General
China pulls the plug on Australia’s biggest live reef fish exporter
Queensland’s multi-million-dollar coral trout fishery is in jeopardy after the country’s biggest live-fish exporter failed to have its export licence renewed in China.
Key points:
- Australia’s largest coral trout buyer has lost its market access to China
- Line fishers are receiving $20 a kilo, less than it costs to land live trout
- The industry pivots to supply “ultra fresh” product to high-end restaurants in Melbourne and Sydney
The lucrative live ‘red fish’ trade is the latest casualty of simmering tensions between the Australian and Chinese governments, which has already claimed wine, barley and rock lobster exports.
Australian Reef Fish Traders — which last year accounted for 70 per cent of all live exports — said it could not explain…
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