they have been fishing jack mackerel/red bait for a good while off tasmania east coast but they have never caught close to the 18,000t ever. maybe there was one good year in the early days of the fishery where they caught 12,000t. stretching my brain as it was a long time ago. very concerned about this boat and the impact. too many fish in one hit will definitely cause localized depletion and affect the food chain, tuna, seals, dolphins, sharks, sea birds etc. i have been on the smaller purse seiners fishing tasmania's east coast about 10years ago, they could holder about 200t(allot of fish), seen and heard about the bycatch inc tuna, seals, sharks etc. think they even got some dolphins at some stage. when i was on the boat they got a few makos that blocked up the fish pump. very hard to put a quota on this fishery where seasonal variability is so extreme. lets hope for a few bad years and that should send them broke. too big a boat for such a small fishery imo.
