Hundreds of boats have formed a flotilla on Hobart’s River Derwent to rally against a super trawler to be based on Tasmania’s north-west coast.
Organisers estimate more than 500 boats – including jet skis, wooden yachts, tourist cruises and fishing trawlers – braved the drizzle on Saturday to join the protest.
They cruised beneath the Tasman Bridge, waving banners protesting against the imminent arrival of the FV Margiris, which Seafish Tasmania is bringing to Devonport.
The 142-metre trawler and processing ship left Africa 10 days ago. It is not yet known exactly when it will arrive in Tasmania.
After completing a crossing of the river, the protest flotilla made its way to the Hobart docks to meet about 200 people waiting onshore and deliver a petition to Tasmanian Labor Senator Lin Thorp.
The protest has brought together environment, tourism, recreational and commercial fishing groups who are concerned about overfishing of redbait and jack mackerel stocks in Commonwealth fisheries from Western Australia to New South Wales.
2012 ABC