Super trawler "threatens coastal communities"

As the Magiris super trawler steams toward Australian waters, Greenpeace has escalated the issue, calling on the Gillard Government to ban all super trawlers from Australian waters.

 "This is an opportunity for the Gillard Government to say, once and for all, we don’t want this kind of fishing in our waters", said Greenpeace campaigner Nathanielle Pelle. "The Margiris is not a fishing boat, it’s a massive floating factory equipped with an industrial ocean hoover," she said.

"It has already plundered fisheries in Europe, the Pacific and West Africa and now it is headed for Australia," added Ms Pelle.

Greenpeace is campaigning against super trawlers worldwide and has documented the devastation left in their wake.

“Allowing the Margiris in our waters is an open invitation to the entire global fleet of oversized, industrial ships,” said Nathanielle Pelle. “Australia should learn the lessons from the devastation super trawlers have wrought on marine life and fishing communities around the world and say no to the Margiris.”

The Dutch-owned Margiris is twice the size of any vessel to have ever legally fished in Australian waters. If the trip goes ahead, waters anywhere from Perth along the Great Australian Bight and up to South-east Queensland could be under threat from the Margiris.

"The Margiris can catch and process the equivalent weight of twenty school buses (250 tonnes) in fish per day,” said Mr Pelle. 

"The Margiris could wipe out local fish stocks and devastate coastal communities".

"If the little fish go, so do the big fish. So do the dolphins and seals and seabirds. And so do the fishermen," said Pelle.

Greenpeace is part of the ‘Stop the Super Trawler’ coalition of concerned fishing and environmental groups.