Prawns at what cost?

Thanks for the post Spiney
The article is below:

At what cost?
BY HELEN MANUSU
25/03/2009 9:39:00 AM
THERE are fears juvenile fish stocks in the Manning River may have been decimated by a government 'oversight' which saw Mid North Coast prawn trawlers converge on the waters off Old Bar and Harrington entrances after last month's flood.

At a time when government-imposed trawling closures were in force off the mouths of four other flood affected regional rivers to our north ? to help fish stocks recover from the flood ? it appears no such closure was placed on the Manning River.

As a result, fishermen from the closed areas made a beeline south for the waters off the Manning ? and made 'a killing' with huge catches of the river's school prawns.

The local glut resulted in good sized schoolies retailing at just eight dollars a kilo, the lowest price in years.

While this may have been a bonanza for the fishermen involved as well as the prawn-loving public, it may have also taken a huge toll on the Manning's juvenile fish stocks, by way of by-catch, according to local man Trevor Burns.

He is now demanding the minister for primary industries Ian Macdonald or his director of fisheries operations apologise to the general public, or at least explain how the situation was allowed to develop.

Mr Burns cites Fisheries documentation that for every one kilogram of school prawns netted, up to 10 kilograms of by-catch (other fish species) can be trapped in trawl nets, even despite the fact that by-catch reduction devices exist on trawl equipment.

"In the Manning's case, this would have meant the loss of a huge quantity of mainly juvenile fin-fish, which would have been crushed by the weight of the prawns," he said.

Mr Burns brought his concerns to the Times, hoping that an awareness of the situation that was allowed to happen after the February flood might not be repeated in the future.

"They have been absolutely ruthless," he alleged of the operators. "It is an unbelievable situation which needs really driving home to those in authority, so that it never happens again.

"The market has been flooded with school prawns, but at what cost to the future fish stocks of the Manning River?" he asked.

Mr Burns claimed the Department of Primary Industries and its Fisheries branch is well aware of the oversight, but has "kept quiet". "All the documentation is there," he said.

According to the NSW Rural Assistance Authority website, Natural Disaster Relief classification was approved on February 20 for the mid north coast areas of Bellingen, the Clarence Valley, Coffs Harbour, Greater Taree, Nambucca, Kempsey and Port Macquarie-Hastings, as a result of the February 14-15 flood.

On February 23, primary industries minister Macdonald announced four short-term fishing closures which he said would help fish stocks recover after the flood.

These applied to the Bellinger, Nambucca, Macleay and Hastings rivers, and prohibited trawling by commercial fishing operators in ocean waters off the river mouths.

"The closures, which were introduced on Friday (February 20) are aimed at protecting fish washed out of the rivers as a result of the floods, and will be in place for a period of up to two weeks," the minister said in his media release.

In the same release, NSW Department of Primary Industries director of fisheries operations Peter Turnell explained that in high water flows there is a much greater chance of juvenile and non-target fish that have been flushed from the upper reaches of

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the rivers, out to sea, being caught as by-catch.

"We need to protect these fish and give them time to return to the rivers," Mr Turnell said.

He added: "NSW DPI officers have been in contact with local fishers to discuss the closures and most agree that the approach is in the best interests of the fishery and fishes."

He then went on to say: "It is very pleasing to see the co-operative and proactive approach local fishers have taken in response to the flooded rivers."

Mr Burns, a Croki resident, said it is now apparent that prawn trawler operators from the 'closed' areas quickly released the anomaly and converged on the twin mouths of the Manning, where no no such closure was proclaimed.

Residents other than Mr Burns also reported to the Times that trawlers were in abundance off the local estuaries, their lights clearly to be seen for many nights.

"You could throw a stone from the deck of one to another, they were so thick," Mr Burns said.

The result was a glut of school prawns reaching a ready market at $8 a kilo. These were still available as recently as last Saturday.

"I believe these prawn fishermen have taken out an entire level of the food chain," he said. "That, I believe, is secondary to wiping out so many juvenile fish."

Mr Burns is no stranger to controversies in fishing circles. Several years ago, when he owned and operated a caravan park at Croki, he won a landmark battle in the NSW Land and Environment Court, as head of an organisation called Sustainable Fishing and Tourism. As a result, fisheries were required to carry out environmental impact studies on their catch methods.

"Fisheries now have to do everything in a sustainable manner, and stopping trawling near the mouths of rivers in flood times is one of these practices to stop untold damage being done.

"In the last few weeks a situation has been allowed to exist where the very fish stocks we have been trying to preserve have been decimated."

Mr Burns, who is a member of Greater Taree City Council's Estuary and Coastline Management Committee, will also make his concerns known at that level.

"I just want to stop this every happening again," he said.

The Times on Monday morning asked for a Department of Primary Industries/Fisheries explanation of the situation Mr Burns alleges, however no reply had been received as this edition went to print.