Tasmania Super Trawler

Tasmanian Super Trawler

What is it?

Fishers and conservasionists are outraged by the new Super Trawler coming to Tasmania. The Dutch owned FV Margiris is a 142 metre long trawler that weighs almost 10,000 tonnes. It can catch up to 250 tonnes of fish a day. It is being sent here to catch Jack Mackerel and Red Bait, the main diet of larger fish like the Southern Blue-Fin Tuna and Fur seals. The Margiris will tow a 300 metre net above the bottom of the Tasmanian sea. The catch will be sucked through a pipe into an onboard factory that then automatically sorts, pack and freezes them. Most of the catch will then be Shipped to West Africa for human consumption.

Problems 

The Tasmanian Conservation Trust says the fish the Margiris will target are a "vital food source for important species like the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna, seabirds, marine mammals and game fish".

Green groups, recreational fishers and tourism operators believes that the trawler will cause localised over fishing and could drive away the Blue-Fin Tuna. Localised fishing is when fish are removed faster than what they can replenish by breeding.

Recreational fisherman Tyson Clements says trawlers much smaller than the Margiris have decimated fish stocks before.

A man told Background Briefing that the Blue-Fin tuna had disappeared the last time Red Bait was fished for commercially. He also said that the fish started to come back after breeding up for 4 or 5 years. The local tuna fishing club told Background Briefing the same story: the Blue-Fin tuna had disappeared when Red Bait was fished for. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority says the science does not support that hypothesis.

Supporters

Those in favour of the Margiris say it is sustainable and it will create at least 40 new jobs.

"We're very confident with the research that has been done, with the methodology that's been employed, and we stand by that research," Collin Buxton said. The science is based on data that is up to eight years old, but Buxton said allowances were made to cover that.

Should it be allowed in?

The Margiris should not be allowed to fish in the Tasmanian waters. It will completely destroy the food chain and it will cause the Blue-Fin tuna to be