The federal government will allow the factory freezer supertrawler the Geelong Star to resume night fishing in the Small Pelagic Fishery, despite no evidence that the vessel will avoid killing more dolphins and seals.
The Geelong Star was banned from night fishing by environment minister Greg Hunt in May in response to community outrage at dolphin and seal deaths caused by the supertrawler.
It will use a new, untested barrier net, but it is not required to use video cameras.
Jon Bryan of the Tasmanian Conservation Trust said: “The lack of underwater video and other monitoring seems more likely to hide marine mammal deaths rather than ensure that threatened species are being protected”.
The Small Pelagic Resource Assessment Group, the scientific committee that advised the government on the factory trawler, was disbanded shortly before the decision to again allow night fishing, because it provided “dissenting views”.
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