Super trawler ban

The two-year ban imposed this week on the freshly renamed super trawler Abel Tasman had been brewing for months. The reasons for the ban are largely political, though they are also part of the story of stressed global fish stocks, and oceans scoured almost clean elsewhere in the world.

The issue brings together groups that have traditionally been at odds - environmentalists and recreational fishers. Their combined voices eventually reached a pitch the government couldn't ignore.

And this week, those groups hailed as a great victory Tony Burke and Joe Ludwig's announcement that they would ban the super trawler for up to two years while further assessment was carried out.
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Stop the boat
Watch here the video from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about the government discussing it.

Super trawler ban may go to court
THE Australian operator of the controversial super trawler facing a two-year ban by the federal government has given the strongest indication yet that it will take legal action, insisting it will not ''roll over and go away''.

Its warning came as Labor backbencher Dick Adams, who opposed the ban, accused his own party of ''determining its policy in response to lobbying campaigns on social media rather than the facts'', and of ''now responding only to environmental concerns, without regard to the social and economic consequences''.

Seafish Tasmania director Gerry Geen told The Saturday Age yesterday that the firm - which along with its Dutch joint-venture partner could lose millions of dollars because of the ban - was seeking legal advice and was expecting answers ''in the next few days''.
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Netherlands raises trawler ban with EU
Mr Geen said: ''I think anyone would have to think very hard about investing in Australia, particularly about being as open and transparent and open as we've been. We gave the green groups so much notice of our intentions. It certainly gave them an opportunity to get organised.''
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A very dubious notion from Mr Green! So with other words: lets keep them all in the dark so we can get ahead with over fishing and scraping the oceans empty!

UPDATE 27 September: I read in the Dutch newsletter for migrants that the super trawler had permission to fish in the Australian ocean but were not allowed to disterb the environment more than any small vessel....
I've tried to find info from Australia which still states there is a 2 year stop for them to fish here... Check here