Seabird success
All Commonwealth trawl vessels in South East Australia and the Great Australian Bight already operate under regulated Seabird Management Plans (SMPs) to minimise interactions with seabirds. Compliance with an SMP is a condition on the fishing license. Under these plans all vessels must manage their offal by batching or retaining it (to avoid attracting the […]
Trawl vessels to receive text messages when they transit marine parks
Parks Australia manages six Commonwealth national parks on land, the Australian National Botanic Gardens, and Australia’s network of Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Parks Australia is part of the federal environment portfolio in the Department of the Environment. Parks Australia is launching a new alert service to help Commonwealth commercial fishers know when they enter […]
A Recreational Fisherman’s Perspective on Drawing the Line
By Lynton Barr Editor of online recreational fishing magazine “Around the Jetties” delbarr1@bigpond.com On the 30th of April I attended a film screened by SETFIA (The South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association) and the Lakes Entrance Fishermens Cooperative for the public. This was an excellent film examining many aspects of the offshore fishery industry, and […]
What affect has fishing had on deepsea corals?
A project undertaken at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, and supervised by Dr Karen Miller [Reproduced in full from the project summary by the Australia and Pacific Science Foundation]. Seamounts are recognised as hotspots of biodiversity, but are under increasing threat from activities such as fishing and mining, as well […]
Project Aims to Catch Clean Royal Red Prawns
Harrissons Dogfish and Southern Dogfish are part of a group of sharks called Upper-Slope Dogfish or Gulper Sharks. Over a number of years — in line with the objectives of the Fisheries Management Act — AFMA has put a series of closures in place to protect Gulper Shark. These closures are equivalent in area to […]
Seabirds Smiling About Government Grant
14 January 2014, 9:30am. For immediate release. The South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association (SETFIA) is delighted to announce that it is the recipient of a $360,000 Australian Government grant. The Caring for our Country grant will be used to further reduce the low number of collisions that occur between seabirds and the cables used […]
Colbeck moves to protect industries from unfounded environmental allegations
The Australian newspaper has reported that conservation groups seeking boycotts of products linked to alleged poor environmental practices may soon be liable for prosecution under consumer law. Parliamentary secretary for fishing and forestry Richard Colbeck told The Australian the move would prevent green groups from holding companies to ransom in their markets. “We’ll be looking […]
Fishermen follow up on environmental training
In 2009/10 SETFIA ran a series of two day courses held in four south-east Australian ports. The courses were TAFE accredited and examined. The curriculum aimed to build awareness of fisheries science and the harvest strategy, of customer expectations and how the Australian wild catch fishing industry is well placed to continue to build a […]
South East Trawl fish found to have low carbon footprint
The concept of sustainability in seafood generally relates to issues such as overfishing, by-catch and impacts on marine habitats. Researchers at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, are looking more broadly at the sustainability of seafood supply by assessing the carbon footprint across the supply chain. Marine capture fisheries account […]
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 […]