A Chinese construction on Australia s doorstep could have serious implications for national security and decimate traditional fishing in Indigenous communities. A Chinese-run company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Papua New Guinea to construct a $200m comprehensive multifunctional fishery industrial park on the Torres Strait island of Daru. The island is one of few in the Torres Strait not under Australian control. It is just a few kilometres from Australia s maritime border and less than 200km from the mainland. The prospect has alarmed national security experts over fears the development, which is under the auspices of China s Belt and Road initiative, could double as a Chinese military facility.
China Australia relations: Concerns Chinese plan will hit Aussie interests, Indigenous fisherman adelaidenow.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from adelaidenow.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The signing of a $204 million memorandum of understanding between a Chinese government-backed fishery company and the Papua New Guinea government to build a ‘comprehensive multi-functional fishery industrial park’ on the Torres Strait island of Daru has triggered starkly different responses in PNG and in Australia.
Daru is the administrative hub for PNG’s impoverished and underdeveloped Western Province (also known unofficially as Fly River Province). It’s one of the few islands in the Torres Strait that’s not Australian territory, and it’s only a short dinghy ride from the Australian border.
Since I wrote about the MoU in the regional Far North Queensland newspaper
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Australia’s Exmouth Gulf prawn and Shark Bay prawn fisheries have been recertified under the Marine Stewardship Council standard, MSC announced in a 15 December press release.
Both fisheries first achieved MSC certification in 2015. For their recertification, they attested to MSC Version 2.01 standards, which were introduced in 2018 and are considered more rigorous, according to the certification organization.
“MSC is the world’s leading science-based standard and eco-labeling program for wild-catch fisheries, with certification confirming fishery sustainability as well as respectful environmental management practices,” Western Australian (WA) Fishing Industry Council CEO Darryl Hockey said. “Australian’s consumers can be confident that Exmouth and Shark Bay certified prawns are a high quality, sustainable choice. Western Australian’s can be proud these local fisheries are meeting the world’s highest standards.”