Time to Recognise Seafood Consumers as Stakeholders
By Ross Winstanley* In July this year, the 8th World Recreational Fishing Conference in Victoria, BC, will feature the theme Allocation issues in fisheries: recreational, commercial, aboriginal, subsistence and artisanal. As part of that discussion, I’m proposing to introduce a proposition that I’ve put forward in co-management and seafood industry forums and, most recently, in […]
Five reasons to eat fresh fish
A study commissioned by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) on people’s attitude to seafood consumption found 75% of Australians said they want sustainably sourced, traceable, seafood. This is great news for Australian fisheries because we outcompete imported fish on product traits like sustainability, traceability, food safety and freshness. So here are five reasons to eat […]
$$Bucks for bafflers
SETFIA is committed to sustainable fishing practices so members continually work to minimise their environmental impact while catching fresh fish for Australians. This work includes minimising interactions with seabirds. An interaction is any contact between the vessel and a seabird that causes injury, death or distress. In 2014 SETFIA secured Australian Government funding to trial a […]
New Zealand Orange Roughy achieves MSC certification
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 […]
2016 Roughy Survey Shows Continued Recovery
Under contract to SETFIA, Tasmania’s CSIRO has completed another survey on two features known as St Patrick’s and St Helen’s off eastern Tasmania where roughy aggregate to spawn. St Helen’s Hill is typical of a roughy hill being a conical seamount rising from a depth of 1,100m to 600m. This is the 5th acoustic survey in […]
SETFIA online course for fishers
SETFIA believes that training and development is of critical importance in achieving our strategic goals. The Association has run two courses called Implement and Monitor Environmentally Sustainable Work Practices (SFIEMS301A) and Manage and Control Fishing Operations (SFIFISH402c). 121 qualifications were issued to trawl fishermen and 160 fishers from other fisheries. Both courses were TAFE accredited […]
$100,000 Reason to Complete OnLine Learning
SETFIA is offering all south east commercial fishermen the opportunity to undertake an online course on “Understanding Commonwealth Marine Reserves”. The course is funded by Parks Australia and is specific to the South East Network of Protected Areas and it could potentially save you $100,000! The Brisbane Times reported that two years ago, a commercial […]
Indonesia comes to SETFIA
Indonesia aims to increase wealth from seafood by reducing illegal fishing (including destructive fishing practices such as dynamiting for fish) and improving the return from seafood product (fishing and aquaculture) by better cold chain management and market development. Dr Paul McShane (Global Marine Resource Management pty ltd) has led several programs engaging with Indonesian agencies […]
Australian study finds that seismic surveys kill scallops
The University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and Curtin University’s Centre for Marine Science and Technology has investigated the effects of seismic survey acoustics on adult rock lobsters and scallops. Seismic surveys are used to produce detailed images of local geology to determine the location and size of possible oil and gas reservoirs. […]
Why is the East Australian Current Behaving so Badly?
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 […]