Kingfish Debate - Ceduna Radio Precis 26/2/03
Submitted by SARFAC Wednesday, 27th February 2003

Ceduna residents vent their anger at proposed Kingfish farms, Radio Precis, ABC - Wednesday, 26 February 2003

Ceduna residents vented their anger at proposed Kingfish farms in the region during a public meeting last night. About 200 people attended voting for a moratorium on all new developments until there's been more study into the farms. A fighting fund was also established to oppose any applications in the region.

President of the local Professional Fishermen's Association, Alan Seuter, says the State Govt's ignoring serious environmental concerns on the issue:

(891ABC 7.45am & 639ABC 8.30am) "It clearly indicates that the local community do not want the dangers associated with this sort of farming and that the Government really needs to get its act together and start listening to the electorate."

Primary Industries Director of Aquaculture, Ian Nightingale, is concerned that a lot of misinformation about the farms was spread at the meeting:

(891ABC 7.45am & 639ABC 8.30am) "There were many comments made that were purely assumptions. There were quite inaccurate comments and that's the sort of thing I think needs to be brought out in this debate and for the community in Ceduna to deal with that."

Radio Precis

Ian Nightingale, Director of Acquaculture, PIRSA Kingfish farming - Meeting in Ceduna

[Jackson:] ... well the future of Kingfish farming in our State faced fiery opposition with a public meeting in Ceduna last night ... there were 210 recorded at the meeting with the majority sending a message to the Fisheries Minister Paul Holloway and local councils that they don't support Kingfish farming ... two motions were passed one condemning the Minister and calling for a moratorium on Kingfish farming pending research and the second calling on local councils to withdraw its support for Kingfish farming and a moratorium ... further a fund will be set up to oppose any new Kingfish farming applications ... the Director of Aquaculture with PIRSA ... was a surprise visitor to the meeting

[Nightingale:] ... really I thought it was necessary to clarify some of the things that were in the media and that have been said and to give the meeting the opportunity of hearing the other side of the argument if you like ... clearing up some facts ...

[Grosser: ] ... how factual do you think the information given tonight was?

[Nightingale:] ... no very in some cases ... there were many comments made which were purely assumptions ... there were quite inaccurate comments and that's the sort of thing that needs to be brought out in this debate and for the community in Ceduna to deal with that ...

[Grosser:] ... what type of information do you think wasn't quite correct?

[Nightingale:] ... I think the issue of numbers ... I think we're getting focused on the wrong things ... comments about a thousand cages that are currently being farmed ... just completely untrue ... some of the allegations about numbers of fish that have escaped ... again there is nothing to justify that ... they need to be put up as substancial evidence if you like ...

[Grosser:] ... how many cages are there in the Spencer Gulf?

[Nightingale:] ... in all of SA and they're all in Spencer Gulf if you like ... there is 106 cages ...

[Grosser:] ... how many fish do you believe have escaped?

[Nightingale:] ... over a two year period we've had reports of just over 9,000 fish ... and I think the other thing Susie that needs to be put on the record is ... often when in aquaculture terminology if your talking about fish that are lost ... there is often enormous mortalities ... they're not escapes ... I think sometimes people are confusing the terminology ... that 9,000 is what that has been escaped ... I've got a letter now from the industry association confirming that ... we're doing a whole range of things to ensure the community in general that those sorts of records can be validated ...

[Grosser: ] ... is it possible that there might be more Kingfish that have escaped which haven't been reported because the industry has to protect its own interests?

[Nightingale:] ... that what we really do want to find out ... the research that's starting now ... looking at a mechanism ... the allegation tonight is that the Government has already been able to identify this ... that's not true ... the research is going on right now with some people at Adelaide University who have developed a very unique technology ... determine what's farmed and what's wild ... now the Minister's view clearly is ... until that work is done and we're only talking about a few months... we can accurately determine what percentage of those fish that have been caught ... some will come out of their cages ... that will be the very first step in identifying whether or not we can accurately identify Kingfish in the Gulf of what's farmed and what's not ...

[Grosser: ] ... do you think that will end thedebate?

[Nightingale:] ... ah I think it will go a very long way to answering many of the questions that were raised here tonight ... I think on top of that ... the broader environmental issues that were raised can clearly be addressed by the research that we have already conducted and it will happen over the next few years ... that shouldn't be confused with the immediate need of that research ... looking at a mechanism of identifying the current fish in the Gulf ... whether their farmed or not ...

[Grosser: ] ... does that mean that it might only be a few months until the Minister decides whether or not to have bag limits?)

[Nightingale:] ... I think that's a fair comment ... my discussion so far with the Minister has been that he is not all that keen of making a decision until he has some facts in front of him ... as the Minister responsible for Fisheries also ... that would be an irresponsible decision and that's certainly his opinion ... now when you look at the rec fishing community now is taking 70% of the recreational fishing catch ... if you got that wrong ... an enormous impact on the fishery that may not be able to recover from it ... we're not talking about a long time ... I think then it gives the Minister some clear information ... to make that decision.

Paul Holloway, Fisheries Minister Pt Pirie celebrations; Kingfish debate

[Thomson: ] Community Cabinet meeting is on in Port Pirie today...a very good morning to Fisheries Minister Paul Holloway

[Holloway:] ...Good morning

[Thomson: ] A big night for you last night and a big day yesterday I suppose...

[Holloway:] Yes it was a big day ...important day for Port Pirie and it was great to be up here for it ...

[Thomson: ] We jump into the Kingfish debate

[Holloway:]....Yes I see there's been a few meetings around the place ...I'd just like to call on people to please be patient and wait until we have the facts in this debate ...there is nothing worse you can do in fisheries management other than to run a fishery based on rumour [unclear] misinformation...so many stories going...just based on anecdotes that we really need to wait until we have scientific data which won't be that long away ...then we can make decisions on those facts ...

[Thomson: ] We were in the middle of having a chat about the SARFAC ...their documentation they say they have about escaped Kingfish ...we were talking about that yesterday via your mobile ...we asked about those documents from PIRSA and we were talking about those and they're saying that's concrete proof that Kingfish have escaped in large numbers ...[unclear] about why you were disagreeing with it?

[Holloway:]...It's disappointing that SARFAC have really chosen to misrepresent the information they've been given ...the Dept's gone out of the way to keep SARFAC informed because they are important parts of the fishing industry in this state ...I'm really disappointed that they've been using figures that really they know must be wrong ...our figures show that over last 2 years there's been 9,000 fish escaped from the farms ...that information's been provided to SARFAC and for them to be using a figure that's double that and making other claims about escaped every time that nets are changed ...it really isn't helpful to this debate ...rather I think SARFAC really need to look at impact that recreational fishing is having upon stocks of King George whiting and other species ...recent survey we released just a week or two ago shows nearly 60 percent of all King George Whiting that are caught are caught by recreational fishers ...we need to look what's happening in recreational sector as well as what's happening out there from commercial and aquaculture sectors ...

[Thomson: ] About that issue about whether or not Kingfish are escaping every time nets changed ...we put that question to Trevor Watts from SARFAC and to be fair they don't claim to have hard evidence that Kingfish are escaping at those times ...do you have evidence that they're not?

[Holloway:]...Well we obviously work with the fish farms ...important industry for SA ...potentially the value of Kingfish to this State will be almost double entire value of the wild catch of all marine scale fish in SA ...for a place like Whyalla there's potential for hundreds leading up to thousands of jobs in this industry ...should be able to co-exist quite happily with the environment ...all aquaculture projects have to gain EPA approval but as it's a new industry sure there's been the odd teething problems ...the Aquaculture Act was only put in place last year ...we're developing now codes to deal with all these sort of issues ...it's a license condition that all escapes have to be reported ...we're using that information to work with the farms to try and improve practices so we can deal with teething problems and then get industry that'll create millions of dollars and lots of jobs for this state ...at the same time we should be able to get it to a stage where it really has no impact on other fisheries

[Thomson: ] This is one of the notifications from PIRSA about some of the Kingfish escapes ...this is the one we were talking about yesterday before the mobile phone got in the middle of it all ...I suppose this is one of the contentious issues here about how you look at it ...it does appear to say there were a total of 8,000 kingfish escape at end of January this year ...then again it says almost all of them were recaptured so I guess ...you're both right in saying there was large escape but then again there weren't whole lot of fish that got into the wild if this is accurate

[Holloway:]...Yes well that's the whole point really ...have to have this all in balance ...other important thing in whole Kingfish debate which is complicated is that there's increasing evidence that the number of Kingfish has ...naturally occurring Kingfish ...has increased dramatically right around the country ...in fact the Sydney fish markets there ..the number of wild Kingfish been caught is more than doubled by weight over 2 years

[Thomson: ] But what about these suggestions there that the Kingfish population in NSW has increased coincidentally with NSW taking the traps away that they used to have as legal way of catching kingfish and now they've banned those traps

[Holloway:]...You can find ...but the point is I don't think there's been any evidence from there the fact there are obviously a lot more Kingfish ...we used to have commercial Kingfish fishery in this state 20 years ago ...that was stopped because of reduction in numbers ...Kingfish are naturally occurring species and I just with those people from recreational fishers would go out and put more effort into catching Kingfish ...they really are a delicious fish ...good sporting fish ...you do get in fishe ries from time to time different species their numbers will increase or decline depending on conditions...we have to monitor it ...we're doing that ...I hope more than anyone else we can get the research from SARDI in relation [unclear] as soon as possible so we can check our management practices are correct ...getting our whiting results soon

[Thomson: ] The documentations on PIRSA ...talking about the escapes ...30th Jan 2003 3,000 fish escaped from Fitzgerald Bay, Poverty Bay another 5,000 fish escaped ...almost all these fish were recaptured by netting according to documentation ...SARFAC want independent audit of all transactions over last couple of years for reasons such as this that we can say almost all of them were recaptured but the thing is nobody actually knows how many of them weren't recaptured ...if there was independent audit of all transactions to show what's come in and what's gone out ...and if there is any difference ...wouldn't that be simple and easy to arrange and then it's another way of putting an end to this whole debate?

[Holloway:]...One of the things I announced almost a month ago was that's the very practices we're putting in places to have the audit to go to the hatcheries ...get the number of fish that have grown out from hatcheries put in there and keep tabs on ...

[Thomson: ] Isn't that an easy thing to find out?

[Holloway:]...We're putting in place all those sorts of statistical measures now so we can do that ...we're also developing technology so you can count the fish ...not easy obviously to count number of fish swimming around ...but new and better technology every day ...

[Thomson: ] If it's discovered after you've done your checking and monitoring and the study ...if it's found there are high proportion of Kingfish in the gulf than whatever the ideal might be ...following the study is there any chance you'd raise the bag limits for Kingfish?)

[Holloway:]...Obviously that's the sort of thing we'd look at ...I'd be quite happy to look at that ...I told the public meeting in Whyalla a few weeks ago I'd be happy to do that once we have the data ...we do need to be careful when we make these changes ...

[Thomson: ] Trevor Watts from SARFAC says SARFAC was deliberately denied a position on the Aquaculture Advisory Committee)

[Holloway:]...Why should SARFAC be on the AAC?...the fishing industry ...commercial fishing industry isn't ...there are environmental representatives on there ...local Govt reps ...they obviously have part to play in relation to the infrastructure requirements and so on ...we're talking about farming fish ...interest of recreational fishery really is with wild catch fish ...

[Thomson: ] There was meeting held in Ceduna last night to discuss Kingfish ...one of the outcomes was that particular meeting ...the people in attendance were calling for moratorium on any further expansion of aquaculture industry until such time as independent or a study or some sort has been completed ...what would you sayin response to that meeting?)

[Holloway:]...Well I assume they're just talking about fin fish ...the aquaculture industry involving shell fish of course has been huge boost to regions and economies along that part of the state ...there are some proposals really in very early days and those proposals would have to go through all the usual planning processes ...it's unlikely in that part of the state there's going to be any ...even if the plans run their normal course for some time ...I would hope we'll have our information on Spencer Gulf situation in hand before those decisions are taken any way.