Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise during senators' statements today to talk about the extraordinary development overnight where it was reported that the supertrawler—the large factory freezer vessel—the Geelong Star has fled Australia and is steaming around the bottom of South Africa on its way to Scotland. As those who have been following the debate on this very closely over the last four years know, Australia has seen the arrival of two large factory freezer vessels. The first one was the Margiris, which arrived in 2012. After the then Labor government banned the Margiris,a second supertrawler came to Australian waters called the Geelong Star.

We have no explanation as to why the Geelong Starleft Melbourne nearly two weeks ago. The arrival of this boat 18 months ago and its operations have been a significant matter of public interest in Australia. When the Geelong Stararrived in Australia, nearly 100 metres long with a couple of thousand tonnes of freezer capacity, it killed nine dolphins in its first few weeks of operation. Since then, estimates provided by AFMA are that up to 50 seals have been killed by the 300-metre nets of this boat. A number of albatrosses, sharks and other marine creatures have also been killed. This boat was not welcomed by the conservation movement in Australia. These boats and poor fishing practices right around the world have been fingered for the collapse of some fisheries. The crews, management and subsidies that go into these boats have also been called into question.

We do not know why the Geelong Star left Australian waters. We do know that when the boat arrived and carved its way through the marine life the government, under pressure from the Greens, fishing groups and other conservation stakeholders, put strong environmental regulations on the Geelong Star, including dolphin exclusion zones. The boat could not operate for six months in areas where they had previously killed a dolphin. We know a night ban was put in place on the Geelong Star so it could not operate at night-time, which is deemed to be the highest risk of time for mortalities of marine mammals. We know that AFMA was forced to put two observers on board the Geelong Star so that it could be monitored 24 hours a day.

Since then, the management of this company have lobbied hard to have the night ban removed. Unfortunately, they were successful. In recent months evidence has also come to light that the second observer has been removed from the boat. So we know the management of this vessel were lobbying hard to have environmental regulations around its activities either loosened or deregulated.

We also know from data provided by AFMA to the Senate that this boat has struggled to catch anywhere near its quota of fish that was set out. In some cases they have been able to catch less than 10 per cent of their allowable catch. In some cases it has been a third, with a maximum of half. We do not know the reasons why the Geelong Star has caught nowhere near its quota. The company have made statements that the environmental regulations here precluded them from going back into those zones where they had killed dolphins. That may have played a part in it.

But we also know that there is scientific uncertainty around the biomass estimates of the Small Pelagic Fishery. This fishery off Tasmania and south-east Australia almost went into collapse nearly 12 years ago. Now, we do not know if that was from warming waters or whether it was from overfishing; that is still disputed. But we do know that the fishery was not accessed or exploited for nearly a decade. Then we have the arrival of these large factory-freezer vessels. These vessels have been targeted by rec. fishing groups because the small pelagic fish that they catch are the element of the food chain that are targeted by fin fish.

What I would be interested to know, Mr Acting Deputy President Back, is: did the boat leave simply because it was not commercially viable to operate here anymore; and, if that is the case, did it leave because there were not enough fish there or did it leave because it felt that our environmental regulations in Australia were too tough? Unfortunately, we have no information. We have no declaration from the company itself. AFMA have simply said: 'The boat has left. Take it up with the company if you want more information.' I understand that the fisheries minister has no additional information on that. But it is very important that we get this information.

I would like to know: is this boat going to come back? It does not make sense that it is leaving before the beginning of Australia's fishery season. It is steaming nearly 12,000 nautical miles to Scotland. That is a 40-day trip, at 12 knots, from Australia—a long time to move to another fishery. But is it still open to this boat to come back to Australia? These are the questions stakeholders want answered, and I will be asking the government to address these issues.

Most Australians do not want large factory-freezer vessels operating in small pelagic fisheries in midwater trawls. We in the Greens believe that the science has never been fully established, especially around localised depletion, which means the acute impacts of these trawlers in areas that are accessed by rec. fishermen and also in areas where we have a high abundance of marine life that relies on these small pelagic fisheries.

We do not know anything about the fate of the workers. How many of these workers were Australian? Have they been paid out their wages and conditions? We know absolutely nothing about the departure of this boat. It is incumbent on us, given it is a matter of significant public interest, to get answers to these questions.

I understand the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee will be reporting on its inquiry into large-capacity fishing vessels—and Senator Urquhart is in here, who was on the inquiry—later this afternoon, with its recommendations. But it is very odd that this boat is leaving the day the Senate committee is handing down its report, and why it was announced today by AFMA that this boat had left.

Are we going to have more supertrawlers in Australia? I think now is the time to get these answers and actually find out the information we need as to why it was not sustainable for this company. I am presuming it was a financial decision, because they could not catch enough fish. It clearly was not commercially viable for them here; they have gone off to plunder another fishery. If that is the case, I would like to see some sort of statement from the Fisheries Management Authority, who had an observer on board, so they must have been aware that the boat was leaving a long time before last night, when the Fisheries Management Authority let us know. We have asked questions about how much fish has been caught or where the fish is going, because the small pelagics were supposed to be feeding the poor in Africa. I understand the fish are being made into fishmeal. Is that going to fish farms? Did it go to Africa? I have seen pictures of it sitting out on the dock in the sun.

This has become a bit of a mystery ship, almost like the Marie Celeste. But these are important questions to which I would like to see the answers, and I think the Australian people, rec. fishermen and conservationists would like to put this issue to bed. I do not think many Australians support these large factory-freezer vessels, especially when they came to our waters and killed so much marine life. Dolphins and seals are protected species under EPBC law. This boat came here in a sea of controversy, and it caused a catastrophe in the first few weeks. It lost its social licence then. Now is the time for us to find out the information we need, and make a statement and look at legislation that would ban these kinds of factory-freezer vessels from ever again operating in the Small Pelagic Fishery in Australia.