A world-authority on fisheries, Dr. Daniel Pauly, is on his first-ever Australian tour. Dr Pauly is also a charismatic speaker with a powerful message.
But first, Minister Burke finally confirmed that the two year super trawler ban will hold. There will be no super trawler fishing while impacts on our fisheries and marine life are researched. The same day, Seafish began asking if they could use a slightly smaller factory freezer trawler. We thought it was clear – no super trawlers in Australia, until you can prove they are sustainable.
It’s also clear to us that besides doing extra research on the stocks and quotas of small pelagic fish targeted by Seafish, we need to study the impacts of super trawlers globally and we need to decide whether they have a place in the future of Australian fisheries at all.
Back to Dr Pauly’s limited tour of Australia. You may remember Dr Pauly featured in the first major documentary about global overfishing The End of the Line. He has also written more than 500 scientific papers and authored several books. See him speak in Hobart, Launceston or Sydney on the global overfishing problem and what it means for Australia. Go to the facebook event pages for the Hobart, Launceston or Sydney talks that start this Friday.
Thank you for everything you have done to ban super trawlers from Australia and keep our fisheries moving in a more sustainable direction. We’ll continue to work to stop super trawlers in Australia, until they can prove that they are sustainable and don’t unnecessarily harm our unique marine life.
I hope you can take this once in a lifetime opportunity to see Dr. Pauly in Hobart, Launceston or Sydney – he’s absolutely incredible!
For the oceans,
Rebecca Hubbard, Marine Coordinator of Environment Tasmania
Ps. Thank you to the hundreds of people who sent emails to the fisheries department asking that the fisheries management legislation review include a permanent ban on super trawlers in Australia. We’ll keep you posted on how this fisheries review progresses.
Pps. We apologise for our website being down after it was hacked recently. Our team is swamped but we hope to be back fully on line soon.