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How a 9500 tonne behemoth snuck up on the government

11 Sep 02:20pm

Filed under: Abel Tasman, Environment, Fishing, Joe Ludwig, Margiris, Mega Trawler, Trade

Apparently unlike everyone else, Fisheries Minister Joe Ludwig was caught by surprise when the 142m Abel Tasman snuck up on him.

No, nothing to see here… Picture: AFP

He looked around a day or so ago and, Bloody Hell, there’s a 9500 tonne fishing boat in Australian waters. And it wants to catch sea life. Who would have thought?

So instead of a considered official response, the owners of the Abel Tasman have been given a rushed, two-year rebuff because the Government was spooked by political agitation.

Continue reading "How a 9500 tonne behemoth snuck up on the government" »

Latest 2 of 91 comments

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Alfie says:

01:35pm | 12/09/12

Joe has two feet to shoot at. Read more »
Cynicised says:

12:34pm | 12/09/12

Glad the monster was “delayed”, stopped, told to bugger off and go pillage someone else’s waters! Trawling with gigantic nets is an incredibly wasteful and destructive method of fishing and no-one will convince me otherwise. Love the euphemisms people come up with to describe the wasteful killing ie “by-catch” which… Read more »

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farrm51 19 May 13 10:55AM

@Kittu64 That's true. Pretty sure I referred to "high salaried" women.

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@michelangeloruc not at all mate it is a great story and photo

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penbo 19 May 13 12:24AM

@KevCorduroy @SallyHitchiner it's a great idea I doubt he'd go for it though far too laid back

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