Its official – no overfishing occurring in the south-east
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Senator Richard Colbeck, yesterday released the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Fishery Status Reports 2013-14. This is the 19th year that the report has been run. The report assesses the status of all 93 Commonwealth fish stocks across 21 fisheries.
The independent report found that no stocks managed by the Commonwealth Government are subject to overfishing.
In the south-east last year’s report stated that only eastern gemfish was subject to overfishing. However, the latest report shows that this has been stopped and that eastern gemfish is no longer experiencing overfishing. The “clean” report for the South East Trawl Fishing is the only year other than 2006 in which no stocks have been affected by overfishing.
The status of ocean perch also improved from amber to green and there were no negative movements in the status of South East Trawl stocks.