Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

In the final days of January, the industrial fishing factory ship Geelong Star added seven protected albatrosses to the list of marine animals—seals, dolphins and sharks—that have now been killed by the activities of this trawling behemoth. After another very brief prohibition and yet another update to its unsatisfactory bycatch mitigation equipment, the Australian Maritime Fishing Authority allowed the ship back to sea. AFMA is even considering increasing the bag limit from 42,000 to 49,000 tonnes. The obvious question, put by Australian Marine Conservation Society campaigner Josh Coates, is:

Just how many protected species is the Geelong Star going to be allowed to catch before it's stopped from fishing?

The Geelong Star has quickly developed a shocking reputation for killing protected marine life. Rather than trawling the breadth of the southern coast, as AFMA indicated it would, this ocean vacuum cleaner is remaining in one area between the New South Wales South Coast and Tasmania's north-east. Commenting after the albatross deaths, John Edwards, President of the Tasmanian Game Fishing Association, said:

AFMA have now disclosed that the zones within which the Geelong Star can actually fish is in fact probably 80% smaller than they had us believing, and that iconic recreational fishing areas will be the super trawlers focus. This has already been demonstrated by the super trawler fishing off Bermagui during the peak game fishing season.

AFMA is responsible for ensuring the 'sustainable use of Commonwealth fish resources on behalf of the Australian community'. The Australian community knows that allowing a factory super-trawler to deplete our oceans while committing repeated infractions of its permit does not match the definition of sustainable use.

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