New research reveals dark side of Aussie seafood industry: 'People would be horrified'

A staggering 10 per cent of Australia's seafood exports since 1999 were an endangered species, a concerning new study by Queensland researchers has revealed.

Fish on ice at the Sydney Fish Markets.
Scientists analysed more than two decades of Australia's seafood export data, concluding that a staggering 107 kilotonnes, about 10 per cent, of all exports were threatened. Source: Reddit

Most Australians "would be horrified to know" that not only are we allowing some of our most endangered species to be targeted and killed for food, but in many cases they’re also being exported overseas, ending up "on someone's dinner plate on the other side of the world".

An alarming new study conducted by researchers at the University of Queensland has found Australia's nature laws are failing to protect some of our most iconic and vulnerable fish species, with up to 10 per cent of all of Australia's seafood exports since 1999 considered threatened.

While we do have strict laws in place that restricts the killing of endangered animals, The Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act’s threatened species classification system includes a special category just for fish called "Conservation Dependent".

This means fish can still be killed and sold by commercial fishers, that aren't required to adhere to protections given to other threatened species. In almost every Australian jurisdiction for example, all native land animals are protected, with some exemptions in place for farmers and traditional land owners.

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Sustainable Seafood Program Manager Adrian Meder at the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said it's simply not good enough that fish aren't afforded the same protections as other land mammals.

"I think Australians consistently — because we've talked to them a bit — they're frankly disgusted at the idea that we would catch an endangered species for profit," he told Yahoo, adding that he believes most people aren't aware of the practice taking place right under their noses.

"That's really the only reason we think it's still even occurring. If there was greater awareness amongst the public, and it was being communicated to them, then it would be totally rejected by the community."

Orange roughy fish on ice in Sydney.
Scientists are worried orange roughy numbers are plummeting. Source: Getty
Blue warehou fish are seen gutted and piled into a box.
The blue warehou fish is eligible for classification as critically endangered. Source: ABC

"Commercially harvesting our numbats or black cockatoos would rightly be out of the question, and yet we allow the same practice under the waves. Our Aussie fish can be officially recognised as needing protection, but could still end up on someone’s dinner plate on the other side of the world."

Meder argued our "nature laws are clearly broken" and Australian wildlife "urgently needs strong new laws" to ensure that all threatened species receive the protection they need.

Scientists analysed more than two decades of seafood export data, concluding that a staggering 107 kilotonnes, about 10 per cent, of all exports by weight were threatened. Specifically the school shark, orange roughy, blue warehou, and southern bluefin tuna. The study revealed that these four species were exported primarily to Japan, China, New Zealand, Mauritius and the United States.

To make matters worse, all four of these species were eligible for higher threat categories under the EPBC Act — with the blue warehou in particular eligible for critically endangered status — with no recovery plans in place for any, due to animals listed as "conservation dependent" not being eligible.

"The orange roughy fishery has been of particular concern recently," Meder said. "We are worried that the orange roughy numbers at one of the major fishing sites, at the Cascade Plateau [Tasmania], may have collapsed altogether — like in the 1990s — after the Australian government invited an industrial factory freezer trawler to fish those grounds.

"This vessel caught about 200 to 300 tonnes a year for just a couple of years from these grounds until 2021." Since then, Meder explained, 16 tonnes of the orange roughy were caught in 2022, and just seven tonnes in 2023, but this year, the site was abandoned altogether — despite having a 437-tonne catch allowance — due to reports "the consistency of fishing at the Cascade Plateau had disappeared".

"Scientists in 2021 and 2022 were unable to even find enough orange roughy there [to study], so an updated scientific assessment could not even be conducted," he said.

"Regrettably, whether it's rhino horn... or otherwise, by virtue of being rare and hard to come by, some markets are willing to pay a premium. What's concerning here is that our Australian government and our Australian fishing industry is willing to take that premium and profit off that."

Rosa Mar Dominguez-Martinez with Queensland University said the idea that there's always "more fish in the sea" doesn't quite reflect the reality.

"Since the inception of the EPBC Act, 107 kilotons — or 10 per cent of all Australian seafood exports — have been of these four listed threatened species," Dominguez-Martinez said.

“You might think that there are plenty more fish in the sea, but these species are in real danger."

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