Queensland infrastructure fantasist to hold "summit" on turning the Clarence River estuary into a coal & bauxite loading port

On 2 June 2016 Desmond John Thomas Euen will be holding a “summit” at the Returned Servicemen's Memorial Club in Casino NSW.

This A “Key” Nation Building Infrastructure Plan Summit holds the promise of containing more spin than the federal election campaign.

Readers may recall Mr. Euen (seen left) as that almost compulsive creator of shelf companies - Australian Infrastructure Developments Pty Ltd (created 31.08.12), Y.P.R (AUST) Pty Ltd (created 13.03.14), A.I.D (HK) LTD (possibly created in 2015), and N.S.W. Export Logistics Pty Ltd (created 17.03.16) – and the man who wants to turn NSW Far North Coast fishing port and popular holiday destination, Yamba, into a coal port.

Euen appears to have sent out many invitations to attend and has listed the following invitees on various websites:

Local Yagel & Bundjalung Land Council Representatives

Supply Nation (Indigenous Business Development)

Mr Lester Rogers (General Manager of Moree Shire Plains Council)

Tamworth Mayor Mr Col Murray

Mayor Richie Williamson (Clarence Valley Council)

Regional Development Australia RDANI

Regional Development Australia (Mid North Coast NSW)

Liverpool Council South Western Sydney

Australian Rail Association

Australian Industry Group

Riverina Inland Rail Alliance Group.

He has also listed a changing kaleidoscope of presenters/keynote speakers.

Starting with:

[https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pihba-eW1hwJ:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/announcement-create-new-policy-government-des-euen+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=au, accessed 21 May 2016]

Which changed to this:

[http://www.aid-australia.com.au/?s=summit, accessed 21 May 2016]

Des Euen’s grand plans get little media coverage in the Northern Rivers and what it does must give this Queensland fantasist little comfort.

This is an example of the Clarence Valley’s enthusiasm for a coal loading facility in the Clarence River estuary, published on the front page of The Daily Examiner on 27 May 2014:

GRAND PLAN OR HOT AIR Businessman's Yamba port plans met with scepticism: Port transport proposal met with scepticism

The idea of establishing the Port of Yamba as the centre of a massive transport hub on the northern NSW coast has surfaced again.

The proposal, labelled the YPR Project, is the brainchild of Desmond John Thomas Euen, the managing director of the $1, one share company Australian Infrastructure Developments.

It aims to create a transport network linking the coalfields in the north-west of the state to an international port in Yamba, all funded by private equity.

The YPR website claims it will be ready to make a big announcement next month.

"YPR (AUST) Pty Ltd is currently in dialog with the relevant departments of both the NSW and Federal Government."

"THE company expects to be in position to submit development plans and financial endorsements by June 2014," it read.

The news has sparked alarm in the conservation movement, with Lock the Gate activists promising to fight any attempts to set up infrastructure for a massive port in the Clarence River estuary.

But an expert in the field believes the "common sense test" rules it out.

Harwood Marine managing director Ross Roberts said he had been following Mr Euen's plans but had spotted some major flaws.

"Anyone can come up with big ideas and put them forward," he said. "But when they do, they have to pass the common sense test.

"The first thing you ask is: who is going to pay for it and then why would you want to do it?"

Mr Roberts said the current economy was contracting, so finding people willing to stump up the amount of money required would be hard.

"The other question is why?" he said. "In 1990 there were 22 ships operating out of the port, now there are none. That has to tell you something."

Mr Roberts, who does marine industry business around the world, said the Clarence estuary contained 100 islands and nowhere on the planet had he seen an attempt to create a huge port in such an area.

"Dealing with floods would be the first worry," he said. "Do they build up all the islands by a metre? Then where does that water go in flood?"

Mr Euen claims to be in talks with Federal and NSW government departments, but these claims seem exaggerated.

Last year Mr Euen met with a senior policy adviser from the office of Duncan Gay, the NSW Minister for Roads and Ports.

The minister's office said a senior staff member met with Mr Euen, who signalled an intention to submit a proposal, but did not receive the ministry's in-principal support.

The Daily Examiner contacted Mr Euen, who said he would be happy to outline the plans at "a mutually convenient time".

A sample of unfavourable comments left under the online article:

Fedup - Junction Hill

NO,NO,NO. In my opinion if this was to go ahead Yamba would be ruined. Maybe Mr Euen should look at why vessels have left the port. It would not have anything to do with siltation would it? Just take a look at what has happened in QLD with their coal loader and the subsequent pollution of the Great Barrier Reef. Who has the money to build this or is he in discussions with the Chinese who are after the CSG and anything else they can get their hands on.

yambaman - Yamba 

Hmm, fantasy indeed, the day this is approved is the day I blow up Oyster Channel bridge!

BigUglyWaz - Waterview Heights

Does anyone really think this is something more than a dream?

Have a look at the YPR website, google a few things and tell me you can see any of this happening, forget the cost involved, and the environmental destruction.

Port of Yamba Depths. "Shipping channel depths are maintained at 4.0 metres"

"..... the deepening of the Suez Canal from 18 m (60ft) to 20 m (66ft) in 2009 permits most capesize vessels to pass through it."

Capesize bulk carriers. "Due to their large dimensions and deep draughts, capesize ships are suitable to serve only large ports with deep water terminals in the world. As a result, they can serve a comparatively small number of ports in the world."

Probably going to need a little dredging to get those to carriers into the Clarence.

Maybe Clive can get onto this, something to spend his billions on after he finishes the Titanic II?

EmmaB – Yamba

Has anyone looked closer at this crazy plan? It can be found at http://www.ypraust.com.au/project-1-p....

Mr. Euen is expecting that ships of Post-Panamax and Capesize will come into his proposed port.

Post-Panamax ships are larger than 294,13 m (965 ft) long, 32,31 m (106 ft) wide and have draughts in excess of 12,04 m (39.5 ft).

Capesize ships are very large and ultra large cargo vessels with a capacity over 150,000 DWT. They are categorised under VLCC,ULCC, VLOC and ULOC and can be as large as 400,000 DWT or even more. They serve regions with largest deepwater terminals in the world and are primarily used for transporting coal and iron ore. Because of their giant size, they are suitable to serve only a small number of ports with deepwater terminals.

See: http://maritime-connector.com/wiki/sh...

grippy - Yamba

Just remembered you have the sacred Aboriginal reef at Yambas mouth.
Who will blow that up?

JohnHancocks – Maclean

I won't be parting with any of my savings for such a scheme - nor would I advise anyone else to contribute a cent toward anything connected to it.

Not that Mr. Euen doesn’t have a gift for convincing the gullible, as this excerpt from a Queensland Bauxite Limited 4 March 2016 announcement demonstrates:

[http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20160304/pdf/435lqnp45v0yyd.pdf]

I wonder if Queensland Bauxite can hear the laughter coming from south of the QLD-NSW border?

For readers who have never sighted Des Euan's unrealistic and ever expanding grand plan for Goodwood, Chatsworth and Palmers islands, as well as for lands on the Iluka side of the Clarence River estuary and the Mororo district, here it is all neatly laid out:

http://www.aid-australia.com.au/project-1/

UPDATE

Facebook Clarence Forum:

John Hagger 

I am told that the plan includes:

The removal of the existing breakwater to open up the river and

Incorporating Chatsworth, Harwood and Gilbert Islands into the Port complex

The apparent goal is to become the biggest Port in Australia.

The claims include:

25% Australian Infrastructure Development shareholding by 1st Nations groups.

Current guarantee of 51.2 Billion Dollars funding.

The support of Clarence Valley Council and other Councils.

That Clarence Valley Council was represented at a recent joint Council meeting in Namoi and voted in favour of the proposal.

Three (3) letters of support from Mayor Richard on CVC letterhead.

Des Euen has promised to send copies of the above claims.

He has also promised that the Port would not be used for Coal or Gas.

To date none of the promised papers have arrived.

21 May at 13:31

Letter from Clarence Valley Council Mayor Richie Williamson to John Hagger posted on Clarence Forum 24 May 2016:

“Dear Mr. Hagger,

Thank you for your email regarding the Australian Infrastructure Development (AID) letter of support and whether it was signed by me.

It seems the letter (which was signed by me in 2011) is being used to grossly misrepresent the truth as the letter is about a different proposal all together. I also draw your attention to the top of the letter, dated 11/2/2011, which thanks Mr Euen for presenting his proposal, which was “The Trans Seaport Eastern Integrated Land Proposal” my recall was that this proposal was about transporting containers via the road network to and from the Port of Yamba from Port Kembla and Brisbane, hence the reference to the Pacific Highway upgrade and other road transport businesses that council had worked with in the past. The letter does not support this proposal, but the larger “transport hub” idea that I know you have also supported in the past.

The letter is in no way supporting the current AID proposal around rail from inland NSW to the Port of Yamba. Any claim by AID of my support is strongly rejected by me; in fact, I have been completely opposed to the rail proposal from the first time I heard of it.

Please see the links below as an example;

http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/…/plans-railway-ar…/1294404/

I stress Council has given no written letter of support to the present AID proposal and would be, in my view, highly unlikely to provide such a letter.

I also note the claim that; “I and/or a council officer attended a meeting recently in the Namoi district regarding the current AID proposal” is completely untrue and false.

I hope this clarifies this matter.

Richie"

The original list of invitees to the Euen “summit” posted at Linked in, courtesy of Google Cache on 11 May 2016:

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce MP

The Hon Darren Chester MP the Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Development

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten MP

The Hon Anthony Albanese MP Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure

 [ this would be an opportune time for both parties to show bipartisan support for private enterprise funded regional and nation building infrastructure development]

Premier of NSW The Hon Mike Baird MP and/or NSW Deputy Premier

NSW Minister for Regional Development and Infrastructure Andrew Constance MP

NSW Trade and Investment

Transport for NSW

INNSW

IA (Infrastructure Australia)

ACTU President Ged Kearney

National Farmers Federation

NSW Farmers Association

Qld Farmers Association

Victorian Farmers Association

Riverina Inland Rail Alliance Group

Namoi Cotton Farmers and other Regional Industry peak bodies as they come to hand.

Dutch-owned super trawler Geelong Star 'vacuuming' the seas aroung 12 Mile Reef off Bermagui NSW

Courtesy of Australian Minister for the Environment, Liberal MP Greg Hunt, and an overly compliant NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Nationals MLC Niall Blair,  the Dutch-owned and operated super trawler Geelong Star is once more unsustainably harvesting NSW waters.

As small pelagic fishing grounds extend from the east coast of Tasmania and Victoria all the way up the New South Wales coast and into the waters of southern Queensland, the fact that the Abbott-Turnbull Government allowed this factory ship into Commonwealth waters when the former Labor Government had denied access to such super trawlers is something to consider between now and 2 July 2016.

Narooma News, 15 May 2016:

SPOTTED: Bermagui based commercial fisherman Jason Moyce spotted the Geelong Star working the bait grounds at 12-Mile Reef on the morning of Friday, May 13.

Moves to open more water to the controversial factory trawler Geelong Star don’t appear to have discouraged her from working grounds of Narooma and Bermagui.

The mid-water trawler appears to working off Bermagui right now in direct contravention to promises to keep away from the Canberra Yellowfin Tuna Tournament on this weekend. 

Bermagui-based commercial fisherman Jason Moyce spotted the Geelong Star working the bait grounds at 12-Mile Reef on the morning of Friday, May 13. 

Mr Moyce posted a photo of the trawler on social media commenting: “Doing its fourth lap of the 12... Doing 1-mile shots and then winching up! Smashing it!”.

The vessel is working the productive grounds off Bermagui on the day before the Canberra Yellowfin Tuna Tournament begins, contrary to the Small Pelagic Fishing Industry Association’s promise to keep away from game fishing tournaments.

And the continued focus of the trawler on the bait grounds off Bermagui and Narooma is raising concerns among game fishermen worried about localised depletion of fish stocks and also the economic impact of the vessel on local small towns reliant on game fishing……

How the Federal and Queensland Governments are betraying The Great Barrier Reef and the people of Australia

This billionare Gautam Adani and his family, through majority ownership of the Adani Group, are apparently considered favoured foreign investors by both the Abbott-Turnbull Federal Government and successive Queensland Governments.

He and his family are responsible for this…..

https://youtu.be/_wfjwlWlGTk

The bribery…..

ABC 7.30, 17 October 2012:

 Investigators have raised concerns about some of Adani enterprise's dealings with politicians and officials. In August the Auditor-General named Adani Power as one of the companies that received coal deposits from the Government at well below market rates. Gautam Adani declined our request for an interview, but the companies Australian CEO says Adani enterprises has always acted in accordance with the law…..

The Central Bureau of Investigation is now probing allegations of corruption and has opened files on at least seven unnamed companies. The Auditor-General says the lack of a transparent bidding process cost the Government $33 billion in lost revenue…..

Former Chief Justice Santosh Hegde is a well-known anti-corruption campaigner. Last year in his final act as Karnataka State Ombudsman, he released a detail report into the theft of iron ore by numerous companies which cost the state $3 billion in royalties. Justice Hegde's report found Adani Enterprises acted corruptly in the illicit transportation of iron ore in excess of the permitted quantity…..

Justice Hegde's report says the officials of ports department, custom, police, mines, local politicians and others received bribe money from Adani Enterprises.

The pollution…..

Business Standard, 24 December 2015:

Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued notices to Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) and two major companies handling coal at its terminal under pollution control norms for allegedly causing environmental hazard.

GSPCB has issued show cause notice to MPT, M/s Adani Murmugao Port Terminal Private Ltd and JSW's South West Port Ltd after it was noticed that the dust pollution emanating from the coal handling has increased in the port town of Vasco, 40 kms from here.

Board Chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said the companies and the port administration have been asked why their consent under Water and Air Pollution Prevention Act should not be withdrawn.

"The show cause notices were issued when it was noticed that the coal handling terminals did not take mandatory measures to control the pollution emanating from the coal dust," Noronha said.

The deaths…..

The New York Times, 22 March 2013:

This month, the first comprehensive assessment of the health impact of pollution from India’s coal-fired power plants was published.

The findings are grim. Scientists estimate that exposure to coal-related pollution caused between 80,000 and 115,000 premature deaths and more than 20 million asthma attacks in 2011-12.

The conclusion is particularly worrying, given that the World Resources Institute estimates that 455 new coal power plants are planned in India, more than four times the number that exist now.

UbAlert, 10 April 2015:

Madhya Pradesh: Five people, three laborers and two security guards, died mysteriously in a Neemuch-based private factory on Thursday when they stepped down to clean a 25-feet deep tank filled with impurities generated by oil milling. The incident occurred at Adani Wilmar Oil Limited located four kilometers away from Neemuch district headquarter. Investigation is going on as to what caused the deaths of the factory workers whether it was acid in tank or they died due to suffocation.

The exploitation….

The Sydney Morning Herald, 5 September 2014:

But a Fairfax Media investigation into the treatment of 6000 construction labourers at a luxury housing project in Gujarat owned by the Adani family has uncovered lax safety standards, underage workers and regular cholera outbreaks from contaminated drinking water.

It comes after Mr Adani's company was found in February to have failed to gain proper environmental approval for construction around India's largest private port, also in Gujarat - destroying mangroves and displacing local villagers.

The poor choice of senior management…..

ABC News, 12 November 2015:

Adani Australia's chief executive officer was in charge of an African copper mine which allowed a flood of dangerous pollutants to pour into a Zambian river, the ABC can reveal.

Jeyakumar Janakaraj has been chief executive of Adani's Australian operations since leaving Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) in Zambia in 2013.

Now KCM and its parent company Vedanta Resources are being taken to the High Court in London by locals who say pollution from the company's huge Chingola open-pit copper mine made them ill and devastated nearby farmland over a 10-year period from 2004.

Mr Janakaraj was director of operations of KMC when the company was charged in 2010 with causing a serious pollution spill, which saw a toxic brew of highly acidic, metal-laden discharge released into the Kafue River.

The river is one of Zambia's largest waterways and a source of water and food for about 40 per cent of the country's people.

The 31-square-kilometre KCM open pit mine in Zambia's Chingola region is described as the biggest copper mine in Africa, producing about 2 million tonnes of ore a year.

The 2009 annual report of KCM's parent company, London-listed mining conglomerate Vedanta Resources, said Mr Janakaraj was "responsible for overall operations of KCM".

"On [Mr Janakaraj's] watch, significant pollution events happened," lawyer Ariane Wilkinson of Environmental Justice Australia said.

"The court documents show that they discharged what's called a pregnant liquor solution into the Kafue River. That's a highly acidic, metal-laden pollutant, and that it changed the colour of the river."

KCM was prosecuted by the Zambian Government, and the company pleaded guilty to charges of polluting the environment, discharging toxic matter into the aquatic environment, wilfully failing to report an incident of pollution, and the failure to comply with the requirements for discharge of effluent.

The court was told the source of the contamination was the mine's tailings leach plant, with the pollution changing the colour of the Kafue River to "deep blue". The company was fined 21,970,000 Zambian kwacha (about $4,030).

A few months later, in 2011, a Zambian newspaper reported the company's copper mine had again polluted the river, and that environmental authorities were investigating.

The lies told….

The Age, 16 December 2015:

A Queensland court has found Indian mining company Adani exaggerated the economic benefits of its proposed Carmichael coal mine, including the amount of jobs and royalties the $16.5 billion project would generate…..

he court agreed the company had overstated the economic benefits that would flow from its project both in its environmental impact statement and in statements to the court.

Adani has promoted the project as a jobs bonanza for Queensland and its environmental impact statement forecast 10,000 jobs annually from 2024 and $22 billion in royalties.

But Adani's own witness Jerome Fahrer told the court this year the coal mine and connecting rail project would create an average of just 1464 jobs annually, an assessment Queensland Land Court president Carmel MacDonald agreed with.

"Dr Fahrer's evidence, which I have accepted, was that the Carmichael Coal and Rail Project will increase average annual employment by 1206 fte [full time equivalent] jobs in Queensland and 1,464 fte jobs in Australia," her judgment states.

President MacDonald also found Adani's modelling had "probably overstated the selling price of the coal and therefore the royalties generated by the project and the corporate tax payable".

The environmental danger....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2016:

But conservationists say the mine is an environmental disaster waiting to happen, citing particular risks to the Great Barrier Reef.

"It's an extraordinary decision, especially coming at a time when the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst ever coral bleaching event," Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy said. "We know the bleaching is because of global warming, and Carmichael will only make that worse."

By Adani's own figures, the mine and its coal will emit more than 4.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. "The pollution from this mine is so big that it cancels the pollution cuts the Turnbull government committed to at the Paris Climate Summit," Ms O'Shanassy said.

The impact of such emissions could be terminal to the reef, according to Dr Veron. "The reef is obviously in dire straights, irrespective of what anyone says, and that's blindly obvious.

"There is extraordinary disconnect between science and the political action. Politicians think the mine is good because it's good for economy, but we are selling out the next generation of Australians as fast as we can go."

Dr Veron has devoted his life to studying coral reefs: he discovered more than 20 per cent of the world's coral species, and has been likened by Sir David Attenborough to a modern day Charles Darwin.

"Roughly a third of marine species have parts of their life cycle in coral reefs," Dr Veron said. "So if you take out coral reefs you have an ecological collapse of the oceans. It's happened before, mass extinctions through ocean acidification, and the main driver of that is CO₂."

Dr Veron recently travelled to Canberra to talk to government about the decline in the reef. "The politicians do listen to scientists, but that is the worst part of it," he said. 

"If this was all done out of sheer ignorance, that is sort of understandable. It's like child porn – you might say you don't know it exists, but if you know it exists and you do everything to promote it, then that's evil."

The granting of the Carmichael leases coincides with increased concerns over threats to Great Barrier Reef from land-based pollution, including sediments, nutrients and pesticides.

Australian Institute of Marine Science principal research scientist Dr Frederieke Kroon has told the ABC that government policies designed to keep the reef on UNESCO's World Heritage list are insufficient.

"Our review finds that current efforts are not sufficient to achieve the water quality targets set in the Reef 2050 Plan," she said.

The other danger….

The Age, 10 December 2015:

Last week billionaire businessman Gautam Adani paid a visit to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asking him to enact a special law to stop anyone challenging big coal and gas projects once they have been approved by government. This meeting raises questions about the relationship between government and big polluting companies.

The Prime Minister is entitled to meet with anyone he likes, you may very well say, but there are two issues here – one is the fossil fuel industry's direct access to power and the other is the implications of that on Australia's democracy.

Turnbull's back room meeting with international billionaire businessman Adani is an example of the warm reception the fossil fuel industry enjoys in Australia. This direct access to the highest office in our country is an unfortunate feature of our democracy, and speaks of the pernicious dynamic where money enables access to power. Just by the way, according to data released by the AEC, Adani donated $49,500 to the Liberal Party of Australia in the 2013-2014 financial year.

The state government manoeuvres....

The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2016:

Two groups fighting the mine in separate court battles have accused Dr Lynham of abandoning previous assurances that leases would not be granted until two existing cases were resolved.

Just eight weeks ago, Dr Lynham said he wanted to give certainty to Adani and "granting a mining lease in the presence of two JRs (judicial reviews) does not provide the certainty".

Separate Federal Court challenges brought by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) traditional owners are yet to be concluded.

The Environmental Defenders Office - which is representing ACF in its challenge to the project's federal approvals - has already said it's considering challenging Dr Lynham's decision to grant Adani mining leases.

AAP has asked Dr Lynham to explain why he issued the leases despite the two outstanding challenges.

On ABC radio on Monday, he agreed there was a prospect of further court appeals.

The solemn vow and plea for assistance....

Excerpt from a 4 April 2016 email from Adrian Burragubba on behalf of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners:

The Queensland Government just betrayed us.

Queensland Mines Minister Anthony Lynham wrote a letter to us in October, promising he would await the outcome of our Federal Court action against the Carmichael mine before considering issuing Adani with the mining leases. But today the Premier and the Minister double-crossed us.

Adani doesn't have our free, prior and informed consent to build their Carmichael coal mine on our land, and they never will.

The Queensland Government just rode roughshod over our rights and granted the mining leases anyway. They have given Adani the green light to ignore our opposition and to tear the heart out of our country. To destroy our rivers and drain billions of litres of groundwater. To leave a black hole of monumental proportions in our homelands.

The Minister has trashed our rights and pushed the leases out the door in one of the worst acts of bad faith towards Queensland's Indigenous people in living memory.

This fight will define our people and be a landmark moment for Indigenous rights in Australia. Can you help us fight for our rights and our country in court?

Adani and the Queensland Government think they can walk all over us but they've never seen anything like this. Our lands and our way of life, and the legacy of our ancestors, mean too much to our people for us to roll over.

Our resolve is doubled. Minister Lynham can issue all the bits of paper he likes, hide behind false claims of jobs and benefits, and pander to big coal for an unviable project.

But our people's rights are not expendable. This act of infamy will be challenged all the way to the High Court if necessary, and we will continue to pursue our rights under international law. 

Adrian Burragubba leads a protest against the proposed mine outside Queensland Parliament in March.ABC News: Patrick Williams

News on the Turnbull Goverment-endorsed Death Star

Dutch-owned company Seafish Tasmania Pty Ltd and its super fishing trawler Geelong Star are in the news and on social media this month…..

ABC News, 10 March 2016:

Seafood processing company Seafish Tasmania has been fined $40,000 for breaching the state's environmental laws.

The company pleaded guilty to dumping more than 1,000 truckloads of fish processing waste water from its Triabunna plant on a private property in the township in 2012.

Seafish has also admitted to dumping waste water at an unnamed creek on Tasmania's east coast three years ago.

The Magistrate's Court in Hobart has heard the company and landowners have conducted remedial work at a cost of $21,000.

Magistrate Chris Webster recorded a conviction on each charge and imposed the fine, together with court costs.

Tasmania's Environmental Protection Authority said the fine was appropriate…..

The Turnbull Government continues the Abbott Government's failure to protect Australian marine life from foreign super trawlers including the Geelong Star

Image of Geelong Star (formerly FV Dirk Dirk) and position heading towards the Bass Strait on 28 January 2016

Geelong Advertiser, 2 February 2016:

THE dolphin-killing trawler Geelong Star has been cleared to return to work just days after being suspended for the deaths of seven albatross in one trip.

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority lifted its ban on the controversial fishing vessel on Sunday after authorities were satisfied the length of net cables had been reduced and made more visible.

The trawler must stop fishing “immediately” if a seabird is killed by the cable until the authority has investigated.

Geelong Star’s management plan, updated on January 16, shows the trawler will be forced to carry an AFMA observe on “at least the next trip” if two or more marine mammals are found in the end of the net.

A full reassessment is required if any changes are made to the exclusion device, which is designed to prevent seal and dolphin deaths.

AFMA chief executive Nick Rayns said the new protection methods came on top of existing mitigation methods…..

Greens spokesman for fisheries Peter Whish-Wilson said the AFMA’s catch and release of Geelong Star risked making a mockery of the regulation.

“If a member of the public had killed seven albatross over a week they would be charged under Australian environmental laws,” Senator Whish-Wilson said.

“If over the period of a year a member of public had killed some dolphins, some more dolphins, then some seals and finally some albatross then that person would probably end up doing jail time.

“But it is one law for the member of the public and another for the Geelong Star.

“The Geelong Star has been given a license to kill protected marine species and it’s time its license was revoked.”

Stop the Trawler and Environment Tasmania spokeswoman Rebecca Hubbard said it was time for the Federal Government to overrule the AFMA and ban the trawler outright….

Mercury, 1 February 2016:

A COALITION of environmentalists and recreational fishers has expressed alarm at a recommendation by a newly appointed scientific panel to increase the Geelong Star’s total catch.

The Stop the Trawler Alliance argues that the recommendation — disclosed at a stakeholder forum in Hobart on Thursday — had been made, despite ongoing concerns from recreational fishers and conservationists that the large factory freezer trawler could cause localised depletion of fish stocks.

“A newly appointed scientific panel is now proposing to increase the total catch from 42,000 tonnes to over 49,000 tonnes,” said Rebecca Hubbard from Environment Tasmania.

“Instead of listening to community concerns the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) have further reduced stakeholders input into critical decision-making processes.”…..

A brief history of this super trawler owned by Parlevliet & Van der Plas Beheer B.V. and contracted to its Australian subsidiary, Seafish Tasmania, can be found here.

Marine reserves in Australian waters may also be under further threat from commercial fishing with The Guardian reporting this on 6 February 2016:

Australia’s leading marine scientists are appealing to the federal government to reject a review expected to recommend a significant reduction in the size of ocean sanctuaries and an expansion of areas permitted for commercial fishing.

Tony Abbott announced the review of the boundaries of Labor’s marine parks, counted by the former government as one of its greatest environmental achievements, during the 2013 election campaign, and said he would scrap the just-finished management plans so that the fishing industry could be given a greater say.

The leading scientists understand the review, now finally completed, recommends a sizeable reduction in some areas previously designated as closed to fishing and trawling, particularly in the Coral Sea, and say it has ignored expert scientific advice.

“If the government winds back what was already just partial environmental protection it would be terrible for the environment and send a terrible message to the world,” said West Australian marine science professor Jessica Meeuwig.

“We have no faith in this process. They haven’t spoken to marine scientists, despite our best efforts. They spent a lot of time talking to the extractive industries. 

If Malcolm Turnbull is serious about being guided by science and by evidence he will reject recommendations to reduce marine sanctuary zones,” she said.

Meeuwig is one of 10 leading marine researchers who have formed the Ocean Science Council of Australia and have published benchmarks against which the review should be judged, including:

* No further diminishment of marine national park zoning in bioregions and key ecological features should occur as these are already significantly under-represented in the 2012 plans

* The international standard for ocean protection of a minimum of 30% of each marine habitat in highly protected no-take marine national parks should be met;

* Very large marine national parks such as that proposed for the Coral Sea should be preserved.......

This is one of the areas potentially under threat:

Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve

The new Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve covers 989 842 km2 and is an important national asset in near pristine condition. The reserve will be managed for the primary purpose of conserving the biodiversity found in it, while also allowing for the sustainable use of natural resources in some areas. The reserve includes the different marine ecosystems and habitats of the Coral Sea marine region and will help ensure our marine environment remains healthy and is more resilient to the effects of climate change and other pressures.

The Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve will provide additional protection for many species listed as endangered or vulnerable under Commonwealth legislation or international agreements, including the endangered loggerhead and leatherback turtles and the critically endangered Herald petrel. The reserve also supports the world's only confirmed spawning aggregation of black marlin.

Sites of high productivity in the reserve, such as those around seamounts, are important aggregators for a range of species including lanternfish, albacore tuna, billfish and sharks. Large marine mammals journey hundreds or even thousands of kilometres to breed in the reserve, or to travel through en route to breeding areas.

The new Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve encompasses the former Coral Sea Conservation Zone, former Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve and former Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve. Transitional management arrangements apply until a management plan for the Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve is in place.