Thanks for putting this up

Signed & Sent

 Thanks Roberta. Done & link sent to my old man so he can get his motorbike & 4x4 club members onto it to.

hope it doesn't come back rec fishos and pro fishos should get together and blockade it

fellas we need to keep on top of this for future generations of fisho's

Yep, Im throwin my support behind the trawler, go get em boys!!!

I got a reply.....

Thank you for your email regarding freezer trawlers.

We are fortunate in Australia to have one of the most sustainable fishing industries in the world according to independent benchmarks. Management strategies are developed following sound scientific research and extensive consultation with a number of stakeholders and it on this basis that the Coalition has confidence in the quota and management conditions.

Australia’s current industry conditions were introduced by the former Fisheries Minister, Tony Burke, based on the Small Pelagic Fishing Harvest Strategy. This plan includes mitigation strategies to minimise the potential of bycatch. It was also Minister Burke who created this issue by inviting these types of vessels to Australia as part of the same strategy. At the time he was quoted as saying “There are considerable economies of scale in the fishery and the most efficient way to fish may include large scale factory freezer vessels”.

By contrast, the Coalition believes in fisheries management that promotes sustainability so that we can all have confidence that our fish stocks can be appropriately managed to ensure access well into the future, for both commercial and for recreational fishers.

Our policies will be based on science and for that to occur it is our intention to permit the current scientific panel to complete its work. This will include the commissioning of new science, preferably an egg survey as part of gaining a more accurate understanding of stock levels. It is expected that the panel will publish its report by October next year.

Thank you again for your email.

Kind regards,

Melissa Price

Liberal Candidate for Durack

M: 0416 244 314

E:  melissa.price@wa.liberal.org.au

W: melissaprice.wa.liberal.org.au

Reading between the lines:

We're open to having the super trawler if the scientists say yes

Well thats because its scientifically proven to be sustainable! their anual quota is only 18000 tonnes, and that stretches from WA to Queensland! that makes it one of australias smallest commercial catches for the area of operation, for a product that nobody else wants. The quota is only half of the total allowable catch rate!

They spent half a million on testing and design of a new SED that ensures no poxy seals or dolphins get caught, and it has minimal bi-catch rates. Not to mention all the money spent on egg surveys and sustainability!

But, of course, you're recreational fishers, so you must know best!!!

Congratulations on your closed-mindedness and extreme bias!!!!

I hope people realise that the quota that they are allocated will still be caught even if the Super trawler does not fish it, It just means alot more fishing trips for smaller trawlers and more bycatch or the same. If the Super trawler was fishing they will have government observers out on it recording bycatch and quotas, there is no such check on the smaller boats. The fish will still be caught either way. Still not a great thing but is anyone going to stop eating prawns because of the bycatch involved, I think not.

I'm sure the quota is sustainable.... but I dont like the idea that they will try and wipe out an entire area.  They wont go any further than they have to.  If they can get their quota in Tassie waters, they will.  Not too good for Tassies fish stocks.

would it not be better to have a number of smaller vessels make up the catch?   More jobs for Aussies?  Does the supertrawler employ aussies or cheap foreign labour?

there are relevant points here on both sides especially Pale Ale.
On the quota side, usually the zone isn't just one covering the entire area.
As with our rec zones (Gascoyne, South etc), pro cray (A,B,C zones), Northwest Trawl (4 blocks) etc it is (or should be) separated and the effort spread.

Banning the Supertrawler just to reduce the efficiency is a stupid tactic in itself, akin to say trying to reduce car use by making petrol tanks max 25 litres.

Having said that Im not for it due to as above (jobs)and that this Government have proven themselves totally inept in any sort of environmental management, whether that's because of or in spite of the Greens I don't know.
Even when they do the right thing they do it for the wrong reasons.

the supertrawler will be crewed by aussies, therefore PROVIDING jobs, for up to 40 people! not to mention its being brought in by an aussie company, so all the money stays in australia. its not some shifty illegal boat come down from venezuala or something and just somehow managed to jag a liscense to fish australian waters! do you honestly not even read a single bit of information on these things before you start whingeing and signing petitions??? if they took the word super out of the name and just changed it to "relatively large trawler" it'd slip past without a whisper!

and im not trolling Roberta, i signed up a week ago and one of the first things I read was this prejudiced, uninformed opinion piece of yours! and as for not a very nice human being, you are urging people to sign a petition to ban a boat that has cost an australian company hundreds of thousands of dollars, years of research, will provide jobs for australian people, and is only after a pittance, based solely on the fact that you donated a dollar to greenpeace and you want to jump onboard the bandwagon! You dont care how many peoples lives are affected by this as long as you get to stand up and look fashionable and get your 15 minutes in the limelight! so please, stand up and take a bow now while the issue is still relevant, or you'll have to wait for the next hot topic to come along before you can bask in the glow!!

And quotas are there for a reason! so they dont take more than 18000tonnes! Coastaljoy said it right, they will have government observers onboard recording everything that comes over the side! They will also be shut down if they catch 3 seals, whereas the hundreds of other boats plying australian waters that DONT have observers on board, well ask yourself how many of them go and report hoy many seals and dolphins they catch!!

You dont have a single, solitary clue about anything regarding this boat, yet you cry for it to be banned, and when faced with cold truths about it you deflect attention away from yourself and back onto me, because you dont have a mob to back you up and speak for you! you are like the coward who joins a lynch mob out of fear and ignorance! Who will be crying the loudest???? YOU will ALWAYS be crying the loudest! And you dont sound much like a nice human being to me either!!

 that's huge strumpet . Pull yer head in.

thats haneous