Trawl of local newspapers dating from late 19th century reveals a treasure trove of information about historical fish catches that adds to the debate about fishing stocks

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The fish catch rate of snapper off the coast of Queensland has declined by almost 90% since the late 19th century, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies have used historical accounts of fishing trips in newspapers to calculate the rate of snapper catch by fishermen from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

The lead author of the study, Ruth Thurstan, said it was something of a cross between history and science.

“There’s official government data on the snapper fishery that starts from just after the second world war onwards, but anecdotally we knew that the snapper fishery had been occurring for some decades prior, “ she said.

“Just on a whim I thought I’d check out some of the local newspapers, and I found more information than I could ever have imagined on the snapper fishery in Brisbane.

“There were hundreds of articles that had qualitative information, but there were also hundreds that had quantitative information, like the number of fish being caught, the number of people fishing, and the number of hours they were fishing for.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A historic fishing catch photo from 1905. Photograph: T. Welsby

Estimates from newspaper articles were compared with two historical surveys to check for bias. The researchers then used this information to calculate catch rates for snapper per person. The study found: “Despite the crude fishing technology of the time, catches of snapper and other fin fish species frequently ran into the hundreds of fish per trip when targeted from early charter boats.”

The historical figures were compared with contemporary figures from charter boats. Even accounting for modern catch limits, the contemporary catch rate was far lower than the historical rate.

Image courtesy Thurston et al 2014

Thurstan said this information should be interpreted with caution due to various potential differences between historical and modern fishing, but that it was “another piece of the puzzle” with regards to fishing stocks.

When Queensland snapper stocks were assessed in 2009 and 2010 by the government, they were found to be overfished.