The State Government says it will continue to close parts of Queensland's scallop fishery until it is confident the stock is recovering and can support commercial fishing.

In January six replenishment areas (SRAs) off the central Queensland coast were closed after the scallop biomass dropped to 6 per cent of 1977 levels.

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The fishery reopened in November after a six-month winter closure, but the SRAs off Yeppoon, Bustard Head and Hervey Bay that represent about 40 per cent of the available catch remain closed.

A Fisheries Queensland spokeswoman said independent monitoring surveys had been completed in October, but up-to-date information about the state of the biomass was not yet available.

"Independent monitoring surveys were completed in October and will provide important biological data to be considered together with rainfall, water temperature and other important variables that impact scallop production in an updated stock assessment," she said.

"The monitoring data will be fed into a stock assessment model next year to produce an updated biomass estimate.

"If the monitoring demonstrates that the stock has rebuilt to an appropriate level, the Queensland Government would consider opening the scallop replenishment areas to fishing in the future."

The spokeswoman said a three-year, $2.58 million fisheries research and monitoring program co-funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation was tracking the recovery of Queensland's scallop stock.

She said a "sustainable" biomass level is usually 40 to 50 per cent of 1977 levels, and fishermen could still target scallops outside the SRAs.

'It's been decimated'

Bundaberg fisherman Tony Mills said he had been chasing scallops off the Queensland coast for 20 years.

He said the closures in 2017 had had an immediate impact on his business.

"It's basically been decimated," he said.

"This year my turnover's dropped. I haven't been able to supply my customers, which I tried to. I laid off around 13 staff.

"There's definitely not enough scallop, especially if they don't open it for January … that's when we export to China and Hong Kong for Chinese New Year."

Challenge to find a balance

Earlier this year Queensland Seafood Industry Association treasurer Kevin Reibel sat on a scallop working group with other industry and government representatives trying to find a way forward for the fishery.

"We need to have more robust debate … we may have to think about putting more SRAs in on a far quicker rotational basis," he said.

Mr Reibel said it was important to find a balance between improving stock levels and ensuring sustainable returns to the commercial industry, which needed consistent supply to retain markets.

"The stock that the processors and resellers have got in their freezers will dry up in a period time and then the consumer … have got to look somewhere else for a market," he said.

"The industry has also said to government prior to the opening on November 1st maybe we should leave it closed until January 3rd just to give it another two or three months to let that stock grow.

"Probably the biggest issue we've got is for the processors to be able to maintain that export market.

"If we can't supply all the time they're obviously going to look somewhere else in the world, and we might have some trouble getting back into those markets when we do get our stock back up."