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Fishing Today Article: Feb/March 2002
Fishing Today Article: Feb/March 1999

What do Tassie fishermen do on the remote south west coast when far from home and pots and nets have been pulled and reset, the sun is shining and sea conditions are reasonable?

Many go ashore to do their bit for the marine environment. They walk the beaches and inlets collecting rubbish from the rocks and shoreline so that it can be properly disposed of when they return to port.

These unsung environmental champions have been doing this for years without any trumpet fanfare or pat on the back - it just seems to them to be the right thing to do.

John Parker, Dave Wyatt, Rodney Behrens, Mark O'May and a whole lot more have brought big quantities of other peoples rubbish back home on a regular basis.

John Parker (right) on board his boat Misty Lass with just some of the marine debris he collected from Tasmania's south west coast.

Fishermen who frequent the SW coast know that this area is a magnet for marine debris from all around the world.

The southerly Zeehan current and prevailing westerly weather dump incredible quantities of unwanted man made materials from far away on to the shores of this remote wilderness area.

Sometimes the material can be lost fishing gear or rubbish thrown overboard from commercial and recreational fishing boats but industry codes of practice and peer pressure is working effectively to reduce debris from local sources.

According to recent surveys of identifiable debris much of the rubbish on the SW coast comes from countries other than Australia, be it from overseas vessels or land based sources.

Clearly everyone needs to be aware of their legal and moral responsibilities to protect our coastline and marine environment - particularly in Tasmania if we want to maintain our reputation for clean green waters and the highest quality seafood.

(Left): The dinghy on the rock lobster vessel 'Uncle Mutch' holds bags of rubbish picked up by Rodney Behrens and crew from the shoreline near Port Davey.

Even the Marine Police are now checking that vessel operators are retaining and properly storing rubbish on board!

In our industry a responsible approach by the vessel skipper, an informed crew, adequate rubbish holding facilities on board and a positive commitment to protecting the environment for future generations will all minimise local marine debris.

We still have a small quantity of TFIC's "Stow it don't throw it" stickers available and copies of "A Code of Conduct for a Responsible Seafood Industry" if it would help you to get the message across. We need to protect the whole Tasmanian coastline so wherever you fish the message should be the same - "Don't trash our seas!"

But back to our eco champions.

They do a great job for our fishing industry and we all owe them a considerable vote of thanks.

Collecting rubbish from the beach for proper disposal is a great initiative that should be applauded but preventing it from happening in the first place is the most important and ensures that we can all remain proud of our beautiful island state and our magnificent marine environment.

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One of the least pleasant jobs as the Chief Executive of TFIC is to defend our industry in the media, particularly when it is apparent that at least some fishermen have not acted responsibly to protect the environment in which they operate.

Sure, the persons responsible for throwing rubbish overboard are probably very few in number, but reporters and journo's are after interesting and newsworthy comments and are often quite prepared to give us publicity we surely do not want nor deserve.

Recently ten volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation in Tasmania visited remote south west coast beaches near Port Davey by helicopter with a view to collecting rubbish and to identify the type and origin of the debris.

The Surfrider Foundation piled rubbish into large heaps (left) prior to the planned removal by helicopter.

What they found scattered along our south west wilderness beaches was truly amazing.
Apart from the timber of at least three wrecked fishing boats, the volunteers found an amassed array of rubbish including fishing nets, ropes, smashed cray pots, bait savers and beer and milk cartons etc. all washed up on Stephens Bay and Towterer Bay beaches.

Fishermen know that west coast beaches attracts debris from all over the world with the southerly Zeehan current and prevailing westerly weather probably bringing rubbish from as far away as Africa and Asia at least.

For the media and others to blame Tasmanian recreational or commercial fishermen for all rubbish on our west coast beaches is certainly drawing a long bow but realistically some debris is likely to have come from local sources. Fishing gear can be lost or washed overboard and boats do unfortunately founder but it is hard to defend locals when quite obviously some of the rubbish such as bait savers, milk cartons and personal items etc. is a locally made problem.

Protection of our coastline and marine environment will come under closer scrutiny over the next few years and marine pollution is already part of an international focus.

Agricultural run-off and pollution from storm water and the like are all issues of concern but we as responsible industry people also need to play a positive role in doing everything we can to maintain a pristine marine environment.

The rubbish observed and collected from Stephens Bay (right) included considerable quantities of rope and damaged fishing nets.

It is our future after all and the need is to protect all Tasmanian waters from rubbish not just west coast beaches.

The solution may be as simple as putting an extra rubbish bin on your boat. The 240 litre wheely bins for instance cost about $50 and are easy to manoeuvre.

Crew need to be educated and instructed and peer pressure or a professional and responsible approach by the skipper is all it may take.

If it will help we still have a small quantity of TFIC's "Stow it don't throw it" stickers available and copies of "A code of conduct for a responsible seafood industry".

When you unload your fish as well as all your rubbish on your return to port you will be doing yourself, your crew and your fellow fishermen a big favour by protecting the marine environment and for the generations who will follow us .... and a big bonus is there is no paper work or catch returns involved in unloading rubbish.

Think about it and please do the right thing - as well as saving me the agro of having to deal with unpleasant media attention.

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