Nsw Overhaul Com. Fishing Laws For Fishing Shares

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Taken from ABC 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-31/overhaul-of-nsw-fishing-laws-to-see-catch-quotas-introduced/7463690

Overhaul of NSW fishing laws to introduce catch quotas to fishing shares

The State Government has announced an overhaul of New South Wales commercial fishing rules, saying it will make the industry more sustainable.

Catch quotas will be applied to fishing shares, so some businesses will need to buy extra shares to support their needs.

Financial assistance will be offered to fishers, and there'll be payments of up to $20,000 for those who want to leave the industry.

The Government will spend $16 million in financial support for fishers affected by the changes.

Primary Industries Minister Niall Blair said far too many fishing shares had been issued in the past 20 years.

"And those shares in the marketplace have very little value and no certainty when it comes to fish stocks," Mr Blair said.

"What we're doing today is putting certainty into those fish stocks and adding value back into those shares."

Mr Blair said the Government wanted more seafood in NSW to be consumed in NSW households.

"Fifteen per cent of the seafood we eat in NSW comes from NSW waters, and that's something that we want to change," Mr Blair said.

"At the moment there is too much imported seafood being consumed."

He said the new rules would maintain the viability of an industry which makes $90 million for the NSW economy.

Mr Blair said the industry had been struggling under detailed regulations and this would bring in more manageable practices.

Industry group calls for more detail on new laws

Executive officer of the Professional Fishermen's Association Tricia Beatty said her organisation needed more information on how some of the quotas would work.

"Our industry has been faced with a lot of uncertainty because they didn't know what the decision would be for the last four years, so we're [welcoming] that we finally have been told what's going on," Ms Beatty said.

"However, there's still a lot of detail that has not been provided and still needs to be worked through."

But she said the industry had some concerns about whether the proposed quote arrangements are viable.

"At the moment we are working with the NSW Government to work out these details," she said.

"The NSW Government has made that commitment to work with industry to resolve our issues."

She said the seafood labelling scheme would allow consumers to make more informed decisions.

"I'm pretty confident the NSW consumer will choose rightly to eat local, fresh product, so that's been a welcome commitment."