The Tasmanian government banned the fishing of sand flathead in the state's south-east in March, due to dwindling stock numbers. (Rick Stuart-Smith/Reef Life Survey)
The Tasmanian government banned people from fishing sand flathead across a large part of the state's south in March, due to numbers being critically depleted.
An inquiry into that decision has found multiple issues with how the fishery was managed over the years and how the ban was handled.
Among the recommendations is a call for the state government to publish what criteria would need to be met for the ban to be reversed.
An inquiry into the ban on fishing sand flathead in Tasmania's south-east has found the state government failed to properly manage the species for years, before rushing through the ban.
Sand flathead are a brown, ray-finned fish found at the bottom of inshore waters across all of Tasmania, as well as a very popular target for the state's recreational fishers.
In March, the state government imposed a ban on fishing the species across a large part of Tasmania's south, between Whale Head and Cape Pillar, due to a severe decline in stock.
A lower house committee, which was formed to scrutinise the fishery closure decision following frustration from the community, tabled its report in parliament on Tuesday.
The new rules around catching sand flathead came into effect from March 1. (Fishing Tasmania)
It handed down a range of findings and criticisms of the state government, but it did not explicitly state that the decision to close the fishery was incorrect.
The committee found there was a consensus that the south-east sand flathead fishery was "under pressure" and the "precautionary principle" was employed in the decision to close it.
However, it also found the state government had failed to quickly act on scientific advice about the species over several years, contributing to its ongoing deterioration.
Gavin Pearce, the state's primary industries minister, told the inquiry in June that the decision to close the fishery was "not taken lightly" and was necessary to "support recovery of the stock".
"The south-east stock is critically depleted — with around only 1 per cent of fish above the legal size limit and breeding potential reduced significantly to very low levels," he said.
In its submission to the inquiry, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies said it determined that too many sand flatheads were being fished more than a decade ago.
