Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I ask the minister if the government is aware of opposition to this opening from the fishing industry? Is the government further aware that the North West Slope Trawl expansion would impact on coral reefs and sponge gardens, that it is in fact up to 1,500 metres, not 200 metres, that key species in the Western Deepwater Trawl have been identified as overfished and depleted and that the WA Department of Fisheries believes that the proposals carry significant risks to the sustainability of fish stocks and fisheries in WA? Has the government sought any environmental assessment of the proposal to expand these fisheries to allow bottom trawling?