New Zealand company purchases survey technology
The Sealord Group, New Zealand’s largest seafood company, has announced it has purchased a NZ$750,000 acoustic optical system (AOS) to conduct research on New Zealand fish stocks. An AOS is a device that emits multiple frequency signals to calculate the amount of fish present. It is particularly effective in assessing aggregations of deep-sea fish and […]
Minister Hodgkinson reverses decision and reinstates state vessel catch limits
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 STATEMENT FROM MINISTER FOR PRIMARY INDUSTRIES KATRINA HODGKINSON The NSW Government has listened to stakeholder concerns and will not make changes to trip limits for NSW commercial fishers, original restrictions will remain. In the interests of working collaboratively with all our stakeholders and ensuring the risks and impacts of changes to […]
NSW allow unrestricted commercial flathead fishing
21 May 2013. For immediate release. On May 3, in what has been described by Commonwealth fishing operators as “..a shock move..”, the NSW Minister for Primary Industries the Hon. Katrina Hodgkinson signed a notice removing commercial catch limits for many fish species in NSW, including flathead. This means that state licensed vessels can now […]
What’s the risk catch cost framework?
In order to pursue its objectives, AFMA makes a range of management decisions in the South East Trawl Fishery (SETF). Given increasing pressure to improve the cost effectiveness of management there is a need to assess the level of information required to make decisions with the appropriate level of risk. This is commonly referred to […]
Fleet 100% compliant with gear regulations
All SE trawl vessels are required to run fishing gear that allows small fish to escape. The rules are technical but all vessels must either use large mesh in their codend (the end of the net that collects the fish) or use a by-catch reduction device (BRD). BRDs are used in many trawl fisheries, they […]
Fishermen collect 2,000 blue warehou lengths
In 2011 industry began to collect length data on blue warehou during the SETFIA run blue warehou fishery independant survey. The aim of the collection is that the information could be used in a future stock assessment. Industry avoids blue warehou in an effort to allow it to rebuild but in doing so has lost […]
Quotas in the South East increase 600 tonnes
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) have stated that increasing productivity of wild fish stocks has allowed an increase in the sustainable seafood harvest catch limits for a number of key species in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF). The South East Trawl Fishery is part of the SESSF. Catch limits for […]
Will SPR analysis help assess blue warehou?
An Australian breakthrough in stock assessment science looks to solve the problem of assessing data-poor fisheries and make assessment processes affordable. The approach estimates the proportion of spawning occurring relative to unfished levels rather than estimating sustainable catch levels directly, simply indicates whether fishing pressure should be incrementally increased or decreased until stocks and catches […]
AFMA keeping costs down
By Dr James Findlay, CEO AFMA. As Commonwealth fishers understand very well, AFMA undertakes cost recovery for expenses incurred as a direct result of management of commercial fishing. While demands on both industry and AFMA continue to rise, AFMA made a commitment to industry to keep a lid on costs. This included keeping the total […]
Seismic surveys nominated as key threatening process
The Commonwealth Fisheries Association (CFA), with the support of industry around Australia, has lodged a nomination with the Department of Sustainability, the Environment, Water, Population and Communities for marine seismic survey activities as a key threatening process under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. There is growing evidence that seismic surveys cause damage to […]