| Tasmania's
rock lobster and abalone industries are the first to have met the
Australian Government’s sustainability standards.
Australia’s other export fisheries are
now working on proving they are not damaging the environment so they
too they can keep sending product overseas.
The Australian Federal Minister for
the
Environment and Heritage Dr David
Kemp and Tasmanian primary industries last week made the joint
announcement that both Tasmania’s key export fisheries were among
the first in Australia to gain export exemptions.
Dr Kemp said that only catch from
fisheries that can demonstrate that they are being managed in an
ecologically sustainable way may be exempted from the export
controls of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). |
Tasmania's rock lobster
industry has met the Australian Government’s sustainability
standards. (Photo:UTAS) |
"One of the objects of the EPBC Act is to
ensure that any commercial use of Australian native wildlife for the
purposes of export is managed in an ecologically sustainable way," Dr
Kemp said.
"In the past, all fish and other marine
wildlife were exempt from this requirement but the Government changed
the legislation so that the exemption would be available only to those
fisheries that could show they are managed in an ecologically
sustainable way.
"Tasmanian rock lobster and abalone
fisheries are, with the Queensland Spanner Crab fishery, the first
fisheries in Australia for which the assessment of environmental
performance had been successfully completed against the Commonwealth's
environmental performance guidelines."
The Tasmanian minister said the
exemptions from Environment Australia would be a boost for both
industries, whose export earnings are already worth in excess of AUD 160
million annually to the Tasmanian economy.
Dr Kemp said that all marine fisheries
with export product were required to be assessed under the EPBC Act
before December 2003.
Tasmanian Rock Lobster Fishermen’s Association
president Neil Stump, who fishes out of the port of St. Helens, said the
announcement meant a lot for those associated with the State’s 235
licensed vessels.
"Our stock assessment over the last three
to four years has shown slow but steady increases in the legal biomass,
which proves we are not taking everything we can and we are leaving
stock in the water to breed," Mr Stump said.
The quota managed fishery currently
produces 1,525 tonnes, and Mr Stump said he hoped Tasmania now took
advantage of the designation and marketed the product as clean and
green.
He credited the work done by researchers
at the State Government’s primary industry department and the
University of Tasmania’s Aquaculture and Fisheries
Institute.
The South Australian southern rock
lobster industry claims it was more than confident it too would obtain
the export designation and in fact has developed numerous programs
associated with environmental stewardship, including a marketing
strategy with a special logo to highlight the environmental standards.
Industry association spokesman Roger
Edwards said a strategy entitled "From the pot to the plate" had been
developed that involved meeting environmental and health standards along
the entire process from fishing to packaging and processing.
Rock lobster fishers had participated in
research such as taking out video cameras that filmed the impact of
lobster pots on the seafloor and also now have standards for how oily
rags and other rubbish is disposed, Mr Edwards said.
The State’s industry was also on track to
start using new lobster pots with escape hatches for undersized fish and
bycatch.
"We believe doing the right thing is our
responsibility, and why would we not want to ensure the long term
sustainability of our fishery?" Mr Edwards said. |
