Factbox: The debate around super-trawler 'Margiris'

30 Aug 2012, 6:00 pm   -   Source: SBS staff and agencies
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Dutch-owned Margiris can store over 6,000 tonnes of frozen fish. Greenpeace says that is the equivalent of filling up 545 buses. (AAP)

Dutch-owned Margiris can store over 6,000 tonnes of frozen fish. Greenpeace says that is the equivalent of filling up 545 buses. (AAP)

A super-trawler set to operate in the Tasman Sea has caused controversy, with protests being held in different parts of Australia. We look at both sides of the debate surrounding super-trawler Margiris.

RELATED

A super-trawler set to operate in the Tasman Sea has caused controversy, with protests being held in different parts of Australia. We look at both sides of the debate surrounding super-trawler Margiris.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Are you concerned about overfishing?

Seafish Tasmania intends to operate the 142-metre FV Margiris from next month to catch 18,000 tonnes of redbait and jack mackerel off Australia's east and west coasts.

That quota is half of the entire catch allowed in an area known as the Small Pelagic Fishery.

Dutch-owned Margirisis can process over 250 tonnes of fish a day. It will tow a 300-metre-long net through waters above the bottom of the ocean. The net has an opening 80 metres by 35 metres wide.

Most of the catch will be exported to West Africa for human consumption, Seafish says.

BIG FISH 'WILL GET CAUGHT ACCIDENTALLY'

Opponents of the trawler are concerned the catch will hurt local fisheries and deplete populations of dolphins and seals that could be snared in its massive nets.

"In the past 15 years, by-catch from 20 super trawlers fishing off West Africa has killed an estimated 1,500 critically endangered turtles, more than 18,000 giant rays, and more than 60,000 sharks," Greenpeace said on its website.

DEVICE 'PREVENTS LARGER ANIMALS BEING TRAPPED'

But Seafish says the Margiris is fitted with an excluder device, which forms a barrier that prevents large animals becoming trapped in the net and guides them to an escape hatch.

"The design of the excluder device is based on the results of a one year study by the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute using underwater video cameras to study animal behaviours inside the mid-water trawl net of Seafish Tasmania’s previous mid-water trawler", Seafish said on its website.

FISH STOCKS 'OVER-EXPLOITED'

Since super trawlers, including the Margiris, started fishing off the West Coast of Africa, most commercial fish stocks have become ‘fully exploited’ or ‘over-exploited,’ Greenpeace says.

Greenpeace says large surface schools of the fish to be targeted by the Margiris - jack mackerel - were once common off Tasmania until they were overfished by trawlers more than 20 years ago.

"These surface schools soon disappeared and have not been seen since.  The Margiris are now targeting the deeper schools of jack mackerel," it said.

And "if the small fish go, the big fish will go as well".

TRAWLER'S QUOTA 'SUSTAINABLE'

But those in favour of the Margiris say the trawler's quota is sustainable, with low by-catch rates and that the quota will be policed.

Seafish Tasmania director Gerry Green ABC Radio there is no evidence to support those claims.

"To my knowledge, the pelagic fisheries in these areas are quite robust. They’ve been fished by these kinds of vessels for the last 20 years," he said.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority, which regulates fishers in Australia, says the species of fish that will be targeted by the super-trawler are not overfished, except for redbaits, whose state is uncertain.

"Redbait west is assessed as ‘uncertain’ because of limited information available to assess its status. AFMA has implemented a conservative total allowable catch to reflect this uncertainty, " AMFA says on its website.

The 18,000-tonne quota was increased for this year, and was based on egg surveys that showed fish stocks could withstand a larger haul.

As a condition of operating the fishery, Seafish Tasmania will have to contribute to further egg surveys.

JOBS

Trawler operator Seafish Tasmania says it has already hired 40 staff in struggling northern Tasmania, the first step in injecting between $10 million and $15 million into the state's economy.

Senator Whish-Wilson said the creation of those jobs had to be weighed against the potential overall effect on the state.

"Jobs are important and I totally understand that, but sometimes you have to make hard decisions and balance those short-term employment gains," he said. "What are 40 short-term jobs versus long-term damage for example to our tourism industry?"

Greenpeace says the trawler will hurt local fishermen's jobs.

"These vessels use sophisticated technology and few crew members, while taking the majority of the fish," the organisation says on its website.

"In Europe, small-scale local fishermen have only been allocated 20 per cent of the fishing opportunities despite the fact that they represent 80 per cent of all fishermen in Europe."

PETITION

A petition signed by 35,000 people was delivered by Ms Hubbard, independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie, Tasmanian Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson and others to Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig on Wednesday.

And a motion will call for an examination of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFA) process to determine allowable catch limits (currently 18,000 tonnes).

AFMA says the fishery is split into two zones with separate catch limits, ensuring the quota cannot be taken from a single area.

The ombudsman has asked AFMA for more information and will decide later if an investigation is warranted.

SUPER-TRAWLER , Supertrawler , Overfishing , Tasmania

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Your Comments

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AFMA is interested in informed debate

Kim - from Canberra, 8 months ago

Your 'Factbox' doesn't encourage informed debate. AFMA' s website provides a range of useful data for those wanting to go beyond emotion and explore the facts. I'm not, and never have been associated with AFMA, but I prefer to trust a well regarded agency dedicated to the development of a sustainable Australian fishing industry over the apparently knee-jerk reaction provided by many MPs and the media. My interest? Informed rather than emotional debate.

Greed, Corruption and Ignorance - A Sinful Brew

Craig - from Redlands, 9 months ago

What's Right and what is Wrong.... Australian society, populace and culture are continually being bombarded with blurred lines from corporations, politicians and private company's lustful and insatiable avarice for wealth and power. The staggering levels of selfishness displayed in attaining this at whatever the cost mentality has blueprinted the future for all Australians, and it’s ferocity will only increase in staggering proportions to the incompetently increasing barren waste land and oceans

Sold out

AAA - from Dolans Bay, 9 months ago

The Australian government will "sell-out" any part of Australia that makes a profit.I would support birth control for third world countries and not to continue to feed the problem.

how can our government allow this

Mondo - from gorokan , central coast, 9 months ago

i can't believe our government is allowing this super trawler to fish (rape , pillage n plunder ) our waters when at the some time they are installing more and more no go zones for recreational fisherman , not only has this government sold our farms to overseas intrests they are now selling our oceans , SHAME SHAME SHAME

Leave me alone

Yousif - from Sydney, 9 months ago

Dont want to sound like a have a problem with authority, but, I find it confusing why a football field size net in a 6 million Kg storage size ship can operate while recreational fishers are chased off from rock to rock

How could any intelligent person believe that such a massive, efficient machine....

C Hughes - from Roma, 9 months ago

.. could "sustainably" fish any part of our oceans when trawling is known to be such an indiscriminate killer, so many fish species are already depleted by careless stewardship, so few environmental impact studies have been considered necessary before this company has been given permission to make their fortune by stealing our marine future, and who of us who have lost jobs for more minor reasons believe the tired argument that a few short term jobs justify more environmental vandalism.

Conflicting decisions

Joy - from Boya, Perth, 9 months ago

If it is environmentally impossible for the ordinary Australian for go fishing without causing damage to fish stocks how can it be possible for a huge fishing machine - who will probably take in one week what recreational fishers take in one year - to be given permission to fish in Australian waters?

Corpocracy

Taleisin - from Brisbane, 9 months ago

Is this why we have been cutting back catch quotas for our local fishermen, so multinational companies can harvest all our fish? Corporations rule, not governments.

Plunder and destruction of Southern Ocean fish stocks -- NO!

Rob in Sydney - from Dee Why, 9 months ago

Why, why, why? Why are we allowing this to occur? Because we don't have the spine to stand up to this? Shocking. Shame on this company -- shame on us for allowing this to happen.

idiocy & Corruption

Doc - from Clovelly, 9 months ago

there is no way something as heinous as this super trawler coming to strip Australian waters could happen with idiocy or corruption or both. What fool truly believes that amount of fish can be removed from an area and not seriously affect fish stocks? what a joke - a tragic, tragic joke for our oceans. Set up sustainable fisheries and stop the abuse of our seas

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