The recreational rock lobster and abalone fisheries on Tasmania’s east coast are being closed because of a potentially deadly shellfish toxin.
Health authorities are warning the spread of a toxic algal bloom is affecting the two species.
The waters from Marion Bay north to Eddystone Point are closed to recreational lobster and abalone fishers from midnight Thursday.
Mark Nikolai from the Tasmanian Association for Recreational Fishing says it is a shock, especially in the lead up to Christmas.
“The east coast, for recreational fishers for Tasmania, is the main spot where people go fishing,” he said.
“We catch 60 per cent of our total allowable catch off the east coast.”
Earlier this month, the toxic algae prompted a recall of mussels and a shut down of the scallop industry.
The east coast’s commercial rock lobster and abalone fisheries were also closed as a precaution.
Read the rest, ABC Online here
• What DPIPWE says, until it became ‘temporarily unavailable’
• What DHHS says, and in more detail, here
• Mercury: … and there are fears the toxin may spread to fin fish. Samples of flathead will be taken from the affected area and sent for testing. If those results come back positive, other fish species will be checked. HERE
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Comments (9)
Where is the proof of this toxic algae being present?...Never believe a single word Government agencies come out with..Seafood is a valuable resource, and as with all their marine parks and their concern for our oceans and environment, its all rubbish..Its all about having maximum fish stocks available for the Chinese to come and pillage and make big bucks from in the future..
So much for our CLEAN GREEN IMAGE, alas, that’s all is is, an image.
Jack Nimble.
I was recently reading about how the very appearance of seashores and the sea has become more murky in historical times due to humankind’s relentless harvesting of the oysters and other molluscs that formerly filtered so much of the water that washed against shores.
We have no idea how beautiful a much more crystalline surf must have been centuries ago, though a quick survey of a Tassie “working forest” might give us a rough idea of the magnitude of the world’s loss.
John Hayward
Excellent Job people i.e. John (and others #1&2) please put some science behind your insights before casting conspiracy theories.
GA,#4. The depletion of oyster beds around the world is a scientific and historical fact, I’m afraid.
The propensity of Tas Inc types to accuse critics of being conspiracy theorists is likewise a fact.
John Hayward
A good way for them to ban recreational fishing totally in Tasmania I suppose, and to keep this precious resource all to themselves and to the factory trawlers to decimate once stocks have built up, due to no recreational fishing..I hope recreational fishers have demanded a refund for their various licenses..
“I hope recreational fishers have demanded a refund for their various licenses..”
Government policy is NO REFUNDS. Licences run from 1/11/2012 to 31/10/2013. If you’ve just handed over $50.40 for your rec fishing licence, bad luck.
http://www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/ALIR-4YB2WH?open
Yes well then Big Red..Its about time all Australians instead of being so compliant and getting walked all over by Government, told them where to go and did totally the opposite of what they are told to do, in simple words as Iam merely a simple man…Its no wonder so many people rort the system is it?? The next thing will be a license for diseased shell fish..
John, I will hazard a guess that you were reading Charles Clover’s “The End of The Line”; I will not dispute that global oyster beds may have decreased in comparion to historical levels. However, what relevance does that bare to the topic of this article?