Wondering how many of you over there in Australia have been made aware of the ecological disaster heading our way . The Federal government has permitted the Dutch owned trawler the FV Margaris to operate out of Devonport with a license to catch 18 million kg of fish , and there is a chance this could double to to 36 million kg of fish . The Trawler will be netting for red bait and mackerel but obviously other species will be caught and killed during this process . But either way that is a lot of fish to take out of the ocean .
Taking that amount of fish out of the ocean has got to upset the ecological balance of sea life leading to all sorts of ongoing problems .eg. More shark attacks .

For you South Australians was reading this morning because of increasing anti trawler sentiment in Tassie the FV Margaris may instead be based in South Australia .

So far it seems to be local fishermen leading the fight to block this trawler , which is on it's way here now .There is a petition getting around , signed by Kelly Slatter which I guess we can access on line .

Screem loud and hard you don't need that there I have had a bit to do with the industry here , don't like what I see the word faaakwits comes to mind

just makes me sad that we are supposed to be the smartest inhabitant off this beautiful planet....yet we will still **** everything to fill our pockets with greed

Tassiedevel said...

Wondering how many of you over there in Australia have been made aware of the ecological disaster heading our way . The Federal government has permitted the Dutch owned trawler the FV Margaris to operate out of Devonport with a license to catch 18 million kg of fish , and there is a chance this could double to to 36 million kg of fish . The Trawler will be netting for red bait and mackerel but obviously other species will be caught and killed during this process . But either way that is a lot of fish to take out of the ocean .
Taking that amount of fish out of the ocean has got to upset the ecological balance of sea life leading to all sorts of ongoing problems .eg. More shark attacks .

For you South Australians was reading this morning because of increasing anti trawler sentiment in Tassie the FV Margaris may instead be based in South Australia .

So far it seems to be local fishermen leading the fight to block this trawler , which is on it's way here now .There is a petition getting around , signed by Kelly Slatter which I guess we can access on line .

Some big words getting thrown around there.
Ecological disaster,
Super trawler,
you used the term 18 million Kgs, rather than 18 000 tons to make it sound more than it really is.

Some perspective is definately needed here.

I do not condone foreign vessels operating Australian waters. It is however nothing new. They have come and gone for decades, somtimes entire fleets. The tight constraints they work under here make it uneconomical for them, so they leave.

In the 80's I was chief engineer on "Maria Luisa". It was at that time the largest fishing purse seiner in the country. We left the bight after the tuna season and went to Tassie to catch Jack Mackerel, an untapped recourse then and still now. The fish was unloaded in Triabuna onto a floating fish meal processing barge.

We would leave Tribunna early in the morning and be back in the afternoon with a full load of 300 tons. This happened on average every second day, only thing restricting us was the weather and the processing capability of the processing plant.We worked along side 4 other smaller purse seiners. Didn't take long for this relatively very small fleet to rack up 18 000 tons.

We sometimes had marine biologists on board. I had my own concerns about our impact on the stocks, after wittnessing the decline of the southern blue fin so I spoke with them about it. They all said the same thing. "The good thing about pelargics like mackerel is their ability to recover from population decimations. Besides, What we were removing was immeasureable compared to the biomass. It is the most frolific scale fish on the planet".

The point I am trying to make is that 18 000 tons might sound like a lot to the layman, It is nothing on the grand scale of things.

Australian companies have for decades tried and failed to make a quid out of Makerel. Its just too low in value so it is still an untapped resource. I can compare this to the North sea Mackerel fishery where I worked for a while. It has been getting slammed by literaly hundreds of so called super trawllers, by several different countries for a hunded years. It is still now, With better management, a viable fishery.

So don't cry too much if the "Margaris" comes. Won't do any harm. If the Tasswegians don't want the bussiness then there are some excellent shore facilities in SA capable of servicing their requirements.

SP said...

^^^^. ****,,, don't come along with Facts.... oh hang on this isn't the gen forum they're allowed in here...

But seeing how you have an idea, would i be right to assume they aren't allowed to take anything above what the normal quota would be set by AFMA, they are just one of the vessels that can take part of the quota. How is the quota set? Any idea?

Mate, i've been out of that game for a long time allthough I have friends still in it. I'll anwer what I can without crossing the line into speculation.

I had a look at www.afma.gov.au/

I agree with it.

The gaybeecee article that inspired this thread is typical greenpeace. Start of with the truth and twist it to suit their agenda until it is total bullsh!t. I could pull that to pieces but I won't bore you with that ATM.

Yes a quota will be issued to that joint venture company and fishing licence issued to the vessels AFMA deems fit. In this case one. Fees and taxes payable along the way to the Gov. If the deal gets through all the red tape and fishing commences I am curtain a fisheries observer would be on board at all times. That person would be responsible for ensuring all the regulations are being adhered to, such as quota limits, areas and times of operation and bi-catch monitoring. If bi-catch became an issue, fisheries pulls the pin until a method is found to deal with it, as happens to Australian vessels.

They would have a VMS fitted (vessel monitoring system) so that AFMA and AMSA know the ships position constantly.

Being a joint venture with an Australian company, they would be bound by all the AMSA regulations such as MARPOL( pollution of the sea). They would also have to observe OH and S regulations and may even employ some Aussie crew.

The quota is determined by the advice of AFMA scientists and biologists. Due to mistakes of the past they are very conservative in my experience.

Yeah thanks Gwendy.

What is a jack mackerel. Is it a slimy, stripy? Not known up here as a jack mackerel.

Good on ya fella's I'm glad you accept What I had to say.

I'm not trying to covince anyone we should embrace having it here, just trying to say it doesn't necessarily need to be a bad thing.

Anyone dead against it is fully entitled to that opinion.

SP....Jack mackerel is sometimes called horse mackerel and much different to the old slimy or any of the tuna. I guess it looks a bit like a skinny little trevally. I've only seen them up to about 11 or 12 inches long. They swim with the redbait and most times both togther. I not sure how far north they go as they like cold water.

Some years they are so thick on the east coast of Tassie it looks like the place is floating on them. End of last year I was on the petrolium products tanker that delivers fuel to Devonport. We left port in the early hours and at sunrise I could see big patches of mackerel all around the ship. They were from the southern end of Bass straight all the way up to Jervois Bay when it got dark. Millions opon millions of tons. Crew on the ship said they often saw them but didn't know what they were. The ocean seems so full of life at the moment. Whales, fish, dolphins manta rays, Its awesome.

Ted the Kiwi said...

I did not think that the license had been issued yet.

They say that but the ship is on its way Lying Government, also center link is now offering work on board for unemployed[}:)]