The restructure of the NSW commercial fishing industry is reaching an important milestone with companies and individuals having until tomorrow to decide on whether they take a $20,000 buy-out to exit the industry.
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NSW Labor called on the State Primary Industries Minister to suspend the restructure process until more information is on the table to assist fishers in making the right decision for themselves, their families, and for the sustainability of the industry in general.
But Bermagui Fishermen’s Cooperative managing director Rocky Lagana was of the opposite view and said the three-year restructure process needed to reach a conclusion to afford those who wanted to remain some certainty.
While there were some commercial fisherman that believed the compensation to exit was not sufficient, others acknowledged that there were limited resources that would be divided fairly.
“There is still a lot of uncertainty but we just need to get this pushed through and address any issues that arise afterwards,” Mr Lagana said.
There were both estuary and offshore fishermen on the Far South Coast that had expressed an interest in taking the buy-out and many of these were of the age that retirement was looming anyway, he said.
Ports such as Bermagui had already undergone large-scale rationalisation and fleet reductions with previous state and federal rationalisation, and Mr Lagana believed those remaining after the most recent buy-back would be the most efficient, capable of supplying domestic and overseas markets and the industry would now be at its most sustainable.
Shadow Minister for Primary Industries Mick Veitch however called it policy-on-the-run and said a hastily cobbled together Ministerial press release the day after Labor’s call for a suspension made a few concessions without addressing the real concerns – which are the need for more information, more time and the need to hit the pause button.
Furthermore, the Turnbull Government is currently inquiring into the regulatory burdens on commercial fishers, with a report due later this year, he said, and Labor was concerned that if the process goes wrong, less fishers will mean less local product at local fish shops - a further blow to regional coastal economies.
“The timing and handling of this restructure is appalling and shows a Minister and Government refusing to listen to the real concerns of industry,” Mr Veitch said.
“The process kicks off tomorrow and the industry is still not being given the information they need to make informed decisions – the long term impacts on the industry, fishers and their families, as well as the economies of coastal communities- are unknown.
“If you’re a small business and you get in the road of the Baird government – look out. There’s a real risk here that we will lose many small fishing businesses, with less locally caught seafood available at local shops and co-ops up and down the coast.”
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