The Australian Fisheries Management Authority on Wednesday confirmed the whale shark was snagged in the trawler net and also that the trawler caught more fur seals on its latest trip. 

The Australian Stop the Trawler Alliance of conservation, recreational fishing and tourism groups has expressed its outrage at learning the Geelong Star super trawler had caught a majestic whale shark, and is calling for the Turnbull Government to finally ban the factory freezer trawler from the Small Pelagic Fishery among growing international condemnation.

Click here for our breaking news of the whale shark being caught

“The super trawler Geelong Star catching a majestic, vulnerable Whale Shark must be the last straw for its operations in Australia. Whoever industry and AFMA thought it could fool before, the game is up. Our marine life, our tourism industries and our fishing are too valuable to risk for these destructive operators,” said Rebecca Hubbard of Environment Tasmania.

AFMA has admitted that a whale shark was caught but is suggesting that it swam away freely. However claims on Facebook apparently from crew members, suggest that they had to cut the net, after which the whale shark sank to the bottom dead.

“The catching of this whale shark will bring international criticism of Australia’s fishing industry and our fisheries management and must signal the final end for foreign freezer factory trawlers in our waters. The catching of a whale shark is abhorrent and unacceptable, even more so because it comes on top of revelations of more seal deaths in the most recent fishing trip, the death of 7 albatrosses last trip and the deaths of dolphins and seals in previous trips,” said Josh Coates of the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

“Recreational fishers don’t believe that the killing of protected species and whale sharks is an acceptable part of fishing, and we have lost faith in AFMA. We want fish for the future and all the marine life that depend on it, but the Geelong Star threatens all of this and AFMA’s ongoing protection of this industry is just not good enough for Australians,” said Nobby Clark, a recreational fishing spokesman for the Stop The Trawler Alliance.

“If the catching of a whale shark by the Geelong Star is not the death knell for this monster trawler, then it must be asked who is the Turnbull Government representing? Only a ban on all freezer factory trawlers in the Small Pelagic Fishery will end this environmental, social and economic fiasco,” concluded Ms Hubbard.

Fairfax Media asked Federal Member for Eden-Monaro Peter Hendy for his views on Geelong Star. Click here to read his response

NSW recreational fisherman Graham Pike who has a history in the small pelagic fishery’s management is alleging the shark did not swim away and called on AFMA to release its video footage of the incident.

“There has been a suggestion that the whale shark was freed from the net while the net was still in the water. That, too, is a nonsense,” Mr Pike wrote in an email to AFMA officials.

“Instead, our sources are quite clear that the Geelong Star retrieved its net, with the Whale shark still in it, and only when the net was on the deck, were attempts made to free the animal.

“These attempts  included the use of the Geelong Star’s five-tonne crane to try to lift the Whale shark out of the net. We are told that the crane could not lift the Whale shark but that the animal, half dead by this stage, was further injured by the unsuccessful use of the crane.”

The Small Pelagic Fishing Industry Association meanwhile in it’s own Facebook post countered the claims about the whale shark entrapment.

“A false accusation was made on Stop the Trawler's facebook page this morning that the Geelong Star had killed a whale shark. This claim is false and malicious,” the Facebook post reads. “We immediately posted on the thread to confirm a whale shark had come alongside the net, the vessel manoeuvered away and the whale shark had swum off unharmed.”

Mr Pike said he served on AFMA’s management advisory committee and resource assessment group for the small pelagic fishery and was also a co-founder of the peak body Rec Fish Australia and had been a long term adviser to the Federal Government on fishing matters.

“It’s all in the name of economics,” Mr Pike told Fairfax Media. “These are basically killing machines.”

It was a Dutch owned and operated vessel so the money was going overseas, he said. The vessel was targeting breeding small pelagics off the Far South Coast and would have impact on the local marine environment with local depletion, he said.

Smaller local fishing boats could target these small pelagics, which would be much more beneficial for the local and Australian economy.