Tasmania could soon launch its first new commercial fishery in decades, with the state government exploring the development of a sardine fishery in the Bass Strait.
Minister for Business, Industry and Resources Eric Abetz described the opportunity as “exciting and rare” and said it has the potential to create new opportunities for local fishers.
“Australian sardines, a highly nutritious species found in temperate waters, have long been fished commercially in other parts of the country,” he said.
“Research has been underway to assess the full extent of sardine stocks in Bass Strait.”
“The results of this independent science will be used to underpin the development of a management plan for a Tasmanian Sardine Fishery, ensuring it is one that will minimise environmental impacts and maximise benefit to Tasmanians.”
The fishery will not allow commercial trawling and will use purse seining methods, similar to those employed in the successful South Australian sardine fishery.
“I would like to make it absolutely clear that commercial trawling is prohibited in Tasmanian commercial fisheries,” Abetz said.
“This position will remain for any future sardine fishery. No trawling will be permitted.”
$250,000 has been allocated to support the project’s development.
The Bob Brown Foundation has already deemed the proposal “disastrous” and say it “must not go ahead”.
“Instead of viewing this as a population to be targeted, the Tasmanian and federal governments should proudly protect this growing sardine population in a world where many sardine populations are in decline,” campaigner Alistair Allan said.
“To catch a wild fish, a species relied upon by dolphins, seals, albatrosses and all manner of ocean wildlife, just to grind them up and feed them to environmentally destructive salmon farms is a crime against nature.”
