The super-trawler Abel Tasman will be banned from fishing in Australian waters for at least two years under changes to environmental laws to be introduced into parliament today.
Environment Minister Tony Burke said amendments to the Environment Conservation Act would enable the government to prevent fishing activities deemed to have an uncertain environmental impact.
I will introduce new legislation to the parliament to amend national environmental law, which will give me the powers that I had hoped to have to be able to apply a much more precautionary approach to the super-trawler, he said.
A new section of the Act would allow, with the agreement of the environment and fisheries ministers, the initiation of scientific work to resolve unanswered questions about a particular fishing activity.
While that work is being undertaken, the relevant fishing activity cannot take place within Australian waters for a period of up to two years, Mr Burke said.
This creates a situation where we are not flying blind.
Critics have accused the 142-metre vessel, the world’s second biggest super-trawler and formerly named the Margiris, of overfishing in other parts of the world.
There have also been concerns about the vessel’s bycatch – the fish, mammals or birds caught unintentionally.
Mr Burke said under existing laws he had not been able to prevent the super-trawler from fishing Australian waters.
Legislative amendments will be introduced into the parliament today and are expected to be passed with the support of the Greens and independents.
Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig said the change would allow more sustainable management of Australia’s fisheries resources.
He said he had been concerned about the environmental and social impacts of the super-trawler but his existing powers had not allowed him to prevent the vessel from operating in Australian waters.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority had previously expressed confidence that the vessel’s operations would be sustainable.
Total catch limits are less than 10 per cent of the fish stock, which is far more stringent than internationally accepted standards.
AFMA has found no evidence that larger boats pose a higher risk to either commercial species or broader marine ecosystem when total catches are limited and the limits are enforced.
This type of fishing, midwater trawling, is one of the most selective which means the bycatch will be very low.
The Abel Tasman was licensed to take 18,000 tonnes of mainly mackerel and red bait fish, using 600-metre nets.
Asked if the government’s concern was about the size of the vessel or the quota, Mr Burke said a fishing ship with a large freezer capacity and the ability to stay in one place for a long period created a different set of environmental factors.
It’s not a small vessel going in and out of port.
The legislative changes, revealed this morning by The Australian, follow a caucus backlash over the government’s decision to grant a licence to the controversial vessel.
Labor MPs and senators were told of the decision this morning.
Senator Louise Pratt welcomed the decision via Twitter: Pleased that Australia is giving the super trawler the boot out of Australian waters.
Labor backbencher Melissa Parke had planned to introduce a private member’s bill into parliament to stop the Abel Tasman operating in Australian waters.
She said additional rules announced by Mr Burke last week, requiring monitoring officers to be placed aboard the vessel and the suspension of fishing if a dolphin was killed, did not go far enough.
Those officers are purely reactive. They will make a report when the dead dolphins and the dead seals come up to the surface and then it’s too late to do anything about them and they will send the boat 50 miles away to fish somewhere else to do the same thing there, Ms Parke said.
It’s not solving the problem.
Commonwealth Fisheries Association spokesman Brian Jeffriess said changing the current standards of commercial fishing risked undermining the whole industry.
People are rejecting science-based management. Now as soon as you undermine that principle then Australian fisheries are doomed simply because they can’t operate efficiently, Mr Jeffriess said.
Opposition fisheries spokesman Richard Colbeck said the debate over the super trawler had been whipped up by the Greens and was being dominated by emotions.
It is based on emotion rather than facts and science, Senator Colbeck told ABC radio.
The Australian