The Mercury
By: Jennifer Crawley
The fishing industry can expect warmer oceans, stronger winds and bigger fish within the next 20 years as a result of climate change.
This was the forecast Tasmanian scientists Nathan Bindoff and Alastair Hobday gave the Australian Seafood Industry National Conference in Hobart yesterday. Both men are on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the panel of scientists that shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for increasing public knowledge on the issue.
CSIRO and University of Tasmania senior research scientist Dr Hobday told the 400 fishing industry delegates from around Australia that they needed to be informed of what lay ahead.
"In 20 years the ocean temperature off St Helens will be the equivalent of what it is off Eden now,'' he said.
Eden, on the NSW south coast, is one of the best long-line fishing ports in Australia. Game fish such as marlin, yellow-fin tuna and sharks support a major fishing and tourist industry.
"St Helens is already on the southern edge of those warm currents,'' Dr Hobday said. "In 20 years the core area will have gone much further south and will be off St Helen's.''
Dr Hobday spoke of the decisions fisherman needed to make when faced with such knowledge.
"Can you land a plane at St Helens?
"Is there enough ice capacity to supply the fishing boats?
"Do the crew have comfortable accommodation onshore?
"What are the costs associated with shipping and transport?
"Once you have the information you can make a decision,'' Dr Hobday said. ``You can choose to do nothing or you can choose to change your business practice. It's important you make that choice based on information, not on ignorance.''