A Queensland fisherman who was paid $210,000 to give up his net licence as part of a government buyback is exploiting a legal loophole to keep fishing.

Key points: Qld Government paid $13m to buy back 46 commercial net licences

Qld Government paid $13m to buy back 46 commercial net licences Wally Keating was paid $210,000 but continues to fish using his son's licence

Wally Keating was paid $210,000 but continues to fish using his son's licence Recreational fishers angry that legal loophole allowed to continue

Recreational fishers angry that legal loophole allowed to continue Seafood Industry Association want net-free zones reduced

Wally Keating said the money he received was not enough to retire on and he should have received at least half a million dollars as compensation for his licence.

When approached by 7.30 at his home in Armstrong Beach near Mackay, Mr Keating said he was working using his son's licence.

"My son and me should have got a massive payout to go away," Mr Keating said.

"That's where they [the Queensland Government] go wrong all the time. They've made a lot of mistakes."

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The Queensland Government spent $13 million on the net fishing licence buyback scheme. ( ABC News: Sean Murphy )

In late 2015, Queensland's Labor Government introduced net-free fishing zones in Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton in an urgent bid to reduce the amount of commercial fishing.

The move was designed to attract more recreational fishers and protect dolphins, turtles and dugongs from being inadvertently killed in nets.

In return for the ban, taxpayers spent almost $6 million buying back 46 fishing licences, including Mr Keating's.

But Mr Keating was not paid for his multiple boats and sheds full of nets, so instead of leaving them idle he has kept working.

"I wouldn't be in this game if I had all my gear taken off me, I should have got something like half a million dollars," he said.

"What is a bloke at 76 going to do when he can still work? I can't get a job.

"I've got a son who is 50 — who employs anyone at 50 years old?

"We're unemployable [but] I'm probably as sharp as the next guy fishing.

"I find when I've got to put out 600 metres of net out it knocks me around but I'm still stupid enough to do it."

Calls to immediately close loophole

Recreational fisher Len Mondon says the net licence buyback has too many loopholes. ( ABC News )

Recreational fisher Len Mondon said what Mr Keating was doing was unacceptable.

"The problem is he's got 200 grand plus in his pocket, of taxpayers' money, and he hasn't lost a day's fishing," he told 7.30.

"I can't see how anybody could justify it. Wasted. [The taxpayers' money] is totally wasted."

But Mr Keating said he was simply exploiting a legal loophole.

"It's a free enterprise system isn't it? There's no use screaming about it," he said.

"I'm probably saying the wrong thing here. That's something that I hope they don't close."

There are calls from recreational fishers and environmentalists to urgently close the legal loophole because they claim it is undermining the goals of the net-free zones.

Recreational fishers in Mackay believe the use of the buyback loophole by commercial operators is widespread.

"Those fishermen now are entitled to buy another licence, they can lease another licence or borrow someone else's licence, which is what a lot of them are doing," Mr Mondon said.

"It sickens me."

Net free zones just shifting the problem, quotas needed: WWF

Jim Higgs says commercial fishers should be subject to quotas as well as having net-free zones. ( ABC News )

Jim Higgs from the World Wildlife Fund is concerned most of the commercial fishing has been shifted to areas on the fringes of the net-free zones.

"We don't have quotas in place that lock in how much each licence can be used, so a fisherman that's been bought out can go and lease a licence tomorrow and fish as hard or harder as what they fished before they were bought out," he told 7.30.

"And that's not good for the environment and it's also not good for the fishing industry."

The World Wildlife Fund believes wider changes are immediately needed to protect Queensland's fisheries.

"We need to make sure we've got quotas on the in-shore fisheries and we need to make sure we've got electronic vessel tracking so we know where all the commercial fishermen are and we can do easier compliance," Mr Higgs said.

"With the new technology they're really just phone-based tracking technologies and it's as cheap as a couple of dollars a day.

"We need these reforms and we need them now."

Net-free zones 'should be reduced'

Net-free zones were introduced to help protect dolphins, dugongs and other fish stocks. ( ABC News: Robert Koenig-Luck )

Mr Keating is seeing more commercial fishers competing for the small amount of fish outside the net-free zones.

"[Before the net-free zones], there were two fishermen at Armstrong's Beach and two at Cape Palmerston, now we have 15 professional fishermen here," he said.

"I've been three times in the last month and I haven't caught 60 kilos of fish.

"I've got 150 kilos of shark trunks and the fish I could show you in two plastic bags.

"And I'm a guy that's caught pretty well for 50 years."

He wants the net-free zones lifted for commercial fishers.

"It's bad out there," he said.

"The net-free zone is only to appease the amateur sector."

Dave Swindells now catches mud crabs on the Fitzroy River to try and earn a living. ( ABC News )

Rockhampton commercial fisher Dave Swindells took part in the buyback but has not used the legal loophole to keep fishing.

Instead he is trying to survive by catching mud crabs, but said it is not enough.

"It's meant my livelihood," he said.

"They said I can go and fish elsewhere but everywhere else I go there's another fisherman there.

"At the moment, myself and all the other net fishermen here, they've actually lived off the money they were given for their licence buyback."

Mr Swindells is also a board member of the Queensland Seafood Industry Association.

They fought against the introduction of net-free zones and lost. Now they are lobbying to have them relaxed.

"It's just far too big an area to be closed," he said.

"It should be modified to bring back a living for the commercial fishermen and also bring back fresh product to the economy of Queensland, which we are badly in need of."

Fishing buyback 'has more holes than a sieve'

But Mr Mondon is adamant the net-free zones should continue unchanged, but with the buyback system tightened.

"There's so many loopholes in that bloody fishing buyback, it's got more holes than a sieve in it, it's crazy," he said.

"The fishermen just worm their way around it all and they're fishing and nothing has changed.

"The only difference is these fellas have got money in their pockets now."

In a statement, Fisheries Minister Bill Byrne refused to comment on individual cases but defended the fishing licence buybacks.

"The Government can only reduce fishing effort by acquiring and retiring licences and ensuring no new licences are issued," the statement said.

"These are permanent removals and therefore the buybacks have reduced the number of vessels operating in the fishery.

"Fewer operators translates to more viable businesses for those remaining fishers.

"It is important to note that net fishing is completely prohibited in the net free zones and there is no evidence that there have been any significant breaches of these arrangements."