Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 5 December last year I spoke on the subject of deep sea bottom trawling and the positive role that the Australian government could play in establishing a global moratorium to ban this highly destructive fishing practice—and at the risk of boring the Senate again on this subject I am going to talk about it some more. A few months earlier the Senate had noted the damage done by high sea bottom trawling and supported the establishment of a legally binding governance framework to protect deep sea biodiversity. 2006 may shape up as the year in which the world moves decisively to protect the deep oceans from industrial-scale exploitation.

There are a number of the UN and regional processes going on this year where bottom trawling has been or will be addressed. These talks are important—but while the talks continue, deep sea damage continues. As Lyn Goldsworthy of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition states, the meetings are:

... vitally important but it’s really time for action not talk. These vulnerable ecosystems need immediate protection. That’s why we need a global moratorium on high sea bottom trawling until we get a better picture of the biodiversity impacts from scientists and to allow time for the governance arrangements to be put in place.

I am hoping the new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry will play a leading role in these various processes. If he does so, Australia once again will be showing that not only are we in step with international opinion but we are helping to shape it.

The need for action is highlighted by the 185 photos that Greenpeace New Zealand recently obtained under their freedom of information legislation. The 185 images show a wide diversity of deep sea life dragged up by high sea bottom trawl fishing. What the photos show includes bizarre crabs, strange octopuses, ancient Gorgonian corals and CITES listed endangered black coral. The images were taken by fisheries observers on board New Zealand bottom trawlers. The photos highlight yet again the highly destructive impacts of bottom trawling on the undiscovered world of our deep oceans. But the damage seen in these photos is still only the tip of the iceberg—and I apologise for the bad pun! Greenpeace oceans campaigners said that, although 185 photos sounds like a lot, the sample is small because fewer than five per cent of New Zealand flagged deep sea bottom trawlers have observers on board and not all the observers take photos.

Perhaps because the link between ecological and economic sustainability is so stark in this instance, world governments are listening to scientific opinion and using the United Nations to proceed, however slowly, towards a solution. Bottom trawling destroys marine ecosystems as effectively as clear-felling destroys terrestrial ecosystems. Spawning grounds and habitats are removed as though the sea floor had been bulldozed—and, with it, any possibility for the ecosystems to recover. As the sea floor is destroyed, so are the livelihoods of tomorrow’s fishing communities.

Since the middle of last year, events have moved forward considerably. The United States has designated its largest marine protected area in the North Pacific which prevents deep sea trawling across a quarter of a million square nautical miles. Legislation is before congress to ban bottom trawling along 82 per cent of the Pacific coast. The European Union has at last begun to shift its support behind a high seas moratorium, led by France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany and the UK. Canada is now holding its first national scientific review of the issue. The Pacific Islands Forum issued a strong statement in October 2005 in support of Palau’s motion for a moratorium. African states—including Tunisia—South Asian nations, Brazil, Chile, and our near neighbour PNG are all lining up behind the moratorium.

New Zealand has stated it would support a high seas moratorium if other fishing nations did the same. I believe this is a signal for the Australian government to show its hand and go firmly on the record as supporting a moratorium. I point to the recent launch of the High Seas Task Force final report, a project for which the Australian government can claim some credit and which our own fisheries minister had a hand in completing. It is a welcome step towards the desperately needed crackdown on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing on the high seas. High seas illegal fishing inevitably has impacts within the exclusive economic zones of all countries including Australia. In part, the report reads:

IUU fishing respects neither national boundaries nor international attempts to manage high seas resources. It thrives where weak governance arrangements prevail and is further encouraged by the failure of countries to meet their international responsibilities. It puts unsustainable pressure on fish stocks, marine wildlife and habitats, subverts labour standards and distorts markets.

I put it to you that this could have been written about deep sea bottom trawling, for the same weak governance arrangements prevail and unforgivable damage is being done to the marine environment and the societies that depend on it. This report gives weight to the arguments that the challenges of enforcing a moratorium should never be used as an excuse for inaction.

Interestingly, measures suggested in the report to tackle IUU fishing are similar to those needed to enforce a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. A moratorium on high seas bottom trawling can and should be in force before the end of 2006, whereupon the burden will shift from regulation to enforcement at least until such time as more scientific work can be done on whether this practice can ever be sustainable. Progress has thus far been positive but painfully slow, and many opportunities to clamp down on this practice have already been missed. I believe it would be a fitting achievement for our new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, working with his counterpart in the environment portfolio, to do something tangible about this practice and have Australia again take the lead to bring about a result of which we can all be proud. I am hoping that in November 2006 the United Nations General Assembly, with Australian support, will agree to a global moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, and I urge the Australian government to get on with helping to introduce such a moratorium.