Environmental groups say thousands of vulnerable species on the Great Barrier Reef will be saved after the federal environment minister revoked a Queensland government export permit.
Sussan Ley wrote to Queensland's Agriculture Minister Mark Furner on Sunday, saying she would revoke the permit for a state-run fishery from September 30.
The state government had not met the conditions of the permit by failing to reform its sustainable fisheries laws to protect threatened species, Ms Ley's letter said.
The Humane Society has welcomed the ban, saying it would prevent the East Coast Inshore Fin Fish Fishery from exporting products including hammerhead shark fins and black jewfish bladders used in traditional Chinese medicine.
"Poor practices in the ECIFFF have led to the deaths of thousands of endangered sharks, sawfish, dugongs, dolphins and turtles on the Great Barrier Reef," the group claims.
It said the Palaszczuk government had two years to draw up a strategy to improve ecological sustainability and fulfil its agreement with the federal government.
Ms Ley has revoked the fishery's permit using her powers under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
"It is deeply disappointing that the reforms underpinning these conditions have stalled and momentum has been lost in progress towards the sustainable management of this fishery," Ms Ley wrote.
She acknowledged the impact revoking the permit would have on the coronavirus-hit commercial fishing sector and urged the Queensland government to support the industry.
"I expect this will exacerbate the already difficult operating environment for those fishers who are affected. Therefore, I suggest the Queensland government will need to consider how it could ameliorate those impacts."
The Palaszczuk government is considering its response, saying it had taken "significant steps" to ensure the state maintains a sustainable commercial and recreational fishing industry.
"This has included passing the most significant fisheries reform legislation in decades and working through extensive consultations with all facets of the industry over the last five years," Mr Furner said in a statement.
Meanwhile, federal Labor has blasted the Morrison government over its plans for a new 10-year threatened species strategy without any additional funding or reforms from the previous plan.
The government's five-year threatened species has just finished, with reporting on it currently under way.
Labor's environment spokeswoman Terri Butler says the strategy is off track, with 16 of 20 target mammal species showing further decline or no improvement.
"The decisions we take now will impact Australia's national icons, our less charismatic species and our biodiversity for generations to come," she said.
"Labor doesn't want a future where our children are reading about the koala in the history books."
Australian Associated Press
