Hopes rise for Coral Sea reefs

A unique annoucement made in May 2007 was greeted with a great deal of enthusiasm among the dive community here in Queensland. The agreement, between dive boat operators and the Coral Sea Fishers Association means commercial trawlers will no longer take fish from Osprey, Bougainville, Flora, Dart and Herald's Surprise reefs, effectively leaving them to recreational fishing and dive boat operators. In an unprecedented step, one of the largest commercial fishing groups operating in the Coral Sea has voluntarily given up fishing rights on reefs important to tourist operators!