Mining has given Mackay a solid reputation as the gateway to the resources boom but it is also quickly becoming a capital for something else – boats.
Marine Queensland has announced the second Mackay Marine Festival incorporating the Mackay Tinnie and Tackle Show and Mackay leg of the Australian Offshore Superboat Championships, on June 23rd and 24th 2012.
The state’s largest ever recreational fishing survey reveals that approximately 700,000 Queenslanders go recreational fishing, crabbing or prawning.
Fisheries Queensland senior fisheries scientist Dr Stephen Taylor said the Statewide Recreational Fishing Survey showed fishing remained an enormously popular recreational activity.
A prosecution in the Bowen Magistrates Court has sent a strong message to the fishing community – bag limits must be respected to protect our fisheries.
A $10,000 fine has been handed down to a recreational fisher who pleaded guilty to possessing excessive quantities of fish.
Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol district officer Glen Harsley said the fisher was intercepted after returning from an eight-week fishing trip in north Queensland.