Snappcess!
The Melbourne tea tree bloom in the first week of November signals the start of snapper season – Victorian recreational anglers flood boat ramps seeking big reds. Snapper has been a small part of the South East Trawl (SET) Fishery’s catch for more than 100 years and some by-catch is an unavoidable part of the sector’s 10,000+ […]
Marine park proposal should be welcomed by all Australians
The South East Trawl Fishery is located around the South East Marine Reserve network. 14 marine parks covering 388,000km2 of the south east are all closed to trawling. They have been there for nearly 10 years. Take a video tour here. Like fisheries closures (which are much larger) these marine parks protect the seafloor from […]
ABARES Fishery Status Report
In September the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) released the 22nd edition of the Fishery Status Reports. This report provides an independent evaluation of the biological and economic status of 94 fish stocks across 22 fisheries, including those managed both solely and jointly by the Australian Government. It also summarises […]
‘Australian Made’ do the right thing
In June the newsletter ran a piece about the plight of Ocean Oils, a Melbourne based business selling squalene oil. It had become almost impossible to sell any oil in Australia because of the influx of foreign oils that had somehow been able to obtain the ‘Made in Australia’ brand. The ACCC has recently ruled […]
FRDC “Fish” magazine article on orange roughy
FRDC Fish magazine article Sept 2017
Plenty of roughy in the sea, latest survey finds
The results of a survey of the spawning biomass of orange roughy off eastern Tasmania have just been released. Under contract to SETFIA the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) surveyed St Patrick’s Head and St Helen’s Hill off eastern Tasmania in July 2016 where orange roughy aggregate to spawn. CSIRO use an […]
Principles? What principles?
By Ross Winstanley* Victorian seafood consumers are paying the cost of a political winner-take-all approach to bay and inlet fish resource allocation. Victoria’s major parties have abandoned commitments to consumers’ right to access local bay and inlet species through the commercial supply chain. In Australian inshore fisheries, defining fair shares among competing interests has challenged […]
Fish waste – it is not just the fisher’s problem!
Food loss and waste is a huge global issue, with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimating in 2011 that one-third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted globally, which amounts to about 1.3 billion tonnes per year. This wastage occurs throughout the food supply chain, from initial production down to final […]
Guess who’s coming to town?
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) has announced that it will be expanding its presence in Lakes Entrance by opening a regional office in early 2018. AFMA, in conjunction with SETFIA, has been trialling a full time Liaison officer based in Lakes Entrance since 2015, working directly with South East Trawl operators on a daily basis. […]
What will the Auditor General say about Victoria’s fishery management?
By Ross Winstanley* The Victorian Government is spending $27 million of public funds to cut consumers’ fresh fish supplies by 400-500 tonnes in order to double the number of recreational fishers and to benefit business interests. How did governments come to abandon balanced and evidence-based resource sharing reflecting broad community interests, instead focusing on boosting recreational […]