Seal trackers

SATELLITE trackers could be stuck on rogue seals relocated from southern fish farms to northern Tasmania, where fishers say they are plundering fish stocks and damaging nets

COSTLY MENACE: Northern Tasmanian fishers say seals relocated from southern fish farms are plundering fish stocks and damaging nets. Picture: PETER LORIMER .

SATELLITE trackers could be stuck on rogue seals relocated from southern fish farms to northern Tasmania, where fishers say they are plundering fish stocks and damaging nets.

Salmon company Tassal intends to fund research into the problematic predators as it pledges to ultimately scrap its controversial South-North seal relocations and roll out seal-proof pens at fish farms.

If the project is approved, about 50 seals from Tassal’s southern leases will have GPS tags glued on to them and their behaviour tracked at as yet undisclosed locations in northern Tasmania.

The company has come under fire for its seal relocations, which included 400 dumped in the state’s North-West in the space of a month.

An Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies spokesman said the northern Tasmanian relocation research sites were yet to be determined.

“The scientific permit application currently being considered is aimed at increasing understanding of seal interactions with marine farms,” he said.

In its research application, IMAS noted it intended to compare the seals’ time spent foraging naturally with that involving commercial fishing interactions.

“The question of how to interact with marine predators in terms of food production is becoming increasingly pressing,” IMAS submitted.

“Interactions between seals and fisheries are a longstanding issue in Tasmania. Yet we currently understand very little about the way the Australian fur seal, a conspicuous top predator, uses the Tasmanian marine environment.”

A Tassal spokesman said the company was a funding partner for the research.