Commercial fishers seek answers as government closes down key fisheries
Today’s announcement by Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis has brought some surprises and a lot of disappointment for the WA fishing industry.
The closure of the West Coast bioregion to demersal fishing, and the significant changes to the Pilbara are a massive blow to the industry that will have significant flow-on impacts to consumers, as well as allied industries, including food service, restaurants and many downstream industries.
This announcement is only hours old at the moment and WAFIC is still waiting on the details of how the changes will work in order to better understand the full impacts and pathways forward.
The government has allocated $20 million to undertake a compulsory buy-back of licenses, but that is expected to fall significantly short of what is required to compensate more than 70 fishing operations directly impacted in the West Coast Bioregion alone.
The Minister has currently made no mention of how the government will manage compensation for the Pilbara changes and the closure of the Pilbara demersal trawl fishery.
WAFIC is working with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to ensure the industry has opportunities to meet and be informed.
DPIRD has advised it will be holding a series of meetings with impacted fishers on Friday, to update them with further details and timelines. Notifications with details will be sent to licence holders today.
WAFIC will continue to update fishers throughout this period of major change and disruption.
You can find more at the links below:
Minister Jarvis media release
WAFIC’s media release/response