Tag Archives: New South Wales
Marine Rescue NSW crew rescue two people from sinking fishing vessel near Ballina
Marine Rescue NSW Inspector Rodney Page said a fishing trawler reported it was taking on water and sinking approximately eight nautical miles (15kms) east of Lennox Head. “In the early hours of this morning Marine Rescue Port Macquarie, the region’s 24 hour communications hub, received a call from the skipper of a fishing trawler. “The skipper advised the vessel was taking on water and experiencing engine failure. “A volunteer crew from Marine Rescue Ballina were deployed on board Ballina 30 just after 3.00am. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:40
Photographer Urs Buhlman captures the ‘dangerous’, ‘dying’ profession of commercial fishing up close
It is an industry that operates in boats kilometres from shore when most people are fast asleep back on the mainland. Now one photographer’s interest in the commercial fishing industry has shed light on the intimate details of this rarely-seen profession and the rugged process it goes through to feed people. Eden commercial fisher John ‘”Jarvo” Jarvis has witnessed big changes during his 44 years in the game. Climate change, fish quotas, stringent environmental laws, government buy-backs of fishing licences, and a lack of willing hands are just some of the challenges he grapples with daily. “Everything in fishing is expensive,” Mr Jarvis said. Comparing the industry to how it looked two decades ago, he said it was “chalk and cheese”. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:19
NSW fisheries officers demand stab-proof vests and capsicum spray in order to do their job safely
Fisheries officers are calling for the right to use capsicum spray and wear stab-proof vests after run-ins with illegal poachers and criminal gangs. They are also refusing to carry out night inspections of trawlers without police assistance. Supervising fisheries officer Joe Wright knows too well the dangers of confronting a fisherman suspected of an illegal catch. Mr Wright is one of dozens of fisheries officers in New South Wales who have been threatened with assault while on the job, protecting oceans, rivers and estuaries. These officers are now demanding stab-proof vests and capsicum spray, amid fears workers are at risk of being hurt or even killed. The union representing the officers says they are unsafe and “operationally ineffective” when coming face-to-face with poachers and organised criminals. Photos, more, >>CLICK TI READ<< 17:18
First Nations advocates resolve to put traditional fishing rights under international spotlight
First Nations delegates from Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Alaska, and Australia have met on the lands of Walbunga Yuin people on the NSW far south coast for the International Indigenous Fishing Symposium. Indigenous fishing rights activists in NSW are working with First Nations groups around the world to put a global spotlight on the battle to protect traditional fishing rights and cultural practices. The groups plan to work together to lobby the United Nations. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:56
Alarming White Spot Virus Discovery – Williamson
Clarence Nationals MP Richie Williamson says the positive detection of large traces of the white spot virus in wild-caught school prawns south of Ballina is a further blow to the commercial fishing industry. Mr Williamson says he understands the discovery of the white spot virus came from routine batch testing of wild-caught school prawns from the inshore ocean area south of Ballina off the Richmond River by the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) “This is alarming as it is the first confirmed detection of white spot in wild school prawns in NSW directly collected from ocean waters, not associated with a white spot outbreak,” he said. “It has the potential to wipe-out our local prawn industry.” more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:06
Location of Offshore Wind Zone Doesn’t ‘Pass the Pub Test’
While industry is moving full steam ahead with plans for offshore wind development off Port Stephens, the local fishing community still hold grave concerns over the suitability of the location. The recent Newcastle and Port Stephens Game Fish Club (NPSGFC) Garmin Billfish Shootout, an annual fishing contest held off the coast in areas potentially impacted by future offshore wind development, brought the issue into focus once more. The Game Fish Club’s President, Troy Radford, said the location of the Hunter offshore wind zone, which starts about 20 kilometres out to sea from the Port Stephens coast, does not “pass the pub test”. “If this was going on in the Great Barrier Reef would this be going on? more, >>click to read<< 09:39
Lillian’s dream of honouring Evans Head fishing industry comes true
Lillian Colless had her dream come true when a monument to the fishermen of Evans Head was unveiled yesterday, Saturday, February 24 as part of a Fishermen’s Reunion weekend. The monument honours the fishing industry – in the 1950s there were 70 trawlers fishing out of Evans Head. Lillian has been a volunteer at the Evans Head Living Museum for 22 years and has been working towards and waiting for the day that Evans Head had its own fishing monument. The Sydney Fish Market contributed $10,000 towards the statue with Lillian and the museum raising the rest. The stone statue stands tall at more than 2metres high and faces where the first Fishermen’s Co-op was built in 1946. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 09:17
Laurieton community rallies to save sunken historic fishing vessel Pacific Venture
A community is rallying to save a piece of maritime history in northern New South Wales, with efforts underway to save a 60-year-old fishing trawler from a watery grave in a local river. The sunken Pacific Venture is the last surviving vessel from a fishing fleet built in Laurieton in 1963. Earlier this year it was entrusted to the community, with plans to bring it back to its former glory and put it on display. But the restoration work was yet to begin when a storm tore through the region in late October, and the old boat sank in the Camden Haven River at Laurieton. Former owner Damien Lay said the task was proving challenging but many in the community were still determined to save the old boat. Vide, photos, >>click to read<< 15:58
Three Indigenous-owned businesses given leg up into NSW fishing industry in attempt to close the gap
Yuin man Wally Stewart says he has been fighting for 40 years to get his people a seat at the table of the commercial fishing industry on the New South Wales south coast. Today he is a step closer. Mr Stewart is a director of Joonga Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation, one of three Aboriginal community-owned businesses selected by the NSW government to receive support to break into the commercial fishing sector. Mr Stewart is part of a group seeking native title rights over more than 450 kilometres of coastline along the south coast. He hopes to let the Yuin people carry out their cultural fishing practices. “South coast people are coastal people,” he said. “For thousands of years, we’ve relied on our ocean and estuaries for food; our mob were taught to fish and to live and look after our oceans. >>click to read<< 14:45
Camden Haven community rallies after historic fishing trawler Pacific Venture sinks at Laurieton
A 60-year-old fishing trawler, the last surviving vessel from a fleet built in a small northern New South Wales community, has sunk amid community restoration plans.The 1960s fishing trawler Pacific Venture sank overnight when a storm came through the NSW Mid North CoastIt is the last surviving vessel from a fleet of fishing trawlers built in the Camden Haven region. .”It was the last boat surviving of the fishing trawlers that were built in the Camden Haven in the 1960s and earlier. >>click to read<< 08:52
The NSW commercial fishing industry condemns offshore wind farm proposal for the Hunter and Illawarra regions
Tricia Beatty, Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Fishermen’s Association of NSW said today, “The proposal being considered by the Federal Government is ludicrous and will have a devastating impact on endangered, protected species as well as devastating our commercial fishing families and seafood consumers of New South Wales.” “The studies done to date demonstrates enough evidence that listed threatened species and ecological communities, as well as listed migratory species (protected under international agreements) will be impacted by the proposed wind farms. There is also some opinion amongst the scientific community that there is a link between both the increased mortality rate of whales alongside the expansion of offshore wind infrastructure on the busy coastal cities of New York and New Jersey, although this is still being studied. The areas proposed for the offshore windfarms is in the migratory path of important species such as southern right whales (one of the most endanger large whale species in the world) and humpback whales”, said Ms Beatty. >click to read< 08:40
Trawlers concerned about impacts of ocean wind farms as marine park management plan drafted
A group representing fishermen in south-east Australia says it will be forced to stop cooperating with offshore wind projects in Bass Strait if shark fishing is further restricted in marine parks. The South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association, which represents fishermen and sellers in South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales, said it was concerned about a ban on the practice. It comes as a new South-east Marine Parks Network Management Plan is drafted. “Our concern is shark fishing with hooks and gill nets and that that will be stopped in some of these marine parks,” trawl fishing association chief executive Simon Boag said. He said fishers could lose 4,000 square kilometres of shark fishing grounds in Gippsland because of wind farms. >click to read< 18:35
New South Wales: Stop the prawn farming, save the commercial fishermen
I’m Elih Brooks. 5th generation baker fisherman in Yamba. I currently work on ocean trawlers catching king prawns on the FV Little River. I’m starting this petition to help our river fishermen as they haven’t been able to get to work this season or for at least 2 years at this rate, mainly due to prawn farming. Some of these fishermen are family friends and it hurts me to see how much they’re struggling and everyone else is literally in the same boat. These people are like the rest of us, they have mortgages, families to provide for and so much more it’s disgusting to see that our government isn’t doing nothing about it and I want to change that with these signatures so please help our FISHERMEN !!! >click to sign the petition< 10:46
Salvage of sunken commercial fishing boat in Port of Eden nears completion
The salvage of the Janet, the commercial fishing boat that sank at Eden in the early hours of April 20, is almost complete. It took attempts by two salvors to successfully bring the purse seiner back up to the surface this week, almost a month after it first became partially submerged. The local vessel was carrying 50 tonnes of salmon when it began taking on water at the middle wharf of Eden Port and despite efforts of Fire and Rescue NSW and the owner to try to prevent the partially submerged boat from sinking further, it was inundated with water and went to the bottom. > click to read < 12:44
Fishing trawler, filled with fish, sinks at Eden wharf
A 30-metre trawler, filled with 50 tonnes of salmon, has sunk at the Eden wharf on the NSW Far South Coast. Fire and Rescue NSW were called to reports of a partially submerged fishing trawler around 3:30am, which was discovered by the captain and crew. Inspector Phil Eberle said 50 tonnes of salmon on board was secured into the hull prior to the vessel completely sinking about 30 minutes later. “The crews have got in quickly and organised the captain and deckhand to secure the hatches before it went under,” he said. “We didn’t have fish floating all through the harbour.” >click to read< 18:16
Northern NSW floods trigger mass fish kill with hundreds of thousands lining riverbanks, beaches
Fishermen have lost homes to the floods, nets and traps have been swept away, and now their livelihood is washing up dead on riverbanks and beaches along the New South Wales North Coast. Day by day the industry is counting the cost, financial and emotional, as the flooding disaster turns into an ecological one. “We’ve got juvenile fish, we’ve got big fish, we’ve got all the major species. So we’ve got sea mullet, bream, flathead, whiting, and then all the small fish, we’ve got toadfish, all sorts of things,” The majority of suppliers to the Ballina Fishermen’s Co-operative rely on the river, whether they fish out of it or at sea. >click to read< 13:30
The 100-year-old NSW fisherman who has spent his life trawling
A lifelong professional fisherman is still braving rough seas in a tiny old trawler at the ripe old age of 100. Santo knows the Hawkesbury River better than anyone, having been on the water for much of his life as a dedicated commercial fisherman. He continues to head out on the waters of Broken Bay north of Sydney with his son Robert, 71, two nights a week as his 101st birthday in November approaches. >click to read< 09:02
Tuna Longliner Mira Š: the newest addition to Klokan Fishing, based at Port Stephens in New South Wales
When blessing a new boat, it’s considered bad luck if the bottle of champagne doesn’t break. As luck would have it, when 16-year-old Mira Skoljarev swung the bottle hard at the Mira Š tuna longliner named after her, the bottle didn’t do what was expected of it. Building the boat was a little over a two-year journey, stretching from April 2019 to May 2021. ‘It was blood, sweat, and tears – literally. Mira Š was designed by Oceantech in Adelaide 
and built by CTB Industries in Kooragang, Newcastle. The internal fit-out was done over five months by an army of tradespeople, and John. Video, photos, At the boat’s helm is skipper Dieter Wagener, who moved with his wife to Australia from South Africa in January 2021. >click to read< 20:46
‘Nothing good in this reform’ – Controversial fishing reforms in NSW – More debt, less certainty
A long-awaited report has found the New South Wales Government’s sweeping fishing industry reforms, which were supposed to solve major structural problems, have plunged fishermen into debt and business insecurity. The number of commercial fishermen dropped from a high of 3,500 in the 1980s to 1,100 prior to the reforms, and 300 have left since. In 2016, the NSW Government tried to address the overallocation of fishing licences during the 1990s and early 2000s, to prevent overfishing, and restore the sector to profit. The Business Adjustment Package (BAP) was designed to 
help inactive or older fishermen retire their licences. >click to read< 12:54
A page with a lot of posts on the NSW Government Fishery Reforms, such as Catch Shares New South Wales Style – Half the Small Boat Fishermen will disappear, >click to read<
New Fishing Boat Launched In Nelson Bay
THE newest Licenced Fishing Boat (LFB) has arrived in the Bay after a twenty year journey. Built in the Bay in times when the fleet has been shrinking, the Coralie is a testament to the quality of our local businesses that have risen to the challenge of a new build. It is important in these times to maintain food security and the fishing fleet is one aspect of our nations food security. The trawler was built over a 20 year period by locals Ted and Brad Mcleay. It was finally launched successfully at d’Albora Marina’s Nelson Bay. >click to read< 06:22
Whale entanglements in NSW waters hits new record
Marine Wildlife Project Officer with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Andrew Marshall, said between May and September there were 35 reported whale entanglements off the NSW coast and only a handful of successful rescues.,,, Mr Marshall said it was a common misconception that whales were mainly getting tangled in shark nets or marine debris. “That just doesn’t stack up with our data; in the vast majority of cases, it’s not debris and less than 10 per cent is nets,” he said. Mr Marshall said it was fantastic to see humpback whale numbers recovering and booming, but that also meant there would be an increasing number becoming entangled. >click to read< 10:52
Commercial fisherman Ross Miller, 90, still building prawn trawlers despite concerns about industry’s future
Building a commercial prawn trawler at the age of 90 as the fishing industry undergoes change in New South Wales would be viewed as the ultimate in optimism. Ross Miller has fished for decades around Coffs Harbour on the mid-north coast after starting in Sydney in his early teens in a career which has included building and running ferries as well as fishing boats. He has lost count of how many boats he has built, although the latest venture is the ninth to bear the name Kirra. >click to read< 08:22
Four fishermen rescued off the coast New South Wales
Four men are lucky to be alive after they were rescued from a sinking trawler off the south coast of New South Wales on Saturday morning. A rescue chopper was sent out to the scene at Bengunnu Point at Mimoso Rocks National Park, south of Canberra after an alert was sent out by the men at 6.20am on Saturday. The men’s ship allegedly hit rocks in the peninsula causing it to start sinking. A large amount of floating debris of the trawler was found in the waters and on a nearby beach. >click to read<12:56
Trawler tragedy survivor’s poetic tribute to skipper lost at sea
It has been a decade since Michael Williams collapsed on a beach naked, sunburnt and exhausted after a 10-hour swim from a sinking prawn trawler. He managed to help guide rescuers to his crewmate John “JJ” Jarrett, who was eventually saved after more than 30 hours clinging to a red plastic tub off the coast of Byron Bay in northern New South Wales. But the boat’s skipper, Alan “Charlie” Picton, was never found. To mark the 10-year anniversary, Mr Williams has released a book of poetry called Sea Rogue (also the name of the sunken trawler), which tells the story of the tragedy and pays tribute to his crewmates. >click to read<12:14
“A privilege to grow old”: Trawler survivor writes book
Ten years after the Sea Rogue prawn trawler sunk, survivor Michael Williams said it is a privilege to get to grow old. Mr Williams has announced that he is releasing a spoken-word poetry book about the tragic events that unfolded, beginning on February 27, 2008. That fateful day, Mr Williams swam for 10 hours and more than 16kms, after the prawn trawler sunk when its net was caught on the below reef. Mr Williams told The Daily Examiner in 2014 that crew members John Jarratt (JJ), Alan “Charlie” Picton and himself all had to swiftly escape out of the cabin window. All they had was a red tub to cling onto. >click to read<15:51
Businessmen fined a historic $2 million for overfishing rock lobster
Australian rock lobsters are the best in the world but after they started to disappear from unlimited fishing, the government decided the expensive crustacean was going to be fiercely protected. And that was the expensive lesson a number of Wollongong businessmen learnt yesterday after a judge in the coastal city handed down the biggest fines ever given for illegal fishing in NSW history. The group of men, who were part of the fishing company that engaged in the major scam, the seafood restaurant that bought them and anyone associated with the crime, were fined a whopping $2.1 million. click here to read the story 11:16
Big, new D&D fishing catamaran arrives home in Narooma
The town of Narooma came out in big numbers to greet the big new commercial fishing boat the D&D when it sailed through the bar crossing after its maiden voyage. The 25-metre, state-of-the-art, long-lining catamaran was built for the Abbott family of Narooma and will now be a unmissable fixture at the town wharf. The three siblings, Ryan, Todd and Hayley, still only in their 20s, commissioned the vessel to take their business the next step, to deliver the fresh seafood that they value add, selling it direct out of the factory, at markets and to restaurants. photo’s, click here to read the story 20:32
Gold Coast prawn prices ‘highest in 35 years’ ahead of Christmas according to seafood shops
Seafood lovers have been told to brace for an expensive festive season with Gold Coast prawn prices already at a 35-year high at some retailers. The price of large king prawns, at $40 a kilogram, are already at Christmas peak levels.“I’ve never seen prices this high at this time of year,” said Tasman Star Seafoods co-owner Peter Duncombe. The price hike has been blamed on major reforms in the NSW commercial fishing industry have resulted in fewer prawn boats out on the water, a “fizzer” start to the season for trawlers, and a fallout from the devastating white spot disease which shut down Gold Coast prawn farms this year. click here to read the story 15:45
Drone adds modern twist to an age-old fishing method for fourth generation Eden fisherman
His great grandfather arrived in Eden in the mid 1800s, and each successive generation has entered the fishing industry — from trapping and beach fishing to pioneering the lucrative bluefin tuna fishery using pole and live bait, then later purse seine trawling using light aircraft for fish spotting. After a long career as a commercial fisherman, Mr Fourter has now returned to his childhood passion catching salmon and mullet off the beaches of Twofold Bay and the Eden coast using the traditional beach seine method. He shoots a 300-metre-long net from a 16-foot rowboat around a patch of schooling fish. Excellent video, click here to read the story 10:05
Fishing inquiry calls for more money for adjustment and an urgent assessment of fishing stocks
An inquiry into commercial fishing in New South Wales has recommended the Government find more money to help fishermen adjust to reforms. $16 million dollars has been put aside to help fishermen buy extra shares to stay in the industry, but many have claimed that won’t be enough. Chair of the inquiry Robert Brown said about $20 million might be required. “No fisher, none of these small businesses should be left hanging,” he said. The reforms were aimed at removing a large number of “latent” licences from the industry but Mr Brown said those licences should have been handled differently from active licences held by working fishermen. continue reading the story here 20:21
