Conservationists Fight In Court For Bluefin Export Ban ff

Conservationists concerned about the future of southern bluefin tuna stocks spent last week in court attempting to overturn a Federal Government decision to grant export licenses to the fishery.

Port Lincoln companies catch just over 5000 tons of the species every year, comprised mostly of juvenile fish.

The Administrative Appeal Tribunal retired after a week of hearing evidence brought forward by the Human Society International, which hopes for a decision before the tuna season starts at the end of the year.

Under new legislation known as the Environment Biodiversity and Conservation Act, the Environment Minister must prove export industries are sustainable.

The Humane Society International having lost the battle to have the species declared endangered under the Act two weeks ago is now contesting the trade approval of the fishery in the tribunal.

According to HSI, the Environment Minister's own Threatened Species Scientific Committee recently advised SBT meets the criteria for listing and legal protection as an endangered species.

“It is estimated that the population has been crippled to between three and 14 per cent of the level it was in the 1960s and the prognosis for its recovery is poor,” HSI spokeswoman Nicola Benyon said.

“Yet the Government has not required the Australian fishing industry to reduce its catch for the species since 1989 and Australia is responsible for over a third of the global catch.”

On Thursday, under questioning from a HSI barrister, expert witness for the Federal Environment Minister Dr James Findlay from the Bureau of Rural Sciences admitted it will probably take 25 to 35 years to recover SBT breeding stock to 1980 levels, even if there is zero worldwide catch for the species.

The international Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) has had rebuilding the stock to 1980 levels by 2020 as its objective.

The CCSBT currently allows approximately 14,000 tons of SBT to be caught per year.

The CCSBT meets on October 11 and the Tribunal will reconvene on November 11.

Tuna industry spokesman Brian Jeffriess said he believed the appeal was a waste of time as the minister was of the view that Australia needed to stay fishing to be involved in SBT management and removing the export permit would do nothing for sustainability.

A CSIRO scientist testifying for the society stated before the court that stocks could continue to decline under current world fishing levels, while an international law expert testified Australia could remain in the CCSBT even if it did not fish.

Sydney University’s Professor Don Rothwell explained that Australia could set aside the portion of its quota that it does not catch for conservation and veto proposals by other CCSBT countries to increase their quotas to access the uncaught fish.

Other witnesses in the case testified that Japan has agreed not to accept imports of the fish from countries that are not members of the CCSBT or cooperating with it.

While Mr. Jeffriess said he was personally concerned about stock levels as recently as 2003 because of scientific evidence, the abundance of juvenile fish encountered this year by purse seiners off Port Lincoln indicated to him the fishery was in recovery.