Right now the Super Trawler Geelong Star is plowing through Australian waters, plundering fish stocks and killing protected dolphins and seals. Why? Because there’s a whopping loophole in Australia’s laws. The main things that matter - the size of their factory freezer, whether they overfish local areas, their record of environmental crimes – none of this counts. If they’re under 130 metres, the government lets them in.

That’s right, a 130 metre super trawler would be banned, but a 129 metre super trawler, swallowing up the same tonnage of fish and killing the same amount of protected dolphins…..well that’s alright. Tony Abbott has taken the side of massive corporations over local fishers, and made a loophole big enough to sail a Super Trawler through.

Eighty-five percent of world fish stocks are exploited. If you want your kids to grow up in a world with fish, tell Tony Abbott that a ban is a ban – he needs to protect our fish stocks and ban all Super Trawlers today.

Image Credit: Fisheries Research 78 (2006)