World Fisheries Day awards

A Sydney professional fisher and a Barramundi farm in Far North Queensland are the first two recipients of funding grants from Sydney Fish Market, to be announced on World Fisheries Day (Saturday 21 November).

The $10,000 worth of grants for environmental initiatives in the fishing industry will be an annual program open to seafood suppliers to Sydney Fish Market.

Ritchie Bagnato (pictured), a second-generation professional fisher from the famous Sydney Bagnato fishing family, will receive $8,000 for his trials to further minimise the impact on seabeds by fishing vessels. The trials, which will see semi-pelagic doors and monitoring equipment installed on the vessel, will also examine an expected reduction in fuel consumption, which would decrease carbon emissions by the fishing boats.

Ritchie Bagnato says: "It’s a great honour to receive this grant from Sydney Fish Market and it’s very exciting to be working on an initiative to reduce the ocean footprint of fishing vessels. It will help us trial new technology to help further reduce the interaction with marine life and sea grass living on the ocean floor.

"My boat, Cape Conway, already has an Environment Management System to monitor and reduce environmental impacts; these new trials are a great opportunity to continue the work we are already doing to establish environmentally friendly practices. As fishermen, we are committed to adopting new systems that look to the future in sustaining the ocean environment and professional fishing operations."

The second recipient, Sundown Fish Farm in Mareeba, located 60km inland from Cairns, was awarded $2000 for its prototype development of a solar powered system designed to safely deter native wildlife that eat from its fishponds. The motion-sensor design will emit a low-sound alarm and light to scare off nocturnal birds and water rats. It has the potential to protect fish stocks and remove the need for costly netting systems that can harm animals that get caught in the nets.

World Fisheries Day, celebrated every year by fishing communities globally, is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of maintaining the world’s fishery habitats and improving professional fishing standards.

General Manager of Sydney Fish Market, Bryan Skepper, says: "World Fisheries Day is about maintaining and preserving our fishing habitats for future generations in a sustainable and workable manner. It is the ideal day to announce the inaugural recipients of Sydney Fish Market’s environmental grants. We hope this program continues to encourage improved environmental practice and initiatives amongst our seafood suppliers.

"All grant applications were scrutinised by a panel of industry experts from Sydney Fish Market and OceanWatch Australia. They recognised that these innovative ideas could have the potential to benefit the wider fishing industry and its consumers.

"Sydney Fish Market is committed to working with our suppliers, to constantly maintain and improve standards throughout every stage of the seafood supply chain."

For more information on Sydney Fish Market’s sustainability initiatives visit http://www.sydneyfishmarket.com.au/sustainability

About World Fisheries Day: World Fisheries Day, held annually on 21 November, is designed to highlight the importance in maintaining the world’s fishery habitats. It also raises awareness in the critical relationship between humans and water, and to recognise the need to constantly improve and maintain global fishing standards and practices.

About Sydney Fish Market: Sydney Fish Market is the largest market of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest seafood market in terms of variety in the world. A working fish market, Sydney Fish Market sources product both nationally and internationally and trades more than 14,500 tons of seafood annually.