Tribunal Rejects Call For Southern Bluefin Tuna Banff

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has quashed a call for exports of the southern bluefin tuna to be banned.

The Humane Society International (HSI) says the species is at risk of becoming extinct and it was challenging the Federal Government's decision to continue to allow exports.

Port Lincoln’s Tuna Boat Owners Association has welcomed the tribunal’s decision.

Association president Brian Jeffriess says he has confidence in tuna stocks. “No one else supported HSI through this legal process,” he said. “They were left out on a limb by themselves because I think people generally recognized that we’d been through a long period, three years in fact in this case of public consultation and debate and the umpire made their decision and now the second umpire on the court has made their decision.”

Nicola Beynon from HSI says the group is getting legal advice to see if there is any avenue for further appeal. “The latest scientific advice says there’s a 50/50 chance of southern bluefin tuna going extinct by 2030 if current fishing levels continue,” she said. “The stock is down to between three and 14 per cent of what it previously was before fishing.”