Supertrawler kills more dolphins

The national organisation representing the recreational fishing community, the Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF), has called for the Federal Government to provide details on its plans to deal with the supertrawler Geelong Star now that another dolphin death has been reported on its current fishing trip.

This is the ninth dolphin death reported since it started fishing in April this year.

The Small Pelagic Fishery Industry Association (SPFIA) has confirmed the trawler killed its ninth dolphin last Thursday (June 18) off New South Wales.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) posted on its website that a dolphin had been killed, prompting a six-month closure of the zone, but did not name the Geelong Star.

Under the Government’s fishing regulations, the most recent dolphin death will see the Geelong Star banned from fishing a zone from Sydney to Flinders Island for six months. It was banned from fishing at night following previous dolphin mortalities.

The ARFF said in a press statement that it understands that because this operation is fishing the food source of sea mammals that interactions with them will occur. However, this current mortality raises some serious questions about the future management of this fishery.

Strict regulations were imposed on the operations following the previous dolphin deaths, including new dolphin-excluder devices (DED), a ban on night fishing and six-month bans on fishing zones where there has been a dolphin death reported.

The ARFF's statement asks: "The Minister and AFMA both stated that the rate of previous dolphin deaths was unacceptable – we have just seen one more. When is one more too many?

"We ask that the Government release the video footage from the dolphin mortality interaction so that this process is transparent.

"With the Geelong Star now excluded from one of the of the seven fishing zones in the small pelagic fishery this will concentrate fishing pressure in the other zones, including some of Australia’s most iconic recreational fishing locations.

Meanwhile, the ABC has reported that the South Australian State Government fears the supertrawler could breach the state's catch regulations.

Fisheries Minister Leon Bignell said he was worried the 95-metre-long Geelong Star was now near the SA border.

Mr Bignell said he had raised SA's concerns over the supertrawler for months now with the Federal Government, which regulates fishing in waters more than three nautical miles from the coast.

"The super trawler was recently sighted near the South Australian border. I have very serious concerns about its impact on our fisheries, particularly our quota-managed sardines and our recreational game fishing industry," he said.

"South Australia has jurisdiction for managing sardines in all waters off SA [and] this means that sardines are a no-take species for all vessels off SA in the small pelagic fishery."

The Minister said he doubted the Geelong Star would be able to avoid breaching the state's fishing restrictions.

"There is a strong likelihood of significant incidental by-catch of sardines and this could adversely affect the integrity of the quota arrangements," he said.

The SA Government said it wanted the supertrawler's activities reviewed and, until then, it should be restricted to fishing in waters of more than 200 metres in depth.

We will keep you posted on developments surrounding the Geelong Star.