Ausmarine Editorial – October 2012
With allegations flying around the general media that one vessel would be "hoovering" up a quarter of the world's catch in one little bit of ocean off Tasmania, the 'Margiris'/'Abel Tasman' controversy became completely farcical as September wore on.
This situation could well have been expected when it is considered that two of the major actors in the farce were the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and Australia's Environment Minister Tony Burke, neither of which or whom has earned any respect from this industry over the years.
While they certainly don't deserve it, I will try to be fair to Tony Burke and AFMA's board and senior management. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and allow that they may have tried to correct some of the distortions that appeared in the general media.
However, both parties should be experienced enough to know that when ignorant reporters are revved up by the green movement, objectivity and facts go out the window. The addition, of three zeros to the catch quota of the 'Abel Tasman' (from 18 thousand to 18 million tonnes), for example, may look wrong and ridiculous to the informed person but, to the man in the street, it looks terrible.
Whether or not they tried to inject some facts into the argument they failed dismally. They will probably blame media bias and unprofessional journalists but, really, they only have themselves to blame. Neither AFMA, nor its minister, are trusted by the industries over which they preside. That is the fundamental reason for this media free-for-all.
Over the years and under a revolving door of managing directors and chairmen and, even, a "chair", AFMA has departed completely from the original course set for it. Originally intended to develop, promote and enhance Australia's fishing industry, it has, for the last fifteen years or so, mostly succeeded in demolishing it.
Similarly, with the exception of Senator Ian Macdonald, AFMA has suffered under a succession of lacklustre ministers who have failed dismally to follow the course set by its founding minister, John Kerin.
Over the years AFMA has proved to be frequently incompetent, occasionally corrupt and almost constantly malignant. It appears to be jinxed or at least ill-starred.
The whole 'Abel Tasman' tempest in a teacup is unfortunately just symptomatic of AFMA's complete inability to achieve what it set out to do. The whole AFMA experiment should be canned, the organisation liquidated and its function taken back to Primary Industry Agriculture where it resided a quarter of a century ago. Canberra is obviously completely incapable of managing an organisation with such a positive remit as AFMA started with.
Of minister Burke, the less said the better. As my colleague Barry McRoberts has explained before, he simply doesn't want to know or even make contact with the industry – so different from John Kerin! He must go before he gets involved in any more similar outrages.
From time-to-time we receive requests from marketers, economists, industry associations, politicians and even bureaucrats as to the size of the Australian marine market and, particularly, the numbers and types of non-leisure vessels in Australian waters.
Of course, privacy legislation, enforced by those self-same bureaucrats, prevents us from simply accessing the state and federal records of registered vessels.
More than three decades ago before any privacy legislation was ever enacted we met similar problems in assessing the size of the fishing fleet. The problem there was that governments indulged in a lot of double and triple counting that made the fleet look 20 to 25 percent bigger than it really was.
Anyway, thirty odd years on and against the background of a dramatically different commercial and government vessel scene, we have decided to try again.
Our method last time was to visit or contact every port – no matter how small – right around the coast and ask locals how many of each type of fishing vessel were based there.
For want of a better method, we have decided to do the same again. Obviously, there are certain organisations such as the Navy and Customs whose accurate records are readily available.
The same applies to some of the larger, multi-vessel commercial fleet owners.
There are, of course, many other owners of just one or a handful of vessels. We want to learn about them. We want to learn about the tugs, pilot boats, patrol boats, rescue boats, OSVs, barges, cargo ships, aquaculture support boats, fire boats, construction vessels, dredgers, general work boats, trawlers, long-liners, lobster boats, survey vessels, purse-seiners, tour boats, dive boats and more.
We would really appreciate receiving from readers lists of all the vessels based in their ports. We don't need to know the owners' details, just the vessel name, registration number, type, construction material, engine brand and length overall.
Anyone sending in such a list will receive a free one year subscription to Ausmarine as thanks. I hope you can help us.
Neil Baird