Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Approximately 7000 signatures have added their weight to a local petition requesting the State government pause in its controversial fishing industry reforms, but organisers say more are needed.
With a minimum number of 10,000 signatures required before a petition can be tabled in parliament, local resident Kevin Jones has been doing the rounds spreading the word and gathering support.
“Kevin has brought in around 2000 signatures so far,” said an impressed Suzie McEnallay, the operations manager for Wallis Lake Fishermen’s Cooperative.
The proposed state-wide fishing reforms have caused an uproar both up and down the coast due to what many believe will be unsustainable quotas purchased at unsustainable prices.
“I reckon it’s got to be the biggest story in the area, and it’s getting to the crunch time,” a concerned Mr Jones said, referring to his quest as a community service ‘to get it out there’.
“It’s going to affect a lot of lives,” he said.
“So I said to Suzie, I’ll help you do something about it.”
Wallis Lake reportedly provides the biggest blue swimmer crab proportion across NSW – 80 per cent of the catch.
“But what they’re doing is adding up the numbers of what’s caught and allocating them to areas which don’t even catch any,” he said, referring to new quotas on catch.
His biggest concern is that in borrowing money to buy shares and quotas, “they then won’t be able to service the loan.”
The petition itself has been written by the Wild Caught Fisher’s Coalition, which claims “fishers rights have been stolen, their viability and sustainability threatened.”
Backing that up is a review by the local co-op’s Ms McEnallay, which found that the reforms would render the local fishing industry and subsequently the co-op, unviable.
She said last week’s trial run of the system revealed so many flaws she and the fishers had lost any faith in the system.
Designed by the Department of Primary Industry to calm fears surrounding the reforms, the trial encouraging NSW’s fishers to buy and sell shares finished on Monday.
“A lot of people thought it crashed,” she said, referring to anomalies in computer and phone systems accessing the site. She also referred to unfair caps on shares required for sustainable quotas.
A spokesperson for the DPI said results from the trial exchange are expected shortly, but the level of engagement was “encouraging”.
“The level of industry engagement in the Preview Share Trading Market was encouraging and demonstrated fishers were interested in learning more about how to use the system ahead of the Subsidised Share Trading Market early next year,” the spokesperson said.
In the meantime Kevin said the petition is available to sign at all clubs and pubs in the area.
“There are still a lot of people who are not aware of what the facts and figures are... but it’s so ridiculous it’s not funny.”
