Coinciding with Sustainable Seafood Week 2019, Australia Post has released three stamps featuring sustainable fish species.
The stamps are designed by Sonia Young of the Australia Post Design Studio, using illustrations by Dr Lindsay Marshall, a natural history artist and PhD in shark morphology and fisheries science. They feature three sustainable Australian fish species, along with the relevant commercial fishing technique used to minimise environmental impacts.
Professor of marine system management at the University of Tasmania, Keith Sainsbury, who consulted with Australia Post on the stamps, said: “Sustainable fishing requires keeping fishing to a level that allows it to continue indefinitely, maintaining the integrity of ecosystems, and using non-destructive, wild-capture fishing techniques.”
Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) is a large and slender deep-water species whose commercial fisheries are located in the Southern Ocean and the Ross Sea. To minimise the effect on seabirds, fisheries use an exclusion device which forms a barrier around the area where line hauling occurs.
Blue Grenadier (Macruronus novaezelandiae), also known as Hoki, is a bottom-dwelling deep-water fish found in temperate marine waters off New Zealand and Australia. Special seal excluder devices are used to help seals swim out of nets if they are accidentally caught.
Tiger Flathead (Platycephalus richardsoni) is found from northern New South Wales to western Victoria, including Tasmanian waters. The commercial fisheries are located in south-eastern Australia and the Great Australian Bight and use mesh of varying sizes in different parts of the net to help undersized fish to escape.
