Calls are growing for South Australia to push commercial rock lobster gear out of a key whale nursery during migration season, after fishing rope washed up on a Fleurieu Peninsula beach reignited fears for endangered southern right whales.
The rope came ashore at Encounter Bay, near Victor Harbor, on the morning of Monday 2 June. Conservationists labelled the synthetic line a "ghost net" — abandoned or lost gear that keeps drifting and snaring marine life long after anyone is tending it.
The Encounter Whales Conservation Group, based on the Fleurieu Peninsula, says the state cannot claim to protect an endangered species while allowing fishing gear in its breeding waters. Spokesperson Elizabeth Steele-Collins put it bluntly: "What's the point of having a National Recovery Plan for an endangered species and then effectively putting a minefield across its migration corridor during breeding season?"
The stretch of water in question — Encounter Bay, between the Bluff and Kings Beach — is a recognised whale nursery and a major calving ground for southern right whales, with humpbacks also moving through on migration. The group wants rock lobster gear excluded from those waters whenever whales and calves are present.
Such a closure is not without precedent. The group says a seasonal ban operated before the pandemic, was suspended to ease pressure on lobster operators during COVID-19, and then gave way to permanent year-round access in 2023. It is that 2023 decision conservationists are asking the government to wind back for the migration months.
PIRSA, the state's primary industries authority, stood by the current rules. It says the Northern Zone Rock Lobster Fishery has recorded no whale interactions since 2007-08 and has needed no disentanglements since the seasonal closure ended in 2023, citing mandatory reporting and an industry Code of Practice as protections already in force.
The standoff puts two priorities head to head. Rock lobster is among South Australia's richest commercial fisheries, and operators say their recent safety record is spotless. Conservation advocates argue a clean reporting record is not the same as proof of no risk — only that nothing has been formally logged.
Whale entanglement is a global problem. Vertical ropes running from surface floats to seabed pots can foul a whale's tail, flippers or mouth, causing drawn-out injury or drowning, with vulnerable calves most at risk. With southern right whale populations still rebuilding after the whaling era, the Encounter Whales group says the cautious choice is obvious — keep the lane clear while the whales are in it. The question now is whether South Australia is willing to revisit a fishing arrangement it cemented only three years ago.