Bottom trawling having less effect than thought
20% of the fish eaten globally are caught by bottom trawling. However, bottom trawling has been criticised for its effects on the marine environment. The most common form of bottom trawling is otter board trawling. This “board trawling” uses two “doors” or otter boards to create a spreading force. Fish are then herded by wires […]
Marine Mammal Report Released
All primary production has environmental impacts and most have some impact on native mammal populations. On land, farmers can apply for permits to destroy kangaroos while no rules exist for vehicle road kill. However, in the marine environment the rules are much tougher. All marine mammals are afforded protection under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity […]
Six per cent of SE seafloor touched by trawling
CSIRO scientists are changing the way we think about the affects of trawling. A report completed by CSIRO scientists titled, Predicting benthic impacts & recovery to support biodiversity management in the South-east Marine Region has found that trawling only touches 6% of the south east seafloor and has not had a major effect on groups […]
Living fossil captured
The frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus) gains its name from its six pairs of frill like gills. It is one of two remaining species of this ancient family which dates back 80 million years. It has a wide but patchy distribution in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the outer and upper continental slope, generally near the […]
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 […]
Tragedy of the commons
In the 1800s a story emerged of English cow herders sharing a common tract of land. Individual herders added cow after cow and the land’s productivity began to decline. The herders knew that too many cows would make the land useless but all assumed that there was no way to avoid this so all continued […]
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 […]
Rare goblin shark donated to science
When Trevor Hunt (“Bluey”) the Skipper of the board trawler Lady Miriam hauled the trawl while fishing east of Esso’s Flounder platform in 530m’s of water he couldn’t believe his eyes. Even though he has been at sea for 28 years he had never seen or heard of a shark that looked like this. The […]
Domestic cats eat double the South East Trawl Fishery annual catch
The journal of agricultural and environmental ethics has published a paper by Sena De Silva and Giovanni Turchini titled Towards Understanding the Impacts of the Pet Food Industry on World Fish and Seafood Supplies. The article explains that Australian cats eat 33,500 tonnes of seafood per annum. This seafood is imported and Australian made. To […]
Monster pink ling
Crew member Richard Knox couldn’t believe his eyes when this massive pink ling was hauled on board the Petuna Endeavour. The average pink ling is 1m long and weighs less than 10 kg’s. The maximum reported weight for pink ling is 25 kg’s at which time it would be 30 years old. However, the pink […]