November Media Updates
Find below an assortment of articles/ information in the media this month:
Anne Ruston: Media Release – Celebrating World FIsheries Day
Sustainable fisheries will be absolutely essential in helping to feed an increasing global population, with World Fisheries Day serving to highlight the need to combat overfishing, illegal fishing and pollution of the marine environment.
Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston said Australia was a world leader in sustainable fisheries management, implementing conservative quotas arrived at using the best available evidence and science, and monitoring compliance with comprehensive systems and the latest technology.
Click to read World Fisheries Day highlights fragility of essential food resource
PerthNow: Restaurant Seafood Labelling on Cards for WA
The move has been backed by the State’s peak commercial fishing lobby group, the WA Fishing Industry Council, which says too many eateries are selling imported seafood that customers mistakenly believe comes from Australia.
Mr Harrison said WAFIC was “not opposed to free trade markets or to healthy competition” but mandatory country-of-origin labelling at eateries would mean “the seafood-loving public will be the winners, having greater transparency, choice and certainty about their dining experience”.
Click to read Restaurant Seafood Labelling on Cards for WA
Added Transparency for Offshore Oil and Gas
On 28 November the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator the Hon Matt Canavan, announced a series of changes to implement the recommendations of the Offshore Petroleum Consultation and Transparency Review. Minister Canavan said Australia already had a comprehensive and robust regulatory regime for the oil and gas sector, and these new measures would ensure even more information is available in the public domain. “Australians can have confidence in the information used to decide where, when and how petroleum activities take place and are able to have their say during the process, as well as knowing if an incident has occurred and what action is taken to address it”.
Watch out for Asian paddle crabs
The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development recently issued a media release urging all fishers to report any unusual crabs they find. Fishers are urged to take photos of the suspect crab, especially from above, keep the specimen, and phone the FishWatch 24 hour hotline on 1800 815 507.
Maintaining access to fisheries
A united message from Seafood Industry Australia objecting to the closure of a number of shark fisheries has gained the support of the Australian Government. The Government is now working on a reservation that will keep the Australian Dusky Shark, Blue Shark and Whitespotted Wedgefish (otherwise known as the white-spotted guitarfish) fisheries open.
“Working with our members and supporting their individual submissions, Seafood Industry Australia (SIA) highlighted the significance of the Dusky and Blue Shark fisheries to commercial and recreational fishers. We were also concerned at the impacts of closing these fisheries on the iconic Gummy Shark (flake) fishery”, SIA CEO Jane Lovell said. “This is a real win for the industry and demonstrates the value of unity.”
Mental Health of Fishers
Veronica Papacosta, Chair of Seafood Industry Australia, recently spoke with ABC Weekends and discussed the pressures that fishers face and the impact it has on their mental health.