DETAILS of how dolphins and seals died during the large factory freezer trawler Geelong Star’s first four voyages have been obtained through freedom of information.
According to an article on the News.com .au website, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson made the documents public during a Senate committee hearing yesterday. The documents also allegedly revealed a by-catch of as many as 28 species.
Faraj Meir via Wikimedia Commons)
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“In one trip, the Geelong Star managed to trash 12 tonnes of marine life,” a spokesman for Senator Whish-Wilson said
“Many tonnes of non-target baitfish, like pilchards, have been caught and then simply discarded.
“The Geelong Star’s levels of indiscriminate by-catch will have recreational fishers and conservationists concerned.”
By-catches mentioned in a report by Australian Fisheries Management Authority observer Gavin Kerwan aboard Geelong Star on its first voyage from April 2-22 included 7.5 tonnes of Australian pilchard, which the vessel was prohibited from keeping, 1.3 tonnes of redbait, which were too small to be pumped from the net to the vessel, and one tonne of blue mackerel which were unusable after falling into a sump.
Mr Kerwan’s report for the second voyage April 25-May 5 noted a devil ray and two bronze whaler sharks, but tonnages of mackerel and redbait were lower.
A Geelong Star crew member, while reporting a seal death by email, said, “yeah, another dead one. I’m not really sure there is much more we can do to stop them though. On haul we have about 20-30 around the net feeding”.
A seal death report on April 10 noted an excluder device to enable mammals to escape the trawl net had not worked.
“Video footage … showed that the seal was already in last seconds of life before arriving at the excluder device. It didn’t have enough life in it to find escape exit,” the report said.
A report on the death of four dolphins on March 1 stated the dolphins were either among mackerel as they were being caught “or they were using the net as a feeding strategy”.
A spokesman for the Small Pelagic Fishery Industry Association said: “The equipment and fishing practices on the Geelong Star continue to be improved and have changed considerably. A number of changes have occurred since the technical marine mammal workshop in June to reduce risks of interactions”.
In a related item on the Fishing World website, a rally is being held against the Geelong Star at Torquay in Victoria, this Sunday, OIctober 25. Click HERE for details.
