COMMERCIAL fishermen in the Far South Coast region are still digesting the planned major shake-up of their industry.
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Bermagui Fisherman’s Cooperative managing director Rocky Lagana agreed that an overhaul of the NSW commercial fishing industry was needed, but he was still reviewing what the outcome could be locally.
“The industry did need a bit of a shake-up but we are still looking at what it will mean for our 32 operators,” he said.
His concerns included whether active fishermen would be made to buy up licences and entitlements of other less active or inactive fishermen, with the co-op and the community relying on those remaining to supply locally-caught sustainable seafood.
NSW Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson on Friday released the Independent Report into NSW Commercial Fisheries Policy, Management and Administration.
The Report meets the NSW Liberals & Nationals pre-election commitment to comprehensively examine policy, management and administration practices related to our State’s commercial fishing industry.
“The NSW Government welcomes the Report, and I can announce today that as part of the first stage of the reform process, the NSW Government will:
1. Roll out a comprehensive structural adjustment program to address the problem of excess/poorly defined fishing rights and ensure ownership of fishing entitlements is more closely linked to the level of access to the resource;
2. Reform governance processes to achieve a proper balance of responsibilities and accountabilities within Government and industry to restore confidence in decision making; and
3. Reform consultation mechanisms to deliver effective processes and structures that will promote co-ordinated advice, communication and feedback between Government and industry.
“The Report was very clear – it found that “industry frustration with the “stop/go” history of share management and structural adjustment, and constant changes to the reform process, caused by many Government policy reversals over 15 years, led to a breakdown in trust, respect and working relations between the industry and government and even within government itself,” Ms Hodgkinson said.
The structural adjustment will address improper share management, which resulted in the over-allocation of access rights in most fisheries.
“Shares within each share class will be linked to resource access (i.e. catch or fishing effort) by the end of 2014.”
The NSW Government has committed $16 million prior to the last election to assist in restructuring the commercial fishing industry and it will honour this commitment, she said.
There will be an 18-month industry consultation phase to determine the detail of the new arrangements set to commence by the end of 2014.
The report can be found at www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
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