Trawl fishery management costs down 24%
AFMA sets a budget in each fishery each year. SETFIA is involved in process for the South East Trawl Fishery (SETF). AFMA’s budgetary year is the financial year (end June to 1 July). However, the first (of three) levy notice arrived in January. The delay in sending the first levy notice means that if the […]
FAO fish price index at all time high
Until recently, the FAO’s food price index failed to incorporate seafood, a key contributor to the global food system. The omission of seafood was surprising because fishing dates back at least 40,000 years and seafood now contributes 15% of average animal protein consumption to three billion people worldwide. Moreover, fisheries and aquaculture directly employed 44.9 […]
Blue warehou catches kept to lowest ever
Blue warehou has been classified as overfished since 2009 following peak catches of almost 3,000 tonnes in 1991. The landed catch fell substantially as a result of a series of quota reductions since 2006. In 2009/10 SETFIA ran its first Skipper training course and communicated to Skippers the need to avoid blue warehou and to […]
Sustainability status of five South East Trawl stocks improves
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Senator Richard Colbeck, today released the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Fishery Status Reports 2012. The report assesses the status of all 93 Commonwealth fish stocks. Senator Colbeck said, “What this report shows us is that our fisheries are undeniably sustainable and our […]
Rare Greenland Shark captured
In summer this year the stern trawlerCastella Rosa hauled their net after fishing in 420 metres of water in an area known as the “Main Drag” off Portland. Skipper “Golfball” was amazed to find that he had captured a Greenland Shark. The prehistoric Greenland Shark is a member of theSomniosidae family of sharks also known […]
Eating fish improves sperm count!
156 men suffering fertility problems had their diet as well as the shape and size of their sperm examined in a Harvard University study. Researchers found that men who regularly ate processed meat had significantly lower amounts of normal sperm, compared with those who limited the amount of foods like bacon, sausages, hamburgers, ham and […]
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 […]
Book release – The Perfect Protein
“But what if there was a healthy, animal sourced protein that both the fat and the thin could enjoy without draining the life from the soil, without drying up our rivers, without polluting the air and water, without causing our planet to warm even more, without plaguing communities with diabetes, heart disease and cancer.” It […]
Amorous roughy respond to fishing
A scientific paper (Pitman, Haddy and Kloser) has been released assessing the impact of commercial fishing on the reproductive capacity (fecundity) of orange roughy. Data from when exploitation began (1987–1992) is compared with current observations from the eastern Tasmanian stock. Findings show that fecundity is negatively related to stock size, meaning that as the population […]