Coroner & Legal
Another Super Trawler heading to Australia
*Pic: Flashback to 2013 … The Margiris … rebadged Abel Tasman …
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, is joining members of the Stop the Trawler Alliance to oppose the impending arrival of a super trawler in Australia, and also to receive a 75,000-name petition calling for a permanent ban of large freezer factory trawlers.
“The super trawler recently re-flagged and renamed Geelong Star is heading to Australia, apparently with the blessing of the Federal Government but undoubtedly against the will of the vast majority of the Australian community,’’ Mr Wilkie said.
“The Geelong Star, at 94 metres in length and a capacity to hold 1,000 tonnes of fish, represents a dramatic increase in the industrialisation of Australia’s commercial fishing.
“I am concerned on a number of levels about this development including the depletion of localised fish stock, the impact on recreational fishing and the impact on other marine life including dolphins, seals and large sea birds.
“Moreover there remain serious doubts about the data on fish stock and just how significant the effect would be of a vessel of this size. I am advised there has been only limited additional research since the Margiris was banned in 2012.
“Concerns have also been raised with me over the operators of the Geelong Star. I note the allegation that some people associated with the vessel, at least historically, have been prosecuted for illegal fishing in other parts of the world.
“To meet the Government’s current ban on super trawlers, vessels have to be over 130 metres in length. But this was always just an arbitrary political fix for the Margiris episode.
“It is capacity that matters, not length. The Geelong Star, the latest freezer factory ship to be mooted to work Australia’s fishery, would be the largest fishing vessel to operate close to Australia for 20 years and is every bit as bad as the Margiris.”
• Lisa Singh, Carol Brown: Super Trawler petition
• Richard Colbeck: More new science for Small Pelagic Fishery