Seafish Tas. 95-metre ship Reduced Quota OK

[Gad]

Taken from FW email newsletter

Super trawler company gets green light for 95m ship

16 Feb 2015

COMMERCIAL fishing company seeking to operate super trawlers in Australian waters, Seafish Tasmania, has received preliminary approval to fish a revised quota in a smaller ship.

The ABC reports Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, senator Richard Colbeck, has announced Seafish Tasmania's 95-metre ship Geelong Star will be eligible to fish once authorities have approved a vessel-management plan.

The plan aims to ensure minimal interaction with marine mammals and seabirds, but can not be finalised until the Fisheries Management Authority has inspected the boat.

Late last year the Federal Government banned super trawlers, ships longer than 130 metres.

That followed a temporary ban in 2012 to block Seafish Tasmania from using what was then the world's second-largest trawler, the MV Margiris - later renamed Abel Tasman, to fish an annual quota of 18,000 tonnes of jack mackerel and redbait from an area stretching from Western Australia to Queensland, past Tasmania.

But Seafish Tasmania has maintained that quotas are set at sustainable levels.

Senator Colbeck said the Geelong Star's quota has been set at 16,566 tonnes for jack mackerel, redbait and blue mackerel for the 2014-15 fishing season.

But Nobby Clark from Game Fish Tasmania said he was nervous about the latest proposal.

"The questions that have been asked by our peak bodies have still not been answered around the series of effects of localised depletion and what these effects could possibly have on an ever-growing game fishing industry on the east coast of Australia," he said.

Mr Clark said he was anticipating a fresh wave of protests.

More at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-02-13/seafish-tasmania-given-approval-to-fish-quota-with-smaller-ship/6090392

[ellicat]

(Not so) common sense prevails.

[Tybo]

I love it how the whole of Australia spoke out against this, making it clearly obvious that we didn't want super trawler's fishing our waters. And yet here we are again, years and dollars later, making the same argument.

The facts I'd lie to know are:

What products will become of the 18,000 tonnes of fish caught by the ship? Fish meal for aquaculture? Fish fingers? Or fertilizer?

How many people will be employed, and will they be Australian or foreign crew?

How much tax and revenue will be generated for Australia?

How much and what species will be included as bycatch?

We can't seem to win the argument by simply saying 'no, we don't want it', so why doesn't the general public ask for more information regarding this.

[ellicat]

The real question to me is how can "the whole of Australia" reject the idea so dismissively when they don't even have a clue on the answers to your questions, or worse still reject it after being provided the non-alarming answers on a plate.

[Gad]

conservative estimates say 35 million tonnes of wild fish are harvested each year for non-human food industries, pet food, fur farming, aquaculture etc.

2.4 million tonnes goes into wet and dry cat food alone. An Australian pet cat eats 13.7 kilos of harvested wild fish each year, the average Australian eats 11 kilos.

I assume the 16,500 tonnes of harvested fish will be going where the Margiris harvest was to go, Africa for human consumption.

So, I won`t have a problem with it.

I would say SPEW and other rabids would have a problem with it. Strange that they don`t have a problem with Snappy Tom and the cats of Australia

[Gad]

Taken from Fishing World emailnewsletter

Supertrawler sparks "localised depletion" fears

20 Feb 2015

THE 95m foreign owned supertrawler known as the Geelong Star could cause “localised depletion†of baitfish stocks if the federal Government allows it access to Australian waters, the ABC reports.

The Geelong Star's quota has been set at 16,566 tonnes for jack mackerel, redbait and blue mackerel for the 2014-15 fishing season.

Anglers, commercial operators and environment groups have slammed the decision, saying the new ship is capable of decimating local fish stocks.

The Government’s Senator Richard Colbeck, a vocal supporter of the industrial fishing industry, has refuted the concerns and says he is confident the vessel will be operated sustainably. He said the company wishing to exploit the baitfish has addressed the issue of localised depletion.

â€I don’t agree that we havent taken that into account,†Colbeck told the ABC.

â€In fact one of the reports that we’ve recently released demonstrates we have taken it into account.

"To quote that report it says ‘localised depletion is evaluated as unlikely with the proposed harvesting fractions applied in the SPF because most small pelagics are highly mobile, local areas replenish quickly provided the overalls stocks are not depleted’.

“We’ve been very conservative with our harvest rates.â€

However, Fisho understands widespread public opposition to industrial fishing could mean that the imminent arrival of another supertrawler may cause the Government political problems.

“Tony Abbott is in enough strife at the moment as it is. Does he want to go down as the PM who let supertrawlers rape our fisheries as well?†one source in the recreational fishing sector told Fisho today.

Meanwhile, conservation group Environment Tasmania is calling on the Federal Government not to go ahead with final approvals for the Geelong Star.

Environment Tasmania’s marine co-ordinator Rebecca Hubbard told the ABC the Australian community had made it clear they do not want to see industrialisation of the fishery.

Hubbard said she remained unconvinced the management plans would fully protect marine life.

She said the Government had the opportunity to prevent it from fishing Australian waters.

â€The Dirk Dirk [former name for Geelong Star] has not been approved to fish in the small pelagic fishery yet.

â€It is at the same position the Margiris got to in 2012.

â€It's been reflagged so it could operate in Australian waters, but it hasn't been applied as the fishing vessel for Seafish’s quota for the small pelagic fishery.

“So the Government still has the opportunity to prevent it from fishing in the small pelagic fishery.â€

TWO years after a Tasmanian company was banned from operating a massive supertrawler in Australian waters, it's back with a smaller ship.

[Gad]

Taken from FW email newsletter

Rec fishing body voices concern over industrial fishing

24 Mar 2015

THE Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF), the national organisation representing the interests of Australia’s recreational fishing community, today announced that it is in discussions with the Small Pelagic Fishing Industry Association (SPFIA), the organisation representing the operators of the Geelong Star, in order to address concerns about the impact of industrial exploitation of the small pelagic fishery (SPF) on recreational fishers and the broader community.

The announcement comes as the Government moves to approve the 95m Geelong Star to operate in the fishery, meaning it is likely that the industrial trawler will be fishing Australian waters within weeks.

Though the Government has commissioned additional research to fill many of the knowledge gaps, the fact remains that commercially fishing the SPF at this scale and in this way is untried in Australia. The answers to many key questions ARFF has remain theoretical at this stage, or in the case of the cost/benefit to the Australian community, unanswered.

The ARFF says it understands that the Government is satisfied with the science on the fishery and theGeelong Star will access the SPF, regardless of legitimate concerns.

The SPF is a very important fishery for Australia’s recreational fishers. What happens in the fishery can have impacts on Australia’s recreational fishers now and for the future:

It covers a large proportion of Australia’s coastline including all of our major capital cities and regional centres, from Brisbane, south to Sydney and Hobart, across to Melbourne and Adelaide and Perth. In addition, it covers some of Australia’s most iconic recreational fishing grounds. Under legislation for this fishery the Geelong Star can fish within three nautical miles of these population centres at any time of the year. Small pelagic fish are a major food source within the marine food web that includes key recreational species such as southernbluefin tuna, yellowfin tuna, marlin and kingfish.

Recreational fishing in Australia generates an estimated $10 billion a year and creates tens of thousands of jobs throughout metropolitan and regional communities. The ARFF says it doesn’t want this put at risk, and is rightly cautious about the impacts that any commercial activities in the SPF would or could have on Australia’s recreational fishers, the communities that support them and the wider marine environment.

ARFF discussions with SPFIA will focus on ways to minimise impacts by managing where and when the Geelong Star fishes and to develop research in order to understand more about the fishery and its place within the marine food web.