The Australian government has banned a “super trawler” from fishing in Australian waters for two years to allow for an environmental review of its impact. What’s a super trawler, you ask? This particular fishing ship is longer than a football field, and tows a fishing net that’s nearly 1,000 feet long, scooping up everything in its path.
The Dutch-owned boat, named the Abel Tasman (formerly known as the Margaris, it was renamed in honor of its new home in Tasmania) was registered in Australia on Sept. 7. The giant trawler can operate nonstop, processing 250 metric tons of fish each day. As it tows its 300-meter long net through the ocean, fish are sucked up through a long pipe and processed onboard.
The boat’s owners, Seafish Tasmania, say that the boat has an “excluder” that is intended to prevent large animals from becoming caught in the net. The net also has an escape hatch. A similar, smaller boat owned by Seafish Tasmania caught 14 dolphins in its nets, but didn’t have the excluder device. Greenpeace is arguing that because the excluder hasn’t been tested with this boat, it’s possible it won’t work as intended.
While large animals might or might not be slightly safer, local fishermen say the boat may decimate fish stocks. Seafish Tasmania has been approved to take 18,000 metric tons of jack mackerel and redbait, two species of fish that are critical as food for seals, tuna and other sea life. In the past, when redbait were fished in the area, tuna disappeared. The super trawler is more than twice as big as any past ship ever used in the area. In other parts of the world, like West Africa (where, incidentally, the Australian fish are intended to be sold) super trawlers have been accused of wiping out fish populations.
For now, the government has banned the boat for two years to allow more environmental studies, though the company is already fighting the ban.
Main photo credit: Greenpeace