Tag Archives: Australia
Importing seafood to Australia is like the governor of Alaska deciding to import ice – With Julian Tomlinson
Importing seafood to Australia must rank among the most jaw-droppingly gormless decisions ever made by someone claiming to have a fully functioning brain. It’s like the governor of Alaska deciding to import ice – but from a producer who uses water from a stagnant lake that is rapidly drying out. The south-east Queensland prawn farming industry is on the brink of disaster after white spot disease infected stock right before the lucrative Christmas period. Far Northern prawn farmers are rubbing their hands together and worrying at the same time. Loss of supply from the south-east should drive up demand for their product, but there are fears the disease was brought in from overseas imports and is spreading via birds. Australia has the world’s largest exclusive fishable area, waters of excellent quality, and among the most sustainable and high-quality seafood in the world. But the Aussie fishing industry has the lowest wild-harvest rate in the developed world and has been demonised and regulated so much that our supplies can’t meet domestic demand. Read the op-ed here If you’ve got time, a report also available (click here to read Australia’s Unappreciated and Maligned Fisheries. 09:40
New super long-lining catamaran being built for Abbott family at Narooma
The commercial fishing industry on the Far South Coast is about to get a big boost with a new 25-metre, state-of-the-art, long-lining catamaran being built for the Abbott family of Narooma. The three siblings, Ryan, Todd and Hayley, still only in their 20s, have invested heavily in the multi-million-dollar vessel because they believe in the sustainability of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery and the demand for their top-quality fish continues to grow unabated. The new vessel, yet to be named, is currently taking shape in an Adelaide boat factory and is believed to be the first large commercial fishing vessel being built in Australia for the last 12 years. “With only 30 long-line vessels left in the entire fishery and the huge patch of water, the fishery is truly sustainable and much of it virtually untouched,” Read the story, and view 15 photos here 10:10
Close ports to Sea Shepherd or risk sharing guilt for its vigilantism
Sea Shepherd is again heading into dangerous territory. Last week’s announcement that its new $12 million custom-built Ocean Warrior (watch video here) has arrived here for a Southern Ocean incursion this summer is disturbing. Ship captain Adam Meyerson is boasting the group’s new vessel is a game changer because of its increased speed, long-range fuel tanks, helicopter landing pad and 20,000 litres-per-minute water cannon. Sea Shepherd is once more aiming to engage in close combat with the Japanese research fleet. That puts this group in the category of an environmental non-state combatant. It’s in an international area engaged in the use of force, with actions close to vigilantism. It enjoys the reputation of piracy, but for quasi public rather than private ends. The International Court of Justice judgment in the whaling case two years ago was a hollow victory for environmental activists. The court didn’t rule that what the Japanese were doing was commercial whaling. Nor did it say that issuing permits to take whales by lethal means for scientific research was illegal. This left open the option of a new Japanese scientific whaling program. Read the rest here 08:56
Scientists warn Government against recommendations to wind back marine reserves – In particular ‘no-take’ zones
A group of scientists is urging the Government not to wind back the scale of the nation’s 40 marine reserves, contrary to the advice of an advisory panel on the matter. The panel is recommending the removal of an area almost twice the size of Tasmania from the protected zones where mining and fishing are banned. But the scientists, known as the Ocean Science Council, said cuts of that size could be devastating to marine life. Professor David Booth, a member of the council and a professor of marine ecology, said he and his colleagues had concerns over the advice given to the Government. “We welcome the review, there are a lot of good points to it, but what we’re really concerned with is these bioregional panels — which recommended the zoning of the parks in areas around Australia — fall well short of what was recommended,” he said. “In particular, the marine national park ‘no-take’ zones, which are the gold standard for looking after marine biodiversity, have been eroded.” Read the story here 12:47
Seafood Industry Australia – Industry finds its voice as campaign for a united peak body gains momentum
A national campaign to form a united peak body for the seafood industry is gaining momentum. Voluntary contributions totalling $406,000 have been secured from the wild catch, aquaculture, post harvest and retail sectors to fund the next two years of forming Seafood Industry Australia. Chair of the implementation group, Veronica Papacosta, said with 52 days left in the campaign, she was confident of getting it across the line. “We’re very close to our minimum target, so I think we’re past the tipping point of whether this’ll happen — it will, which is really, really exciting,” Ms Papacosta said. “But now the pressure is on to make sure we get it right, to make sure we are a national body, to make sure we represent the whole of Australia.” Australia’s, at times, fractured fishing industry has long recognised it needed a clearer, united voice to speak to government and consumers. Read the story here 09:53
Australia: Calls for a long-term strategy to protect threatened marine species from commercial fishing
There are calls for the Federal Government to develop a long-term strategy to protect threatened marine species from commercial fishing. Every year thousands of protected species are killed as bycatch. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) publishes a quarterly report detailing how many protected species have been killed in Commonwealth waters. The Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Tooni Mahto said the numbers were unacceptable. (but they never are, eh Tooni?) Meanwhile, In the Small Pelagic Fishery,,, Read the rest here 20:07
Fish Wars Australia – Tension flaring on commercial fishing and sustainability
TENSION between commercial and recreational fishing groups has again been in the spotlight with the release of a fishing population report. The commercial fishing industry says the report shows fish populations continue to be sustainable but the Fraser Coast Fishing Alliance says the report is “flawed” and was little more than a “desktop exercise”. The Federal Government, along with Queensland Agriculture and Fisheries Department, released data which assessed 36 nationally important species for 2014. Read the rest here 16:11
Pushed Out – Mornington fishing business Hutchins Brothers faces closure
GENERATIONS of Neville Hutchins’ family have been net fishing the waters off Mornington and Mt Martha since 1860. But a $20 million State Government plan to phase out commercial netting in Port Phillip and Corio bays over the next eight years means he may be the last in that proud line. Mr Hutchins and his brother Dalton sell locally caught fish — including salmon, snapper and whiting — from their small shed on Fishermans Beach in Mornington. Read the rest here 11:45
Please send me to jail: Fisherman begs judge
A FISHERMAN has begged a Maroochydore District Court judge to jail him rather than impose a massive fine. Peter John Grennell could be fined up to $110,000 for the commercial fishing charge he faces. But he told the court he could not afford such a fine. The maximum penalty has been lifted from $6600 to $110,000. Poor bastard Read the rest here 18:02
Sign this Marine Park Petition, and Support these Fishermen – WE FISH.
PEW along with some SA diving groups have been mounting a campaign to oppose these marine zone changes, yet shark feeding activities that have been shown not only to affect the behaviour of the sharks but also resulted in modifying the biodiversity of the area, is allowed to continue where fishing has been banned, Sign the petition here website wefish.com 13:38
Crabber Dundee – Professional crabber Dale Collie has gone to extreme measures to send crab pot thieves scurrying.
He hired a chopper so he could search from the sky for his stolen pots, and has scattered numerous infra-red Scoutguard cameras among the trees and mangroves on Big Dawson Creek to catch the crooks. [email protected] 20:13
Shark Week? Shark Hunt!! Australia – Calls for shark cull after fatal Great White attack
Tourism operators in Western Australia yesterday demanded a shark cull, following the fourth fatal attack in seven months and amid warnings that the state’s beaches are now the most dangerous in the world for shark attacks more@the independent
