Super-trawler fears justified: Liberal backing lashed

Friday: LIBERALS BACK SUPER TRAWLER
Despite Fears Over Local Fishing Jobs and UN Rio Summit Report Detailing Plunging Fish Stocks

The Tasmanian Greens today said the Liberals had broken their silence over the super trawler, the FV Margiris, by enthusiastically supporting its arrival in Tasmania.

Greens Member for Braddon Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran MP said he welcomed Senator Richard Colbeck’s letter to the Advocate newspaper, exposing the Liberals’ support for the trawler, but said that the Senator’s faith in the positive impact of one of the world’s biggest floating factory trawlers on Tasmania was not justified and is out of step with reality.

“Senator Colbeck evidently needs to read the article one page back from the Advocate’s letters page, showing a half-page photo of thousands of dead fish, with the headline “Earth’s life-support functions on brink: UN”.

“The fifth edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), launched on the eve of the UN Rio 20+20 Earth Summit ( http://www.earthsummit2012.org/about-us ) assessed 90 of the most-important environmental goals and objectives and found that significant progress had only been made in four, and details the global “unprecedented deterioration in fish stocks.” *

“With this as backdrop, Mr Colbeck is a cheerleader for the very practices which have led to this crisis and the Margiris is at the sharp end of this unsustainable plunder of the oceans.”

“Mr Colbeck suggests my comparison of “Northern Hemisphere events has no context in Australia”. By “events”, Mr Colbeck is presumably referring to the decimation of fish stocks the Margiris and other super trawlers.”

“The reason the Margiris is heading to Australia is because there are no fish left there. That is the context.”

“As for jobs, the human-scale local fishing fleet which currently exists in the North-West is far more jobs rich and sustainable than a voracious predator like the Margiris. Our local fishing fleets need more support. What they don’t need is the Margiris. The North-West is better off without it, as everyone except Senator Colbeck knows,” said Mr O’Halloran.

* The report goes on to detail the global “unprecedented deterioration in fish stocks,” (details below) .

• Marine protected areas have proven in many cases to be effective conservation tools, with recent surveys showing higher fish populations inside reserves than in surrounding areas and in the same areas before reserves were established.

Separate recent academic research shows that unsustainable practices include the following:

“On the basis of recently released data on the Australian importation of fresh or frozen fish for the canned cat food industry, here we show that the estimated amount of raw fishery products directly utilized by the cat food industry equates to 2.48 million metric tonnes per year. This estimate, plus the previously reported global fishmeal consumption for the production of dry pet food suggest that 13.5% of the total 39.0 million tonnes of wild caught forage fish is used for purposes other than human food production.”

De Silva, S.S. and Turchini, G.M. (2008). Towards Understanding the Impacts of the Pet Food Industry on World Fish and Seafood Supplies. Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics 21: 459–467.6

Thursday: NORTH-WEST FISHING COMMUNITY’S SUPER TRAWLER FEARS JUSTIFIED

The Tasmanian Greens today spoke up in defence of Tasmania’s local human-scale fishing fleet and crews and their families, especially those operating out of North-West ports.

Greens Member for Braddon Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran MP said the large volume of calls, emails and face-to-face talks were making clear the scale of anxiety in the North-West over what the super trawler FV Margiris could do to the area’s local fishing industry.

“The FV Margiris is one of the world’s biggest super trawlers, a few metres short of the world’s largest,” said Mr O’Halloran.

“It is a floating factory ship which stands accused of moving from fish stock to the next, collapsing them and then moving on, like a voracious predator, without a care about its impact on people, communities and fish stocks.”

“Local fishing industry, recreational fisherman, environmentalists and the general public understandably want the Margiris out of Tasmanian ports and out of Australian waters.”

“There is one single reason the shadow of the Margiris has now fallen across Devonport: corporate profit.”

“This isn’t about jobs or sustainable fishing, it’s about cowboy economics; plundering Australian fish stocks and then moving on to the next, without a thought for what it leaves behind.”

“The Greens are determined that Tasmania’s far more sustainable human-scale fishing fleet will not be left in its wake, worse off when the Margiris moves on to plunder fish stocks somewhere else.”

”Seafish Tasmania’s claim that the catch will be regulated is simply not good enough. This 142m ship has the potential to have a much greater impact than the smaller local boats that generally fish these waters in a sustainable way.”

“Removing pelagic red bait and mackerel from the West Coast will impact our entire oceanic ecosystem. Larger predators further up the food chain will simply move on or suffer. Seals, sharks, tuna, marlin, dolphins and sea birds will be faced with an environment that contains less food for them but more profit for Seafish Tasmania.”

“Local recreational and industry fisherman have worked hard to maintain sustainable fisheries for Tasmania and allowing this ship to operate in our waters will undermine their hard work and goodwill, as well as our valuable clean and green brand that so many jobs currently rely on.”

“Seafish Tasmania reportedly said this venture will create 40 jobs, but will these jobs be long term? How will they compensate for local jobs lost? How will they compensate for decimated fish stocks?”
“This appears to be classic case of Big Business taking precedence over what is both best for Tasmania and what Tasmanians want,” said Mr O’Halloran.

• SENATOR THE HON RICHARD COLBECK

Environment Minister Tony Burke is applying breath-taking double standards with his current insistence that the Queensland Government front up to him with scientific information.

“The recreational and commercial fishing sectors have been calling on Minister Burke for months now to front up with detailed scientific information to back up his planned marine parks network,” Coalition Fisheries Spokesman Richard Colbeck said.

“Their calls have been repeatedly ignored, yet Minister Burke is front and centre in the media this week demanding the same sort of work from the Queensland Government.

“In the case of the Queensland Government and the Alpha Coal project, Minister Burke is telling anyone who will listen that he can’t possibly make an informed decision without suitable scientific information.

“Why isn’t he applying the same yardstick to his decisions about the boundaries of marine parks?

“In reference to the situation with Queensland, Minister Burke says he’s not willing to have “a situation where I give an approval of some description based on dud information”, and that that would be “a disastrous outcome for jobs and a disastrous outcome for the environment.”

“So why is he willing to use dud information and risk jobs when it comes to locking up our marine resources?

“It is very rich of Minister Burke to be grandstanding like this over “scientific information” given we have been asking him for the science on marine park declarations for months now.

“The truth is, Minister Burke is deciding the boundaries of marine parks based on his own political agenda and whim.

“Representative from the Environment Department have even told stakeholders that there is no science behind his proposal to lock up the Coral Sea, and Minister Burke has himself told fishers that it is a payoff for the scale of lock-up in the Temperate East.

“Minister Burke accuses the Queensland Government of a “shambolic” and a “joke” process. Takes one to know one, Minister,” Senator Colbeck said.

First published: 2012-06-07 03:00 AM

• Kim Booth, Saturday:

The Tasmanian Greens today said the Liberals marked World Oceans Day by breaking their silence over the super trawler, the FV Margiris, and enthusiastically supporting its arrival in Tasmania.

Greens Primary Industries spokesperson Kim Booth MP said Senator Richard Colbeck’s letter to the Advocate newspaper makes clear the Liberals’ support for the trawler, and said that the Senator’s faith in the positive impact of one of the world’s biggest floating-factory trawlers on Tasmania was unjustified and out of step with reality.

“It seems Senator Colbeck is unaware that yesterday was World Oceans Day or, if he was, he has a very unusual way of celebrating it,” said Mr Booth.

“When the UN has just issued a report detailing how global fish stocks are seeing an ‘unprecedented deterioration’, with 90% of fish poisoned by pesticides and 77% of the world’s fisheries fully exploited, over exploited or depleted, Mr Colbeck is cheerleading the ongoing plunder of the oceans which has caused this crisis.”

“Common sense suggests that the bigger the ship and the bigger the nets, the fewer the fish, which is why so many Tasmanians, whose livelihoods depend on healthy, functioning marine ecosystems, are so worried.”

“In opposition to the Labor and Liberal parties, the Greens have a history of calling for marine protected areas, one upshot of which is healthier fish stocks.”

“The UN report notes that ‘marine protected areas have proven in many cases to be effective conservation tools, with recent surveys showing higher fish populations inside reserves than in surrounding areas and in the same areas before reserves were established’.”

“Mr Colbeck, writing in yesterday’s Advocate newspaper, would term this sustainable approach “alarmist”, but everyone else knows that the unsustainable plundering of fish stocks by floating factories like the Margiris is why fish stocks are being decimated.”

“The Greens will continue to defend the State’s local fishing fleet from voracious predators like the Margiris because it is in everyone’s interests to do so,” said Mr Booth.

Background:

The fifth edition of the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), launched on the eve of the UN Rio 20+20 Earth Summit ( http://www.earthsummit2012.org/about-us ) assessed 90 of the most-important environmental goals and objectives and found that significant progress had only been made in four, and details the global “unprecedented deterioration in fish stocks”.

The report also details:

• That catch sizes “have stabilized or diminished since [the 1950s] despite increased fishing”;.

• “In 2000, catches could have been 7-36 per cent higher were it not for stock depletion. This translated into economic losses to the value of US $6.4 – 36 billion”;

• “Commercial fisheries and overfishing are the main threat to stocks. Fish products certified by the Marine Stewardship Council constituted only 7 per cent of global fisheries in 2007.

• Marine protected areas have proven in many cases to be effective conservation tools, with recent surveys showing higher fish populations inside reserves than in surrounding areas and in the same areas before reserves were established.

Separate recent academic research shows that unsustainable practices include the following:

“On the basis of recently released data on the Australian importation of fresh or frozen fish for the canned cat food industry, here we show that the estimated amount of raw fishery products directly utilized by the cat food industry equates to 2.48 million metric tonnes per year. This estimate, plus the previously reported global fishmeal consumption for the production of dry pet food suggest that 13.5% of the total 39.0 million tonnes of wild caught forage fish is used for purposes other than human food production.”

De Silva, S.S. and Turchini, G.M. (2008). Towards Understanding the Impacts of the Pet Food Industry on World Fish and Seafood Supplies. Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics 21: 459–467.6