Thread: super sized trawlers- no thanks!

So the governments stops this vessel from fishing because it beleives the science behind the setting of the T.A.C (quota ) may be flawed, but yet the quota itself hasn't been suspended, so 50 other boats can go out and catch the same amount of fish using the same science that set the T.A.C in the first place. mmmm interesting logic.

What abou the everyday fisherman who have leased their quota to the operaters, maybe its their retirerment plan after years of working.

This will be settled in the courts..

Cheers Ean

I think a bigger global problem is illegal trawler fishing in general: Both coasts of Africa are swarming with Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese and European trawlers that feel zip for international fishing agreements and for crossing international maritime borders.

They use gill nets and simply rape the coastlines.

Originally Posted by jakeslouw

I think a bigger global problem is illegal trawler fishing in general: Both coasts of Africa are swarming with Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese and European trawlers that feel zip for international fishing agreements and for crossing international maritime borders.

They use gill nets and simply rape the coastlines.

Three years of my life were spent on a patrol boat out of Darwin boarding taiwanese stern trawlers , and Indonesian fishing boats trying to enforce our fishing laws. The Indonesian boats I almost felt sorry for, just little wooden boats doing what they had done for a hundred years. But, they took trochus shell & shark fins. The Taiwanese took everything , using stern trawlers, we gave them a hard time, and more than one occassion we had a taiwanese fisherman with his knife against one of our boarding parties throat, and a 9 mm pistol against the taiwanese head.I can not believe our fishing industry would sell themselves out for a few silver dollars, Bob

Originally Posted by Ean Austral

So the governments stops this vessel from fishing because it beleives the science behind the setting of the T.A.C (quota ) may be flawed, but yet the quota itself hasn't been suspended, so 50 other boats can go out and catch the same amount of fish using the same science that set the T.A.C in the first place. mmmm interesting logic.

What abou the everyday fisherman who have leased their quota to the operaters, maybe its their retirerment plan after years of working.

This will be settled in the courts..

Cheers Ean

I know the science is sound as best it can be and this decision is all political with Labor running scared - emotion has won over science.

The Govt has broken one of its own objectives to make fisheries more efficient and one way this can be achieved is by economies of scale.

The Govt (you and I) will have major issues in Court and will have to pay out millions in compensation (I can assure you the Minister will have been receiving as a minimum weekly briefings on this for a long time) - it will cost us directly through compensation and through increases in the price of seafood. Fisheries Management is a full cost recovery industry, so this extra scientific work which will not achieve anything will have to be paid for by the fishing industry so costs will be passed onto us.

This is what happens when you create "Independent Statutory Authorities" to manage functions but when they exercise their authority and deliver decisions in line with their governing legislation that the Government does not like - then you just change the legislation to suit the Government - who will be next - the RBA when it does not deliver interest rate changes that the Government wants, Fair Work Aust or what about the Australian Electoral Commission when it makes electoral decisions that the Government does not agree with.

Not a good decision.

Garry

Originally Posted by garrycol

I know the science is sound as best it can be a

Garry

Could you please explain the science to a layman like me, as you know it is sound, Bob

Originally Posted by bob10

Originally Posted by garrycol

I know the science is sound as best it can be a

Garry

Could you please explain the science to a layman like me, as you know it is sound, Bob

Yes I'd like to hear it too, particularly the bit about the research being done a decade ago without any concept of the size of this vessel and it's ability to continue taking more fish out an area while normal sized trawlers have to return to port to empty their holds.

As I understand it the ban is two years for up-to-date research considering a vessel of this size.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Yes I'd like to hear it too, particularly the bit about the research being done a decade ago without any concept of the size of this vessel and it's ability to continue taking more fish out an area while normal sized trawlers have to return to port to empty their holds.

As I understand it the ban is two years for up-to-date research considering a vessel of this size.

The size of the vessel doesn't matter under a quota system. To operate a vessel with the amount of quota this one has, those other normal size trawlers would not be fishing anyway as their quota has likely been baught or leased by the operaters of the larger vessel.

Under Quota based management , it does not matter if 1 boat or 100 boats go fishing the total amount that can be caught in that fishery is still the same overall amount

Quota is not an endless number, so the fact that others trawlers have to go to port sooner or later doesn't effect the fishery in any way. The only thing it does is lengthen the time it takes for the total quota to be caught.

Cheers Ean

PS for what its worth I have spent many hours arguing with AFMA when I was on the Management Advisory Committee of the prawn fishery I was involved in.. I just think that the minister has got the handling of this totally wrong.. If the science is wrong shut the whole fishery down.

For those with an Australian subscription, Peter van Olsen explains it well



As a summary, the 'super trawler' has a net no larger than any other vessel. It is large because of the processing and freezing facilities on board. This allows it to fish further out to sea, where it is less likely to trap unwanted fish (so actually does less damage to the ecosystem). Its efficiencies of scale would also likely bring down the price of fish.

Because they have bought out other fisher's quotas, it won't actually bring in more fish than before, just cheaper fish and do less damage.

They have spent 7 years and millions of dollars trying to get accreditation and have some of the strictest rules against any trawler in the world, including a rule where a single caught dolphin means they must stop fishing immediately and review their operations.

So now, they will take away their efficient and safe boat, and go and trawl somewhere where no one cares about the environment, leaving us with a less efficient and environmentally-safe fleet, more expensive fish and a poor business reputation world wide.

Somewhat akin to the live cattle trade fiasco we saw not that long ago.