letter Ref. 3740, Queensland Chief Inspector of Fisheries, Brisbane to Inspector
of Fisheries, Cairns, 11 September 1941, PRV8340/1 Item 1, QSA.
10 Out-letter Ref. 9-1-17, A. J. Peel, Director, QDHM to Under-Treasurer, Brisbane, 17
March 1969, SRS31/1 Box 33 Item 573, General correspondence files - Licences to
remove coral, QSA, p1.
11 Out-letter Ref. 9-1-17, A. J. Peel to Under-Treasurer, Brisbane, 14 February 1969,
SRS31/1 Box 33 Item 573, QSA, p1.
12 Hon. J. Herbert, Queensland Minister for Labour and Tourism, Brisbane to Hon. V.
B. Sullivan, Queensland Minister for Lands, Brisbane, 22 February 1972, SRS5416/1
Box 66 Item 447, NP836, Trinity 'R' - Green Island - Protection of Marine Life,
QSA.
13 R. Steene, Cairns to S. Domm, Director, Museum Research Station, Lizard Island,
20 May 1974, p1, SRS5416/1 Box 28 Item 179, NP153, Flattery 'A' - Lizard Island,
QSA.
14 R. Steene, Cairns to S. Domm, Director, Museum Research Station, Lizard Island, 20
May 1974, pp1-2, SRS5416/1 Box 28 Item 179, NP153, Flattery 'A' - Lizard Island,
QSA.
15 OHC 21, 10 September 2003; OHC 31, 4 October 2003.
16 OHC 5, 11 February 2003; OHC 6, 17 February 2003; OHC 8, 27 February 2003;
OHC 21, 10 September 2003; OHC 23, 15 September 2003; OHC 29, 24 September
2003; OHC 40, 12 November 2003.