Primary Industries News

The animal cruelty charges that were brought against livestock export company Emanuel Exports have been dropped by prosecutors in Perth, Australia.Around 2,400 sheep died on the Awassi Express (subsequently renamed the Anna Marra) on a voyage from Fremantle to the Middle East in August 2017.The situation was brought to public attention when Animals Australia obtained whistleblower footage which was broadcast on a 60 Minutes program in April 2018. Footage from five separate voyages showed sheep suffering heat stress, some bogged in feces.

Dongara Marine has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract to build the Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development's new large patrol vessel.The 24-meter fisheries patrol vessel will be built to a design from WA naval architecture firm Southerly Designs.The government is investing $13.7 million into the project to replace the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development's ageing PV Walcott.The new patrol vessel will have a longer fuel range to conduct extended voyages…

Brazil has banned the export of live cattle from all its ports.Reuters reports that federal judge Djalma Gomes’s ruling states: "Animals are not things. They are sentient living beings, that is, individuals who feel hunger, thirst, pain, cold, anguish, fear."The verdict was handed down after the National Forum for the Protection and Defense of Animals filed a law suit in 2017.The case, still subject to appeal, comes as New Zealand also banned the export of cattle from its shores from April 30.

The persistent eutrophication (being too rich in nutrients) of the Baltic Sea prompted the IMO’s Baltic Member States to tackle shipping’s < 0.1% contribution by designating the Baltic Sea as the first Special Area under Annex IV of IMO’s MARPOL Convention [1]. Passenger ships must give sewage to wastewater treatment works (WWTWs) ashore via the port reception facilities (PRFs) or operate a nutrient removal sewage treatment plant (STP) on board prior to discharge. It has been perceived as a positive move. But how special is the Special Area?Rules at sea vs.

New Zealand on Friday said it had introduced new requirements for the safe transport of livestock, after a cattle ship capsized in the East China Sea last month, killing almost all its crew and thousands of cows.Only two of the 43 crew members and more than 6,000 cattle onboard the Gulf Carrier 1, which was heading from New Zealand to China, survived, prompting authorities to suspend live cattle exports and launch a review.The suspension expires on October 23, but a conditional ban is in place until November 30…

New Zealand on Friday launched a review of its livestock exports by sea, after a ship that left its shores with nearly 6,000 cows and 43 crew members capsized off Japan last week.Gulf Livestock 1, which left Napier Port last month bound for China sank after Typhoon Maysak lashed the area with strong winds and heavy seas.Japan's coastguards have suspended search operations, after two crewmen were rescued while another died after being found unconscious.

A ship carrying 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle from New Zealand to China capsized after losing an engine in stormy weather in the East China Sea, the only crew member rescued so far told Japan's coastguard on Thursday.The Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress call from the west of Amami Oshima island in southwestern Japan on Wednesday as Typhoon Maysak lashed the area with strong winds and heavy seas.Japan's coastguard said it had rescued one crew member, Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer from the Philippines, on Wednesday night (Tokyo time) while searching for the ship.According to Edvarodo, the ship lost an engine before it was hit by a wave and capsized, a coastguard spokeswoman said.When the ship capsized, crew were instructed to put on lifejackets.

The GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling Partnerships project has concluded its inaugural Research and Development Forum and Exhibition on Biofouling Management, in Melbourne, Australia (1 to 4 October).Bringing together experts, regulators and industry representatives to discuss the latest advances in research, regulations and technologies related to marine biofouling across all maritime sectors, this is set to become the project’s biennial “signature event”.Over 170 participants and 40 speakers took part in a program that focused on how biofouling affects different maritime industries, including shipping, aquaculture and ocean renewable energies…

Indonesian bulk carrier  DL Marigold has been ordered to leave port of Tauranga  in New Zealand waters after its hull was judged to be threat to bio-security. The Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) has sent the ship packing from Tauranga because of its dirty hull - the first time this has happened. MPI ordered the Panama-registered DL Marigold from New Zealand after MPI divers discovered dense fouling of barnacles and tube worms on the ship's hull and other underwater surfaces. It  gave the ship 24 hours to depart. "The longer the vessel stayed in New Zealand, the greater chance there was for unwanted marine species to spawn or break away from the ship. So we had to act quickly," local media reported Steve Gilbert, border clearance director at the MPI as saying.

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in New Zealand plans to turn the biosecurity spotlight on international yachts visiting Northland this season, says a government press release published in the Scoop. Last season MPI introduced a range of new biosecurity checks following two Queensland fruit fly finds in Whangarei. “On the whole, the yachting community is very good at following New Zealand’s biosecurity requirements, but last season showed there is value in providing more education and more layers of protection,” says Sharon Tohovaka, MPI’s North Ports Manager. This season (from October to December) there will be 4 extra staff based in the region to carry out biosecurity inspections, says Ms Tohovaka.

The move, to take place over a four-year transition period, would send a clear message that New Zealand was serious about the fair treatment of fishing crews, the safety of vessels and its international reputation for ethical and sustainable fishing practices, Primary Industries Minister David Carter and Labor Minister Kate Wilkinson stated. The announcement followed the release in March of a report by the Ministerial Inquiry into Foreign Charter Vessels (FCVs), which was ordered after widely publicized cases of mainly Indonesian fishing crews jumping ship with claims of unpaid wages and physical abuse when their Korean-owned vessels docked in New Zealand.