Minister Michael O Brien says the slashed bluefin tuna quota will lower farming activity and affect Port Lincoln. (Photo: Ministers.sa.gov.au/ FIS)

Southern bluefin quota cut condemned

The Australian Government has cut the southern bluefin tuna quota by 23.7 per cent to 4,015 tonnes for the 2010-11 fishing season.

The South Australian State Government, which administers most of Australia’s bluefin fishing from Port Lincoln, does not support the move for fear of the consequences for the local industry and wants more say in future quota decisions.

But the outlook for southern bluefin looks stark as northern bluefin populations continue to plunge due to overfishing, and the Japanese market offering tens of thousands of dollars for a single tuna.

“More than 90 per cent of this national quota is caught near the Great Australian Bight by quota holders who operate from Port Lincoln,” said South Australian Fisheries Minister Michael O’Brien.

“This quota is then farmed in waters off the coast of Port Lincoln and this farming activity is regulated by PIRSA [the Department of Primary Industries and Resources of South Australia]," he continued, reports International Business Times.

The decision to slash the southern bluefin tuna quota has bred lowered farming activity, O’Brien said, which will adversely affect the social and economic aspects of the industry and the community of Port Lincoln.

He believes a better outcome would have resulted from being privy to the thoughts of the Federal Government before it met with other countries.

"I wouldn't lay the blame at [Federal Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Minister Tony Burke’s] feet but I think the Commonwealth bureaucracy have got to be more prepared to admit their state counterparts in the process and I think if that had happened the quota level that was ultimately struck internationally as it applies to South Australian waters would not have been as savage," O’Brien concluded.

Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association Chief Executive Brian Jeffriess said O'Brien's "frank and lengthy" meeting on Friday was appreciated by the tuna industry. He said O’Brien was well informed and offered suggestions for progress, reports Port Lincoln Times.

Jeffries told him that the tuna industry will no longer be put second to the Federal Government's broader political agenda.

"The new reality is that the tuna industry needs the support of the State Government in trying to get the Federal Government to recognise that the Australian tuna industry must be given a fair go when the Australian Government makes crucial decisions in the next 18 months at the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)," Jeffries commented.

Related articles:

- Country's last tuna cannery to end production
- Tuna decision pummels Port Lincoln industry

By Natalia Real
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www.seafood.media

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