What fish is that? Fish names standardised across Queensland

Fishers and fish-lovers can be more confident about what they are catching or buying with standardised fish names now adopted in Queensland.

Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Rural and Regional Queensland Tim Mulherin said Queensland had now fully adopted the Australian Fish Names Standard as part of updates recently made to fisheries legislation.

"The move to use these national standardised common fish names is to ensure there is common understanding about what rules apply to what fish," Mr Mulherin said.

"The change will also help consumers know what they are buying over the counter and will strengthen consumer confidence in seafood."

"The standardization will ultimately help the fishing industry as people will be clear about what they are catching, selling and eating regardless of where they are living or holidaying.

"People throughout the State, depending where they live and how they fish, will have the recognized fish names they are used to. So we expected that it will take some time for people to adjust to the new names.

"Consequently, to help anglers become familiar with standard fish names, previous names will be included in brackets in fisheries brochures and web pages for a period of time," Mr Mulherin said.

Mr Mulherin said confusion over fish names started more than 200 years ago when Captain Cook came to Australia.

"Confusion over fish names in Australia began in 1770 when Captain Cook arrived in Botany Bay and his crew caught a fish which he named as a snapper," Mr Mulherin said.

"While Cook named the catch as snapper - a name he was familiar with from the Americas -the Australian variety actually belonged to an entirely different family to the fish he had seen previously."

"Standard names have been assigned to 4500 Australian seafood species, both locally harvested and imported, ranging from fin fish to crabs and prawns.

"For examp le, not all large prawns are king prawns.

"In Queensland we have two species of king prawn, the eastern king prawn - one of the world's largest prawns - and the blue-legged king prawn.

"Other common species caught in Queensland are the banana prawn and the tiger prawn, both of which grow to a large size but should not be called king prawn."

Other examples of fish standardised names include:

Standardised name	Other names
Trumpeter whiting	Winter or diver whiting
Snapper	Pink snapper, squire, knobbies
Sand whiting	Summer whiting
Blackspotted rockcod	Estuary cod
Mahi mahi	Dolphin fish
Barred javelin	Spotted grunter, grunter bream
Dusky flathead	Mud flathead
Golden snapper	Fingermark, large scale seaperch
Silver javelin	Small spotted grunter

As well as incorporating standard fish names, other updates made to the fisheries legislation include:

• getting consistency between fisheries that use satellite technology to track boats,
• getting greater consistency in the management of the aquarium and coral fisheries; and,
• ensuring that the commercial quota for Spanish mackerel and coral reef fin fish will not be adjusted unless actual catches exceed desired levels, and
• updates to address ambiguities and remove redundant provisions.

Information on standard fish names can be found at the Seafood Services Australia website www.fishnames.com.au.

For more information on fishing rules visit - www.dpi.qld.gov.au or phone 13 25 23.