Tag Archives: Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council
Fishermen wary of seismic plans for Bass Strait waters
Andrew Smith wants to keep crayfishing long enough to put his children through school. But plans for further seismic testing off his Bass Strait home of King Island have him worried. Energy data company TGS wants to survey for gas across some 4.5 million hectares in the Otway Basin, which are Commonwealth waters between Tasmania and Victoria. Seismic testing has been shown to negatively impact whales as well as other marine life. Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council chief executive Julian Harrington said the testing area was adjacent to rock lobster and giant crab fisheries. He said the waters were a “larvae corridor” for rock lobsters, which have a 15 to 18 month larvae cycle. more, >>click to read<< 07:24
Individual transferable quota system hurting Tasmania’s fishing fleets
“ITQs have caused a decrease in owner operators and a decrease in active vessels in the fleet,, “Separation of ITQ ownership from the fishing sector has created a whole range of unintended consequences, which have ultimately seen the flow of majority of profits to investors, not the fishing fleet.” King Island Council deputy general manager Kate Mauric told the committee some fishermen felt disadvantaged due to contract management from investors, though this was not as pronounced on the island as elsewhere. >click to read< 10:54
Tasmania: Seafood, rock lobster industry receives state government relief package
Hundreds of struggling fishers, who have been hard hit in recent months, have received a much-needed cash relief. The state government announced a fee relief package of $663,000 for rock lobster and other commercial wild fishers. Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council’s chief executive Julian Harrington said the seafood industry, even more so, the rock lobster industry, were still recovering from the impacts of Coronavirus. “Cash flow margins for fishermen are very narrow and any financial support and fee relief is welcomed.” >click to read< 13:26
Oil company’s seismic testing approval creates waves in Tasmanian fishing industry
Tasmania’s fishing industry is “astounded” seismic testing has been given the green light by a national petroleum authority in Bass Strait as part of exploration plans by an oil and gas company.,, Researchers from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and Curtin University found in 2017 that noise from seismic airguns used for marine oil and gas exploration significantly increased mortality in scallops and zooplankton. John Hammond, a longtime fisherman and chairman of the Tasmanian Scallop Association, said seismic testing would be “very destructive” >click to read<11:16
‘Barely a scallop’: fears oil and gas exploration will destroy fishery
There are calls for a moratorium on seismic surveys by the oil and gas industry from members of the fishing industry after new Australian research shows it has serious impacts on invertebrates such as lobster, scallop, abalone and crab. The calls come as three different oil and gas companies have told industry bodies they want to carry out seismic explorations in Otway basin this summer. Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council (TSIC) chief executive, Julian Harrington, says: “This is a big issue for our industry and we now have research that backs our concerns.” >click to read<20:19
Tasmanian fishermen fed up with seal relocation into other fishing grounds
The relocation of problem seals from fish farms to the state’s North-West is causing anger among commercial fishers, who say their nets are being plundered by increasingly aggressive seals and their catches are significantly down. The transporting of seals away from salmon farms began in the 1990s as a temporary way of providing respite until better pen security measures were introduced. But almost 30 years later, a frustrated band of small mesh net fishermen say they have had enough and it is time for the State Government to stop rogue seals being moved away from pens and into other fishing grounds. “Relocating hungry seals from one enterprise to another is akin to moving a problem wild dog from one sheep farm to another.” click here to read the story 08:09
