Two key Australian fishing groups have said that trawl and shark fishing can survive if offshore wind is prioritised toward low-fishing areas.
Four of Australia’s six offshore wind zones affect the Commonwealth-managed trawl fishery and three affect the Commonwealth shark fishery. The trawl fishery is the largest supplier of local fresh fish into Melbourne and Sydney. Popular species include flathead, blue grenadier and pink ling. The shark fishery supplies ‘flake’ into south-eastern fish and chip shops.
The groups have called for the protection of fishing grounds that were granted to licence holders, decades before wind developments were proposed. Only this protection will avoid further harming the supply of local wild-caught fish.
‘Commercial fishing and offshore wind can co-exist. However, the newly proposed areas like the Illawarra in NSW and the eastern parts of Gippsland in Victoria are critically important fishing areas in Australia that support fishing towns like Lakes Entrance. These proposed wind energy areas are poorly chosen and the crucially important fishing areas they overlay cannot be turned over to offshore wind,’ said Richard Saul, the chair of the trawl fishing association (SETFIA).
‘The Australian community does not need to choose between healthy sustainable local fish and electricity – it can have both. But this is only possible if the eastern part of the Gippsland zone and the Illawarra zone are not developed. The licences issued in the Gippsland zone can produce more power than Victoria’s current consumption so there is no need to develop fishing grounds.’
While fishing grounds are being cancelled to facilitate offshore wind, different departments within the Australian Government are also proposing new marine parks. This other government decision-making process is happening in isolation from offshore wind planning and ignores cumulative impacts.
‘The shark fishery will be significantly impacted by proposed wind developments. There is no need to create new marine parks that further reduce the supply of flake. The proposal to create a new lock out called the Beagle Marine Park will impact 20,000kgs of flake annually in exchange for weak conservation gains,’ said Stuart Richey, chair of the shark association (SSIA).
‘If offshore wind and new marine parks occur in parallel, flake catch will reduce increasing the price of fish and chips adding to the cost-of-living crisis. The industry calls on Minister Bowen (Minister for Climate Change and Energy) and Minister Plibersek (Minister for the Environment and Water) to co-ordinate their plans and to prioritise offshore wind only in low fishing areas. 52% of Australia’s marine estate is already protected by marine parks, new parks that further lock out the sustainable catch of flake are not required.’
