The Federal Government has imposed a two year ban on super trawlers following community backlash against plans to have the Abel Tasman vessel begin commercial fishing.
The move builds on an interim 60-day ban issued by Environment Minister Tony Burke in September, and over the coming months an expert panel will assess the environmental impact of super trawlers, ABC News reports.
“The challenge here has always been that a vessel of this nature had never been used in Australian waters,” Burke told a press conference early this week.
“It did carry additional environmental challenges where, on a number of occasions, the information that I sought was not available.”
Seafish Tasmania brought the trawler from the Netherlands to Australia this year with plans to use it to capture an 18,000-tonne quota of jack mackerel and redbait.
Seafish Tasmania director Gerry Green said the ban had left the company in the dark about the kind of vessel it was allowed to use.
The company has announced plans to use a smaller factory trawler to fish its quota, but says the Federal Government has not given any advice about the current regulations.
“It’s a very uncertain time for us and what we really need here is some advice from the Government about what is acceptable and then we can make new plans as to whether it’s feasible to bring in a vessel to catch our quota,” he told ABC News.
Anti-trawler activists told AAP the company was unlikely to face a backlash campaign if it used a vessel similar to the models already in use in Australia’s fishing industry.