The commercial fishing industry has struggled in the last 15 years due to the implementation of government green zones and rising fuel prices, and the labour force being depleted by higher wages offered in the mining sector.
Sugar
Mackay is widely noted as the "sugar capital" of Australia, producing a sizeable portion of Australia�s domestic supplies and exports.
The industry in Mackay has its roots back in the 19th century. Historically, plantations were small and had their own mills to crush the cane during harvest. Over the years as the industry grew and developed, co-operatives were formed to consolidate the harvesting, crushing and distribution of the sugar in selected zones. Throughout the 20th century, the privately owned mills in the Mackay district closed one by one until only four remained � Marian, Racecourse, Farleigh and Pleystowe. Today, Pleystowe is the oldest surviving mill in the district.
Mackay Sugar operates three of these remaining mills, including Racecourse, which became site of the region�s first sugar refinery (which is owned by CSR Limited) in the 1990s. Growers in the region have a total cane production area of approximately 86,000 hectares. The growers are capable (in good seasons) of supplying up to 6.5 million tonnes of cane to the factories for processing. On average, Mackay Sugar produces about 850,000 tonnes of raw sugar and 180,000 tonnes of the by-product molasses annually. Mackay Harbour is also home to one of the largest bulk-sugar loading terminals in the world.
The sugar industry in Mackay has faced steep challenges over the past 10 years, since it is largely dependent on high world sugar prices to remain viable. However, efforts are going into diversifying the use of sugar cane for different purposes. These include a planned energy co-generation plant that could deliver up to 30 per cent of Mackays annual electricity supply. Use of sugar cane in ethanol-based fuel for vehicles also has
