The biggest overhaul of commercial fishing for two decades in which the state government would pay fishers to leave the industry has been proposed by an independent review.
The analysis, to be released today, found about 17 per cent of almost 1100 fishing businesses in NSW caught no fish at all.
A ”bold stroke” involving a huge restructure was needed to address the problems faced by the fisheries, which cover more than 2100 kilometres of coastline, inland waters, rivers, estuaries and open sea.
The government is expected today to announce structural reforms as a result of the report. It found the expansion of marine parks and recreational fishing havens had reduced wild fish stocks and too many licensed fishers were vying for too few fish.
In 2001 only 113 of 690 water bodies in NSW were open to commercial fishing - 24 of which delivered almost all fish caught commercially.
But seven of the 24 are now set aside for recreational fishers and eight have restrictions on commercial fishing, say the authors, led by Richard Stevens.
There had been a failure to properly implement a 1994 share scheme, which allocated fishing rights that could be traded and sold. These ”shares” had no real value and too many had been handed out initially.
”Many fishers are now caught in a form of poverty trap, where those that hold shares struggle to derive a living from them or tailor their operations to become more viable, and are unwilling to sell out due to their low value,” the Independent Review of NSW Commercial Fisheries Policy, Management and Administration found.
Among 22 recommendations was a proposal to create a $15.5 million incentive scheme for fishers who catch little or nothing to leave the industry. Rather than a buyout, any ”exit grant” would be given only after shares were transferred to another business.
The report suggested total allowable catch or fishing time limits, imposing a minimum value on shares and linking shares to business efforts or amounts caught.
Despite numerous reviews of commercial fishing since 1994, an unmanageable habit had developed where the industry bypassed normal processes and went straight to the responsible minister.
”Without radical restructure and reform, the economic crisis facing the NSW fishing industry will continue and, indeed, worsen,” the report said. ”Overfishing will also continue to be difficult to avoid and control effectively.”
The Primary Industries Minister, Katrina Hodgkinson, said the government was committed to ensuring a strong and viable commercial fishing industry that provided sufficient high-quality seafood to local consumers but maintained a sustainable fishery resource.
