INSPECTORS will be able to enter seafood businesses without warrants to check for signs of illegal trade under changes made to fisheries legislation.
Tougher penalties would also be applied to offenders caught selling on the black market.
Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said the Fisheries (Sustainable Fisheries) Bill, which passed parliament yesterday, had made real changes the management of fish stocks.
“These changes are a critical step in providing the legacy of a sustainable fishery for our children and grandchildren and protecting jobs in our commercial and recreational fishing industries,” he said.
"We’re cracking down on black marketing and pushing forward with greater recognition of recreational, commercial and indigenous fishing interests."
Mr Furner said the amendments provided stronger compliance powers for Queensland Fisheries and Boating Patrol officers.
An extra 20 officers were out on Queensland water safeguarding fisheries resources, he said.
A new offence for the trafficking pf priority species would be created and the courts provided with additional sentencing options, like prohibition orders and orders to pay investigative costs, to deter serious repeat offenders.
Police assisting an inspectors to execute search warrants would also be given the power to detain if threats to safety were made.
Smaller commercial fishing vessels would also be tracked and monitored for stock intake.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society, which welcomed the changes, has mounted a push for gillnetting to be banned.
Society spokesman Dr Leonardo Guida said gillnetting needed to stop before the state government could claim it was creating truly sustainable fisheries.
Dr Guida said industrial gillnets indiscriminately ensnared and drowned threatened species like dugongs and dolphins.
“Sharks are critical to the overall health and resilience of the reef because they keep the food web in check," he said.
"Tragically, endangered hammerhead sharks are particularly vulnerable to gillnets because the shape of their head. Shark gillnets come at too high a price for our Great Barrier Reef, an ecosystem already under immense pressure.”
