Commercial fishing has little impact on Australian sea floor biodiversity: study

Australian commercial fishing is having little impact on sea floor biodiversity around Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (HIMI), according to a new study released on Monday.

The HIMI are a volcanic group of barren Antarctic islands, about two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica, and are Australian territory.

Researchers used deep-sea cameras to discover that more than 98 percent of sensitive sea floor biodiversity in the fishery had remained in pristine condition after 16 years of commercial fishing.

The eight-year study, funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, was a joint project between the Australian Antarctic Division, the Australian Fisheries Management Authority and fishing industry partners Austral Fisheries and Australian Longline.

Australian Antarctic Division fisheries scientist Dirk Welsford told the Hobart Mercury the project aimed to investigate the potential impacts and sustainability of trawling and longlining for Patagonian toothfish in the Australian Fishing Zone at HIMI, and to develop technologies that could be used by other fisheries to address similar issues.