Marine park plan reveals hypocrisy of Government

This is a reproduction of an article that appeared in The Weekend Post (Cairns Post weekend edition) on Saturday, 16 June 2012, written by the Honourable Warren Entsch Member for the Federal seat of Leichhardt, which takes in the city of Cairns.  Note that the photo and website links were not provided in the original article but have been added for purposes of clarity and explanation.

THE more I learn about this crisis surrounding the Federal Government’s plan to close the Coral Sea the more I am disgusted and saddened by the sheer stupidity and hypocrisy of it.

It’s absolutely baffling how Tony Burke can, on one hand, announce marine parks that are going to destroy much of our fishing industry while at the same time quietly give permission for the world’s second-largest trawler – the 142m foreign-owned “Margiris” – to plunder Australian waters.

 

Vessel details can be found at :-

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=277330000

(photo and link not provided in original article, but added to enhance clarity and understanding)

It doesn’t take much digging to find out that this vessel has ties with an EU-taxpayer-subsidised fleet known as the PFA, which is renowned for leaving collapsed fisheries and out-of-work fishermen in its wake.

The Margiris and the PFA made headlines earlier this year after decimating the South Pacific Jack Mackerel fishery off Chile by 90 per cent, and have been banned from operating off West Africa.

Yet our Federal Government has welcomed this ship with open arms, allowing it to be re-flagged and based in Tasmania where it can catch 17,500 tonnes of Redbait and Mackerel each year.

For those who wish to learn about the PFA from their own website, follow this link :-

http://www.pelagicfish.eu/nl/paginasamenstellingNIEUWS.asp?stamIDsamengesteldepagina=11&menuID=523

Note that this link was not provided in the original article but has been added for the purpose of explanation of the organisation, from their own perspective.

Not only are these species a vital part of the Southern Ocean food chain, but super-trawlers like this have an atrocious level of by-catch. AFMA has taken drastic steps to accommodate these foreign interests – first, by doubling the current quota and second, by removing the requirement for science-based stock assessments, which would ensure sustainable fishing.

Note that AFMA is the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.  For more information about this government agency, use the following link :-

http://www.afma.gov.au/

This link was not provided in the original article but has been added by way of explanation of the role of this federal agency.

I simply cannot understand the lengths to which this Government will go to hammer our local industry, which has sustainably fished north Queensland’s waters for many years. It makes no sense whatsoever – there is no science that supports this, there is no sustainability issue.

It is just this Government putting the needs of a foreign-owned “fishing factory” ahead of the livelihoods of hard-working Australians in order to maintain Green support.