Guiding Australian Consumers to Sustainable Seafood Choices - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 400

Seafood labelling also remains inconsistent, inaccurate and inadequate and thus
unable to provide the consumers with all the information they need to make ethical
choices.

19.5.1 Paucity of information

The paucity of information about Australian seafood species is extensive - little is
understood about the life histories, ecological roles and vulnerabilities to fishing
pressures, and there is little information about the cumulative impact of fishing
along with habitat loss, pollution and the impacts of climate change on most species
and ecological systems. Nowhere is paucity of information better reflected than in
the lack of content, consistency and transparency of fishery status reports. These
reports are developed by Australian national, state and territory governments to
communicate the status of Australia's fisheries to the public. A notable exception
may be the BRS reporting system discussed above.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society drew on a wide range government
fishery reports during the development of the Guide. We found, however, that the
quality of these reports varied markedly and thus were, in the main, relatively un-
reliable sources of information. Government reports suffer from the fact that they
are invariably developed by the fishery management agencies themselves, and are
prone to considerable use of positive, or at best, neutral language. These reports
mostly outline the status of fisheries in positive terms, rather than focusing on the
concerns, issues or challenges to be faced. This tends to obscure the issues, or in
some jurisdictions, to explicitly divert attention away from key fishery management
failures and challenges. Government reports rarely admit to any form of problem
and focus extensively on reporting catch statistics, catch trends, and ongoing and
proposed research and information needs. Government reports are not indepen-
dently prepared or peer reviewed, and normally can be used only to determine the
institutional perspective of the day, not the true status of the fish stocks. Difficulties
or issues with the fisheries are usually couched in very careful terms, and often
make sense to only very well informed experts who already understand the issues
and uncertainties.
One example is the 2004 Shark Fishery Status Report for the Northern Ter-
ritory (NT) Fishery Joint Authority (NTJAF). This report avoids any discussion
about threats to sharks by the domestic fleet (www.nt.gov.au/dpifm/Fisheries/
Content/File/2004 FSR shark.pdf) even though the Australian Marine Conserva-
tion Society had previously raised significant concerns about this issue with both
the NT and Australian governments and had asked for this fishery to be closed.
Fortunately, governments can be proactive about conservation issues and chal-
lenges when they choose. For example, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Author-
ity (GBRMPA) has published an insightful report about the status of sharks and rays
in the Great Barrier Reef. The report is frank about our lack of knowledge about
sharks and raises concerns with ongoing impacts and declines (http://www.gbrmpa.