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Australia Acts To Stop Super-Trawler
"There has never been a fishing vessel of this capacity in Australia before and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act needs to be updated so that it can deal with it."
- Environment Minister Tony Burke
The Australian government Tuesday sought to change its environmental protection laws to prevent a controversial super-trawler from fishing in its waters amid concerns about the by-catch.
The amendment would prohibit the 143-meter (469-foot) trawler from fishing in Australian waters until the further assessment was undertaken by an expert panel.
There were protests among conservation groups and local fishermen when it was announced earlier this year that the ship would fish off Tasmania, and Greenpeace protesters tried to prevent it docking in Port Lincoln.
Greenpeace welcomed Tuesday's decision as sending a message "to the global super-sized fishing fleets that world community opposition is growing to their unsustainable business model".