European super trawler set to plunder Australian waters

[HUNTRESS]

European super trawler set to plunder Australian waters

14 Jun 2012

CONTROVERSIAL super trawler, the FV Margiris, a giant vessel measuring 143 metres long, with a net 600 metres long and a capacity of 9500 tonnes is set to target baitfish in Australian waters.

The super trawler that has caused controversy for its role in fishing off Europe and West Africa is now coming to Australia, courtesy of SeaFish Tasmania in a joint venture with its Lithuanian owners.

According to a report in Tasmania's Examiner, the massive trawler will be based in Devonport from where it will target slimy (blue) mackerel baitfish along the Eastern seaboard in Commonwealth waters, from Queensland down to Tasmania and across to Western Australia.

The vessel has a total allowable catch of 18,000 tonnes a year, freezes its catch on-board, and can stay at sea for six to eight weeks at a time. The frozen mackerel blocks will reportedly be cold stored in Devonport, and shipped out to West Africa and Asia.

The move is understandably causing widespread uproar among recreational and commercial fishers and environmental groups, due to valid concerns over the long term impact such large scale harvesting will have on the marine food chain.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said the organisation had confronted the Margiris off the coast of Mauritania in March, for its role in what it says is overfishing in the North Sea and South Pacific ''to the point of plunder''.

The environmental group claims the industrial super-trawler is part of the European Association of pelagic freezer trawlers (PFA), responsible for "some of the worst fishing excesses on the planet.''

It said PFA vessels had been reponsible for jack mackerel stocks off Chile plummeting by 90 per cent.

"There has never been a trawler of this scale in Australian waters to my understanding before and that is a serious concern that we just don't know what effect it will have on the food chain," Greens MP Kim Booth said.

However, Australian unions are supporting the trawler because the majority of crew will be from Tasmania and the Federal Government says vigorous checks will be applied to its catch rates.

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try the trawler in canberra no baitfish but a huge batfish there with enough hot air to stop the freezer

ken on 15-Jun-12 04:35 AM

Yep thats right "STOP" us from fishing in scientific studied fish zones & let other countries come in & slaughtering our fisheries,, all for money!! mabe we should give the goverment more money to fish as thats all it takes by the sounds of it!! They already take money from us for fishing wich should be every Australian free right please explain???

Brett on 14-Jun-12 09:30 PM

FROM THE FISHING WORLD WEBSITE

[alba zola]

European super trawler set to plunder Australian waters

14 Jun 2012

CONTROVERSIAL super trawler, the FV Margiris, a giant vessel measuring 143 metres long, with a net 600 metres long and a capacity of 9500 tonnes is set to target baitfish in Australian waters.

The super trawler that has caused controversy for its role in fishing off Europe and West Africa is now coming to Australia, courtesy of SeaFish Tasmania in a joint venture with its Lithuanian owners.

According to a report in Tasmania's Examiner, the massive trawler will be based in Devonport from where it will target slimy (blue) mackerel baitfish along the Eastern seaboard in Commonwealth waters, from Queensland down to Tasmania and across to Western Australia.

The vessel has a total allowable catch of 18,000 tonnes a year, freezes its catch on-board, and can stay at sea for six to eight weeks at a time. The frozen mackerel blocks will reportedly be cold stored in Devonport, and shipped out to West Africa and Asia.

The move is understandably causing widespread uproar among recreational and commercial fishers and environmental groups, due to valid concerns over the long term impact such large scale harvesting will have on the marine food chain.

Greenpeace oceans campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said the organisation had confronted the Margiris off the coast of Mauritania in March, for its role in what it says is overfishing in the North Sea and South Pacific ''to the point of plunder''.

The environmental group claims the industrial super-trawler is part of the European Association of pelagic freezer trawlers (PFA), responsible for "some of the worst fishing excesses on the planet.''

It said PFA vessels had been reponsible for jack mackerel stocks off Chile plummeting by 90 per cent.

"There has never been a trawler of this scale in Australian waters to my understanding before and that is a serious concern that we just don't know what effect it will have on the food chain," Greens MP Kim Booth said.

However, Australian unions are supporting the trawler because the majority of crew will be from Tasmania and the Federal Government says vigorous checks will be applied to its catch rates.

Share on emailEmailinShare.0reader comments

try the trawler in canberra no baitfish but a huge batfish there with enough hot air to stop the freezer

ken on 15-Jun-12 04:35 AM

Yep thats right "STOP" us from fishing in scientific studied fish zones & let other countries come in & slaughtering our fisheries,, all for money!! mabe we should give the goverment more money to fish as thats all it takes by the sounds of it!! They already take money from us for fishing wich should be every Australian free right please explain???

Brett on 14-Jun-12 09:30 PM

FROM THE FISHING WORLD WEBSITE

I think its a really good idea we find out who the the member who made this decision is! and start a group to bring hell on him.... This is not good at all for Australia... Cant believe it. Actually I can... It usually takes a labour government 4 years to root the country

[scaffsta]

That totally SUCKS.

[shak4g63]

Omg that's too much, why not give every fisherman dynamite and decimate fish stocks because this super trawler will

[onearmedfisho]

Omg that's too much, why not give every fisherman dynamite and decimate fish stocks because this super trawler will

+1

[fishy]

Will we see this thing working the carpark next feb?

[joel.pringle]

Federal Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig

http://www.maff.gov.au/contact

Any Queensland fishraiders should visit his office to let him know your views.

Hrgh

[mrmoshe]

ABC radio in Hobart did a piece with both

for and against having their say.

Some interesting facts too like it's an Aussie company that's leased the ship.

http://blogs.abc.net.au/tasmania/2012/06/debate-about-supertrawler-to-operate-out-of-devonport.html

[tunastrike]

commercial fishing has already caused a massive decline in fishstocks why do we have to have a ship like that in our waters targeting baitfish doesnt take a expert to work out it will more than likely be hitting the best fishing spots where the bait holds.What a goverment.

[Ian J]

Yep Labour has F55ked everything its touched, THIS will be NO different.

Totally disgusting

And good on you Unions short sighted or what, what about the thousands of jobs that you will be destroying when there's no fish left.

[kadavu]

got no hope honestly and no matter how hard u lobby against it

[pjbink]

I think you will find that the quota for these baitfish has not changed - ie the same number of baitfish would be caught whether the super trawler was here or not.

Edited June 16, 2012 by billfisher

[little marlin]

This is an outrage, how hypocritical of our government,someone needs to do something about this and all us recreational and pro fisho's should bond together and give the government a good stir up. No good whining and crying on here lets all get together and do something about this Stop being pessimistic girlie mans

Edited June 16, 2012 by little marlin

[Aspherious]

not going to be long before there is nothing left, gone will be the days of the family fishing trip. the human race is a virus on this planet, our greed will eventually be the end of us. its a sad moment that we create such a monstrosity to rape our already slaughted fish stocks. i only wonder at what point will we wake upto ourselves.

[pjbink]

not going to be long before there is nothing left, gone will be the days of the family fishing trip. the human race is a virus on this planet, our greed will eventually be the end of us. its a sad moment that we create such a monstrosity to rape our already slaughted fish stocks. i only wonder at what point will we wake upto ourselves.

I think a few of you are missing the point - the quota hasn't changed. The same number of baitfish would have been caught by several smaller boats if the super trawler wasn't here.

[JimT]

I think a few of you are missing the point - the quota hasn't changed. The same number of baitfish would have been caught by several smaller boats if the super trawler wasn't here.

....even if this quota not changing is acceptable, it still means a lot of smaller operators will lose business and profits going offshore....

Jim...

[frostie]

Don't kid yourselfs, a boat of that size arrives but the quota doesn't change, I would like to know the full story we would be getting the usuall political spin so as to try to keep all calm.

At least the smaller operaters would take smaller amounts of the schools of fish where as the size and capacity of those nets will simply take full schools, if all taken from particular areas one could only assume that the food chain would be affected.

It's a sad state of affairs when even after all the bungled policies and lies told by our government daily, people still have the faith to believe they are telling the truth today.

It's baffling that around the same time of announcing all these new marine parks in the name of conserving the marine environment, the government in all it's wisdom allows fishing of this size and calibre.

I'm not a greeny, but gee whiz we've gotta give the fish some chance don't we?

[Dfishin]

And i imagine the bycatch of this vessel would be much greater than smaller vessels. Imagine how many tuna and marlin , sharks and dolphins would become bycatch chasing these schools around ?

[barnzey]

commercial fishing has already caused a massive decline in fishstocks why do we have to have a ship like that in our waters targeting baitfish doesnt take a expert to work out it will more than likely be hitting the best fishing spots where the bait holds.What a goverment.

Just ask yourself where do all those pillies and other bait fish appear from when you're cubing blocks you bought from the servo for tuna. There no magic as to where they appear from.

There will always be a decline in fish stocks if you're harvesting from a population, the question should be is it sustainable?

If they've been catching this quota for the last 10 years and there hasn't been a change in stock status then it would seem so. (Although I haven't checked the quota of baitfish caught or the length of time it's been changed)

It is a small blow for aussie jobs though...

[Dangas]

Just ask yourself where do all those pillies and other bait fish appear from when you're cubing blocks you bought from the servo for tuna. There no magic as to where they appear from.

There will always be a decline in fish stocks if you're harvesting from a population, the question should be is it sustainable?

If they've been catching this quota for the last 10 years and there hasn't been a change in stock status then it would seem so. (Although I haven't checked the quota of baitfish caught or the length of time it's been changed)

It is a small blow for aussie jobs though...

Very good points... The problem could be that the information on which the quotas are set, may be outdated. Perhaps the quotas set are too high to begin with.

This super trawler has a quota set at 18000 tonnes of baitfish per annum. Thats equivalent to about 10000 cars in weight. Thats more cars than all the cars in stock in every car dealership in sydney combined.

With fuel prices going up and profits in mind, this super trawler would not be going too far from its port to catch its target. Imagine 18000 tonnes of baitfish being taken from Tasmanian local waters and think of the effect it would have in that area.

[barnzey]

Very good points... The problem could be that the information on which the quotas are set, may be outdated. Perhaps the quotas set are too high to begin with.

This super trawler has a quota set at 18000 tonnes of baitfish per annum. Thats equivalent to about 10000 cars in weight. Thats more cars than all the cars in stock in every car dealership in sydney combined.

With fuel prices going up and profits in mind, this super trawler would not be going too far from its port to catch its target. Imagine 18000 tonnes of baitfish being taken from Tasmanian local waters and think of the effect it would have in that area.

Yep, if the quota was set too high, you would expect a fall in stock status. Although it is difficult to assess fish stocks with catch rates, if there's a significant fall in catch rates then I'm sure they will put the quota on a stock management plan.

I was under the impression that they would be only fishing in commonwealth waters, so not exactly tasmanian local waters. I don't think the cost of fuel is going to inhibit the ships movements, especially if it has travelled from Europe and South Africa.

I was wrong about the loss of jobs, it looks like they're employing tasmanians on the ship.

[breezen]

According to this article the AFMA has doubled quotas for small pelagic's ? The article is from greenpeace though so im sure the info needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but still makes for an interesting read!

http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/en/mediacentre/media-releases/oceans/Tasmanian-Conservation-Trust-Australian-Marine-Conservation-Society--Greenpeace-on-for-Australian-Government-to-reject-giant-fishing-trawler/

[fishmaniac]

Local recreational fishermen having to pay a feee to fish and potentially locked out of 40% of OUR Australian coastline.

18000 Tonnes of fish taken from Australian waters mainly to be exported to other countries.

Quotes, jobs? Who cares seriously.

Get lost and fish out your own bloody oceans.

Either that or the government may as well abolish the recreational fees and marine parks.

[finin]

Well the sorta goood news is that Greenpeace have wrapped chains around the Props They have also chained themselves to the mooring ropes . Dont have a lot of time for greenies but ill back em for the trawler. Vessel was meant to leave Norway(i think)2 days ago but obviously are unable too!

[tunastrike]

Why does the goverment let a ship like that come to work here cant understand it.We should be farming fish to eat not taking huge amounts like that out of the ocean crazy.

Edited June 29, 2012 by tunastrike