Australia: Southern bluefin tuna have been spotted in great numbers in the Great Australian Bight, reported South Australia's Port Lincoln Times, contrary to federal government findings that led to the decision to make the fish a threatened species under national environment laws.
A spotting survey on November 22 reported large numbers of southern bluefin tuna in the Bight, a higher number than have been seen for a number of years so early in the season, and large numbers of fish had been reported off Rottnest Island, in Western Australia.
"This is the earliest we have seen such large numbers of fish for years and it's very similar to last year … the government got it very wrong when they agreed to the cut," said Hagen Stehr from the Stehr Group.
"The decision was purely political and was made with no consultation with the industry."
Mr Stehr said there was also a lack of consultation over the decision to list the fish as threatened.
The federal government's former environment minister Peter Garrett introduced the quota cut, but the Port Lincoln Times said the industry should have educated people the southern bluefin tuna is not in the same perilous state as its cousin, the northern bluefin tuna, which are at critically low levels due to over fishing.
