The Northern Territory’s only commercial sardine and squid fisherman says he is unlikely to catch them again — meaning the NT will now need to import most of its bait.
Biagio Spinella from Austop Fisheries has spent nearly 30 years catching sardines and other bait fish from NT waters.
Some of the product was sold to local restaurants, but most of it got sold as bait to a wide range of businesses.
Austop Fisheries was the only NT company catching large quantities of sardines. (ABC Rural: Matt Brann)
Mr Spinella’s boat, the FV Angelina, sank off the Arnhem Land Coast last year.
The fisherman has since run into problems while trying to reinvest because he cannot get a permanent fishing licence from the NT government.
“There is no security for me because every year I need to fill in an application and they [NT government] give me a bit of paper that says I’m allowed to go and catch more sardines for another year,” he said.
“It’s like leasing a house, you’ve got no rights and the owner can come and stop you.”
Mr Spinella said not having long-term security had made it difficult to obtain finance and purchase new gear after losing the FV Angelina.
“I have a strong belief in the value of this low-scale, low-impact fishery, but I need long-term security,” he said.
“When we catch mackerel or shark we’re working in secure fisheries, have a licence and an access right — but we have none of that with the sardines.”
Ramifications of no local bait
Mr Spinella’s sardines, squid, and other small pelagic bait fish were used regularly by recreational fishers and NT businesses such as the Territory Wildlife Park, the Darwin Aquaculture Centre and Humpty Doo Barramundi.
“It means they don’t have to worry about biosecurity risks,” Mr Spinella said.
“The sardines are caught locally, which means there’s less chance of bringing in disease when they feed their fish and animals.
“It’s great for the recreational fishing industry too because they’re using bait from this area, not from somewhere else.”
Dan Richards from Humpty Doo Barramundi said his company had long used bait from Mr Spinella to feed the farm’s brood stock.
“It’s great to be able to support another Territory family business, and from a biosecurity point of view it’s better to be getting locally caught bait,” he said.
“The further away you have to bring things from, the larger chance there could be a biosecurity issue.”
Dan Richards says his company is now sourcing sardines from South Australia. (ABC Rural: Daniel Fitzgerald)
Mr Richards said because Austop was no longer catching bait fish, his company was now sourcing sardines from Port Lincoln in South Australia.
It is understood some commercial fishing boats in the NT catch their own bait, but do not sell to others.
The ABC knows of fishing charter companies in the NT that use bait imported from the United States.
Most Darwin tackle shops are selling bait sourced from interstate or overseas.
This bait for sale in Darwin was imported from the United States. (ABC Rural)
Waiting for fishery to be declared
In a statement to ABC Rural, the NT Department of Agriculture and Fisheries acknowledged that Mr Spinella had “invested in the development of a Small Pelagic Fish and Squid Fishery (SPFSF) in the NT”.
“The SPFSF is not a declared fishery under the NT Fisheries Act, Mr Spinella has been operating under an annual permit system while legislation is drafted to declare the new SPFS fishery in the NT,” it said.
“Until the new SPFS fishery is declared the annual permit is the only option to allow Mr Spinella to fish with specialised small pelagic fishing gear.”
The department said the government-owned Darwin Aquaculture Centre was now sourcing most of its bait fish from local businesses “that import from interstate”.
It said small quantities of bait fish had been purchased from Aboriginal Coastal Licences but “Austop had been the primary supplier of bait fish”.
It is not clear when the Commonwealth and NT governments will finish the review of the SPFSF and potentially declare it a fishery.
