Fears are that Australia’s orange roughy stocks are under threat from a New Zealand super trawler of Talley Fisheries. The orange roughy fishery plunged under previous fishing, apparently by Talleys.
Conservationists are concerned by the decision to allow the Amaltal Explorer, a mega-sized factory ship to return to the recovering orange roughy.
Orange roughy live for more than 140 years, don’t start to breed until they’re about 30 and are highly vulnerable to over-fishing. In the 1970s, New Zealand’s commercial companies plundered orange roughy stocks leaving them in one case a reported 5% of virgin bio-mass.
In Australia in the 1980s and 1990s Australian orange roughy stocks crashed under over-fishing and in 2006 Australia implemented a fishing ban. Now the Australian Marine Conservation Society fears the over-fishing will happen again. The Talley’s ship with onboard processing and freezers allows it to fish in one area for long periods. It is owned by Talley’s – a major New Zealand agribusinesses.
People are deeply worried that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority’s has ignored a scientific recommendation from the CSIRO to halve catch limits in the eastern zone.
Fancy Australian fisheries agencies allowing the Talley’s mega-trawler cum factory ship Amaltal Explorer to fish for recovering orange roughy! Like NZ it seems the big commercial boys control “fisheries management.”.
I never buy Talley’s products, even frozen vegetables or whatever., If I see the name in the supermarket, I just leave it. They are greedy corporates.