EVERYDAY we talk about biosecurity in relation to the various aspects of farming, but over the past few months a very different and worrying biological puzzle has been given to a handful of Queensland Government agencies to solve.
Since March this year, 34 of the ‘no take species’, the Queensland groper, have been found dead.
The depressing remains of these predatory fish washed up on shores between Cooktown and Cairns, though the majority of these were in Cairns and Port Douglas waters.
Most famous of these fish was George, an inhabitant of Dickson Inlet at Port Douglas who featured as a tourist attraction for On the Inlet, a local restaurant who fed him and a couple of his mates fish frames each afternoon.
George also had multiple TV appearances on travel shows featuring this photogenic part of the far north.
While making some progress the DPI & F’s Biosecurity Queensland, who is heading up the task force, is still unable to definitively point to the primary cause of death in this long living, large growing iconic fish.
Necropsy findings so far have revealed each of the dead fish had bacterial septicaemia or blood poisoning, but the primary cause of this remains unknown.
DPI & F Principal Scientist Dr Richard Knuckey also indicated that the fish had bacteria present in the eyes, detached retinas and were blind at the time of death although this was most likely not the cause of death.
The full task force includes experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol with Cairns Regional Council and James Cook University recently coming on board with their support.
“We are urging the public to keep an eye out for any species of fish that may have washed up dead on beaches and estuary banks. These may reveal some vital clues about the fate of the dead Queensland gropers,” Biosecurity Queensland Regional Manager Rebecca Yarrow said.
The investigating team has already benefited from the support of boaties and the tourism industry reporting further unexplained groper deaths.
“We greatly appreciate the cooperation from the Double Island Palm Cove Resort Manager who measured and photographed one of the fish and collected eye samples for us,” Ms Yarrow said.
“The samples have been sent to the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries laboratories in Townsville for analysis”.
Staff members of On the Inlet are also assisting investigations by keeping a record of what they feed the local gropers and have undertaken to report any unusual behavior in their closely observed fish.
“Until recently it seemed a part of the mystery was that only Queensland gropers (Epinephelus lanceolatus) of a certain size, about 105-120kg, were dying apparently from septicaemia,” Ms Yarrow said.
*Full story in this week’s North Queensland Register, out Thursday.
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