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+ […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

A joint media release has been issued by: The Hon Barnaby Joyce  MP Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Senator the Hon Anne Ruston  Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources The Hon Darren Chester  MP Member for Gippsland Simon Boag  South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association https://gallery.mailchimp.com/8675ff88100c2889bfa4846f3/files/2e2c3767-d22a-4104-aeb8-d3957290e419/JOINT_Media_Releas