This Wednesday’s council meeting will see a motion to condemn the activities of super trawlers and factory freezer trawlers, such as the controversial Geelong Star.
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The motion has been raised by Cr Keith Hughes and coincides with a visit to the region’s recent amateur fishing competitions and businesses by well traveled conservation activist Ginny Gerlach from the Stop the Trawler Alliance .
After years spent trying to save the Great Barrier Reef from destruction, Ms Gerlach has relocated to Tasmania and has taken on the issue of over-fishing in Australian waters.
She was invited by a number of amateur fishing clubs to discuss the issue during recent tournaments.
“Something like 42 per cent of the tourism dollars spent in this region come from or are related to recreational fishing and that is way more than in any other coastal region,” she said.
So far this year the vessel has been involved in a number of controversies that have lead to Cr Hughes putting forward the motion.
Cr Hughes said he was hoping to get a clear signal from council towards the use of the vessels in local waters to then be put forward to member for Eden-Monaro Peter Hendy.
"It's not just the Geelong Star, which is currently ravaging fish populations off our coast, it's all factory freezer trawlers,” Councillor Hughes said.
"They are a disaster for the environment, for other fishers and for the region's small business economy. They contribute nothing: they don't even call in to ports on our coast. They leave a trail of destruction, by-catch, decimation of target species, and even kill threatened species such as albatross.
"The Geelong Star has killed dolphins, seals and, for me the last straw, it caught a whale shark.
"Our local federal MP, Peter Hendy has resolutely sat on the fence on this issue even while State MP Andrew Constance and federal Liberal colleagues have opposed the Geelong Star.
Liberal MP for Corangamite, Sarah Henderson has written to the Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries calling for a ban on the Geelong Star, he said. And fellow Liberal Bob Baldwin, MP for Patterson, has spoken out in Parliament on March 3 referring to...."by-catches and deaths of dolphins, seals, albatross, sharks, turtles and more recently the whale shark that was caught up in its nets", he said.
"They are a disaster for the environment, for other fishers and for the region's small business economy,” Cr Hughes said.
“They contribute nothing: they don't even call in to ports on our coast and leave a trail of destruction, by-catch, decimation of target species, and even kill threatened species such as albatross.”
Member for Bega Andrew Constance has shared his opposition to its local presence while Dr Hendy is hoping for a “workable compromise”.
“I'm hoping council will join me in requesting Dr Hendy get off the fence and listen to his electorate,” Cr Hughes said.
"Dr Hendy has sat on the fence on this issue calling for discussion, suggesting to his aggrieved constituents they relay their concerns to the regulators who are there to help facilitate the trawler industry and frankly that approach is not good enough.”