Supertrawler threat looming in the background

The Tasmanian Greens today called on the State Labor and Liberal parties to lobby their federal counterparts to commit to keeping the ban on supertrawlers.

Greens Member for Braddon, Paul O’Halloran MP, said that he shared the concerns of fishermen and environment groups that the temporary ban on the supertrawler could be discarded after the federal election.

“Tasmanian federal Labor and Liberal candidates are worryingly silent on standing up for Tasmanian interests on this issue, despite an overwhelming majority of Tasmanians making it clear that they don’t want this ship operating in our waters,” said Mr O’Halloran.

“There is no doubt that Seafish would be lobbying away behind the scenes trying to get the ban dropped, but so far neither federal Labor nor the federal Liberals have indicated how they intend to handle this issue after the election.”

“Only this week Kevin Rudd proved that he could not be trusted to work in the best interests of Tasmania’s forests, I would not be surprised if he fails our oceans as well.”

“The State Labor and Liberal parties supported a Greens’ motion in the House of Assembly that called for the supertrawler to be blocked from operating in our waters, but we are calling on them to now pressure their federal peers to commit to the ban.”

“We know from past record that the federal Liberals would allow this monster ship to operate in Tasmanian waters, but we don’t know if Rudd’s Labor’s silence on this issue indicates they could be preparing to backflip.”

“These ships have been the cause of collapsed fisheries all around the world, we need to protect our own marine environment from the same catastrophic fate.”

“They exhaust a resource, then pack up and move onto the next place. Tasmania cannot be the next place.”

“This is an opportunity to show some loyalty to the recreational and professional fishing industries, which contribute significantly to the Tasmanian economy, as well as to your unique and healthy marine ecosystems,” Mr O’Halloran said.
Paul O’Halloran MP Greens Member for Braddon