The outcast super-trawler Margiris has found a new place to go – one of the world’s most troubled jack mackerel fisheries in the South Pacific.
Jack mackerel catches in the region peaked at nearly 5 million tonnes a year around 1995 before collapsing in what fisheries scientists regard as a classic case of overfishing – much of it by super-trawlers.
The finance director of the ship’s Dutch company, Dirk Van der Plas, declined to comment on why the South Pacific fishery was chosen.
“Our fishing operations, areas and plans are commercially sensitive,” Mr Van der Plas said by email.
But he confirmed jack mackerel was in the ship’s sights. “The Margiris is a pelagic fishing vessel, and jack mackerel is a pelagic fish.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/banned-supertrawler-in-new-troubled-waters-20130419-2i4j4.html#ixzz2QtNQykqq
