Nationally, Australia’s quota has been cut from 5265 tonnes to 4015 tonnes.

Southern bluefin fishing in Eden is limited to two locally owned boats who have previously taken up lease offers from the South Australian quota owners.

The Port Lincoln quota owners have reconfirmed their lease offer to the local boats.

In Eden, the sight of bluefin tuna being unloaded at the wharf last season signalled the end of a long drought for fishermen of the species in the wake of acknowledged over-fishing worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s.

The cuts were announced on Monday by the Australian Government on behalf of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) who met in Korea last week to review new scientific data.

The meeting examined a report from the scientific committee, which stated the spawning population was only at five per cent on 1940 numbers.

The impact of reductions on the $187 million dollar industry will largely affect the Port Lincoln economy where the domestic industry is at its strongest.

The 25 to 30 per cent cut in Australia’s overall quota (over two years) has made Prisman P/L company spokesperson John Isles revisit his forecasting.

“We’re still trying to come to terms with what this means to us and our business model,” he said, “But I think we’ve got a long term commitment to long term tuna long lining on the east coast.”

During the season, which runs from December to March, around 18 tonne of southern bluefin tuna was unloaded at Snug Cove. The tuna was caught using quota owned by Prisman P/L.

“I’m not disputing (the scientific data) but it’s not what we’re seeing on the water, my feeling is that the fishery was making a recovery,” Mr Isles said

“I’m surprised the government supports the decision knowing that Australia sticks to the rules when Japan have acknowledged a 200,000 over-catch in the last 20 years.”

Australia is a member of the CCSBT along with Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and the Fishing Entity of Taiwan with cooperating non-members the Philippines, South Africa and the European community.

At the time of going to press CCSBT’s executive secretary Robert Kennedy had not yet released any media statement about the cuts, nor any information about the methodology of the scientific data.