Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On the day parliament last sat in August, I urged the government not to approve the super trawler Margiris fishing in Australian waters. Since I spoke the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, Tony Burke, has indicated that he does not, as things stand, have the legal power to stop the trawler, but he did tell Radio 2GB last week that this did not amount to 'the government's view that this is the end of the matter'.

I commend the minister for his ongoing interest in this issue and I also commend my colleague the member for Fremantle for putting together a private member's bill which would block super trawlers the size of the Margiris from fishing in Australian waters. I have agreed to second her bill.

The opposition to the super trawler has been widespread. In July, 350 recreational fishermen, towing 100 boats, rallied from Davenport to Burnie. The same day 150 cars with boats attached travelled by convoy through Launceston, while 200 cars drove through Hobart. Some of the protesters said they feared a history of trawlers overfishing the Bass Strait would be repeated if the trawler were permitted. Spreyton fisherman Colin Stephenson said Australian salmon had been overfished by trawlers in the 1960s, with its Bass Strait stock taking decades to recover. Burnie fishing store owner Rodney Howard said he and other commercial operators feared for their livelihoods if the Margiris were permitted to operate. He said: 'There will be a huge decline in game fishing because, if bait fish isn't there, the big fish won't be either.'

It used to be regularly said that there are plenty more fish in the sea. This can no longer be said. In 1998 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization concluded that global fishing capacity was 2½ times greater than global fish stocks could sustain. Since then capacity has increased. The UN and the World Bank have assessed that overcapacity and overfishing are costing the global economy US$50 billion annually.

In 2009, 30 per cent of the stocks of the top 10 pelagic species were estimated to be overfished. In 2011 UN Food and Agriculture Organization statistics showed fishing outcomes on the decline, suggesting that we have passed the point of peak fish.

The global fish catch increased rapidly from 17 million tonnes in 1950 to a peak of 88 million tonnes in 1996. Since then it has declined to about 80 million tonnes—in 2009 it was 79.5 million tonnes. As recently as March this year, Margiris was fishing in West Africa, off Mauritania and Morocco, where most of the targeted fish stocks are considered fully exploited or overexploited. Local fishermen find it increasingly hard to find fish and have to go further for longer to get their catch.

Australia is a signatory to the UN Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The code directs states to take steps to reduce overcapacity and avoid management actions that contribute to overcapacity. These principles, along with a commitment to work towards cuts to fishing subsidies, were reaffirmed by Prime Minister Gillard recently in Rio. Given our commitment through the code to stop overfishing, I want to raise two specific issues about the Margiris proposal. One is the question of the stock assessments. I have been told that blue mackerel numbers were last surveyed in 2004, that redbait were surveyed in 2005 and 2006 and that jack mackerel were last surveyed as long ago as 2003. People are understandably concerned that these stock assessments are too old to ensure an accurate estimate of current fish numbers. I believe these assessments would need to be updated before we could be confident that the super trawler would not risk the population of these species or the broader marine ecosystem.

The second issue is the question of proposed observer coverage. It is said that there will be 100 per cent observer coverage on the Margiris. It is expected that this ship will be undertaking fishing or processing operations for extended periods of time, and at times may be working continuously for periods of 24 hours or more. In that situation, if you do not have on the ship three observers who could work eight-hour shifts I do not see how you can have 100 per cent observer coverage.

Tim Winton, keen fisherman and author, says we have been working the oceans too hard. Australia is blessed to have the richness that we have in our seas and the oceans around us. They have been a source of joy and beauty and, yes, food in our lives for decades, even centuries. But we are at risk of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. We need to pull back, take a breath and give the recreational and smaller commercial fishermen a go.

See this speech in context