Tag Archives: West Australia
West Australian crabber invents new pot, triples his catch rate, and has best season in 15 years
It is an industry that has suffered disastrous blows including a marine heatwave in 2011, flood waters that caused the stock to decimate and a local industry shutdown for three years. However, managing director Peter Jecks said this year was the best season in a long time. At the start of the 2019/2020 season the Jecks family, who own and operate the fishery, were faced with a dilemma that saw them invest more than $400,000 into developing a plastic-injection molded crab pot. Mr Jecks said it turned out to be a revelation in catching efficiencies. photo’s, video >click to read< 09:23
Lobster back on the menu for recovering China
In a welcome sign that life in China returning to normal, tonnes of rock lobster has left Perth for Shanghai in the past few days.The lobster left on return flights after mining billionaire Andrew Forrest and the West Australian government organised the delivery of medical equipment from China.Separate to those flights, it is understood the first air shipment of seafood and other fresh produce under the Morrison government’s $110 million rescue package for exporters will depart on Thursday.The indications China has regained its appetite for high-end Australian produce comes with local consumers set to enjoy an abundance of seafood at rock bottom prices on Good Friday. >click to read< 16:39
West Australian Government accused of basing decision not to reopen commercial shark fishery on politics, not science
Fisheries Minister Joe Francis said the fishery would remain closed. “Reopening the metropolitan shark fishery is frequently touted as an indirect method of reducing white shark numbers and the risk of attacks. However, the evidence doesn’t support this,” he said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the fisheries department said Mr Francis’s comment was not based on a study by the department. The Western Australian Shark Fishing Association also believed politics was behind the Government’s decision. “It’s got nothing to do with the stock sustainability issue,” president Brian Scimone said. “It’d be a public thing, a political thing, a recreational thing.” Mr Scimone said shark numbers had built up due to a lack of fishing. “The public, the recreational fishing section, the Government, the fisheries associated with the Government, should start listening to the shark fishermen,” he said. “Bring our quotas back into consideration for use and let us do us our job in a sustainable fishery. Read the story here 08:21
