Tasmania could soon be home to a new sardine fishery, with an estimated 210,000 tonnes of the small fish found in local waters.
The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) has identified the large biomass of sardines off the coast of Tasmania, primarily in Bass Strait.
“There is the view and we’re exploring this further, that we can harvest some of that biomass on a sustainable basis,” Business, Industry and Resources Minister Eric Abetz said.
“This will be, potentially, a new market for fish for human consumption and for pharmaceuticals and potentially for fish food.”
The fishery would use purse seine methods, where a net is shot around a school of fish that swim near the surface.
Releasing guidelines to inform the development of a fishery management plan, Abetz said the government wants to ensure the “highest quality product which then commands the highest price and the biggest return for the people of Tasmania”.
“Can I also say, because there will undoubtedly be the naysayers who never want to explore or consider anything, that there will not be any trawling for the sardines,” he said.
“So the argument of super trawlers and all the other scare campaigns, they can be set aside.”
Seafood Industry Tasmania CEO Julian Harrington said the sardine population has been around Tasmania for some time.
“We’ve only just recently received the science that shows that we can have a long-term sustainable fishery,” he said.
Harrington pointed to the “well-established” sardine fishery in South Australia as an example of sustainable harvesting.
“The sardines keep coming back and they’re sustainably harvesting for a multitude of uses and we’re very excited by that opportunity here in Tasmania,” he said.
The development of the new fishery will involve extensive public consultation with Tasmanians and commercial and recreational fishing bodies.
