Four years ago, AFMA installed cameras on gillnet vessels targeting sharks in the south-east fishery to monitor dolphin and sea-lion interactions. However, a consequence of doing this was that human observers were removed from these vessels.  These observers collected data on interactions with dolphins and seals but also collected lengths and vertebrae, which are used […]

By Ross Winstanley* Not content with their exclusive fishing access to every Victorian estuary, recreational fishers are now pushing for the closure of commercial fishing in the Gippsland Lakes. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Victoria’s annual 800 tonne Gippsland Lakes commercial fishery produced 80% of Australia’s black bream landings, averaging about 250 tonnes. Today, […]

The harvest strategy in the South-East aims to maintain tiger flathead stocks at a pre-determined % of the pre-fishing, or virgin, biomass.   This is called the target reference point.  The flathead stock has been above this target for many years so fishermen have enjoyed quotas (total allowable catches or TACs) designed to slightly reduce flathead […]

SETFIA congratulates New Zealand on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of three of its largest orange roughy fisheries, following a lengthy and rigorous assessment process. This achievement is a testament to the New Zealand seafood industry and the Department of Primary Industry’s heavy investment in rebuilding the orange roughy stocks over the last 20 […]

The East Australian Current (EAC) is a flow of water that is formed from the South Equatorial Current crossing the Coral Sea and reaching the eastern coast of Australia off Queensland. As the South Equatorial Current hits the Australian coast it divides forming the southward flow of the EAC. The EAC is the largest ocean current close to the shores of […]