According to a seafood industry insider the fishermen are worried over the claim in Irukandji story. This is just another example of the fishing industry being unfairly maligned without any evidence, says Michael Gardner, President Queensland Seafood Industry Association (QSIA). He told that the claim is unsubstantial without any evidence to back it up, and, fishermen are fed up with this sort of treatment.
He added that there have been remote rivers in northern Australian, Where fishing pressure is minimal, that are full of box jellyfish. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority published an assessment last year saying the main threats to marine life on the reef were climate change, continued declining water quality from catchment runoff and loss of coastal habitats from coastal development.
Environment Minister Peter Garett confirmed that the GBR region is not over fished and infact that fishing there is well managed. Gardner said that there is a lot of misunderstanding about how tight the restrictions are on commercial fishing in Australia in general and Queensland in particular. Jellyfish researcher Lisa Gershwin was convinced that over fishing and pollution are causing jellyfish blooms in Australian waters. It was also convinced that around the world there is very good data correlating jellyfish with overfishing it gives jellyfish a chance to take over.
