NSWs` New Fisheries Minister on the Nose Already

[Gad]

Taken from todays Fishing Worlds Email Newsletter

Cronulla decision highlights lack of common sense

29 Sep 2011

By Martin Salter

LIKE many anglers I was delighted with the first few decisions of the new NSW Fisheries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson who rightly lambasted her Labor predecessors for a lack of consultation over the fishing ban at Fish Rock.

Here's what she said in her first interview with Fisho back in May.

"I was very pleased to be able to revoke the regulation that tied up Fish Rock and Green Island. It seemed to me ridiculous that that was put in place without any community consultation whatsoever. So now it will be out there for consultation for three months and we'll see what the community feels about it."

She added:"You'll see a very different approach to fishing and marine parks under a Coalition Government than that you saw under a Labor government "

Well it seems that six months is a long time in NSW politics because all thoughts of sensible, consultative, evidenced based decision making must have been slung out of the window along with the Coalition's promise to declare "War on Waste" on September 8th.

For this was when the hare-brained announcement was made to close the highly regarded Fisheries Research Centre at Cronulla in South Sydney without any consultation whatsoever.

The first that rec fishers and staff heard was a press release from Katrina Hodgkinson, who has yet to even visit the site, announcing the moving of NSW Fisheries from Cronulla to Nowra and the scientists to Port Stephens.

"It makes clear sense to reposition NSW's fisheries specialists closer to where the vast majority of their work is – along the NSW coastline, such as on the Mid North Coast, the Central Coast and the South Coast," Ms Hodgkinson said.

Really? Check out the figures Katrina - and how many NSW recreational fishers live in the Sydney area compared with Nowra?!

Doubtless the government will claim some sort of mandate for decentralisation but having trawled through the NSW Coalition election manifestos for both commercial and recreational fishing there is absolutely no mention relocating recreational fishery management or fisheries scientists away from Sydney.

They do have a broader commitment to decentralisation where sensible but this can hardly be applied to a service that is already 67.5 per cent decentralised to venues as diverse as Wollongbar, Coffs Harbour, Tamworth, Dubbo, Warilla, Narrandera and Jindabyne.

The politics of this are absurd and I can't help feeling that our hitherto excellent Fisheries minister is being badly advised and poorly treated by her colleagues who simply haven't thought this through.

For example..

* announcing the closure of a premier fisheries facility she hasn't even visited

* promoting "war on waste" by costing the taxpayer more

* losing valuable expertise and delivering a poorer service

* creating a less accessible centre for NSW's most popular pastime

* failing to consult recreational fishers or their representatives

The Cronulla Fisheries Centre of Excellence has a world class reputation and its closure has already provoked a storm of protest from commercial and recreational fishing bodies in NSW and from eminent fisheries experts and organisations from around the world including Brazil, USA, Canada, Berlin, Dublin. Many Australian universities have objected including our very own Prof.Bob Kearney from Canberra.

There are a number of key points that the government should not be allowed to ignore:

Cost to taxpayers

Currently the Cronulla site costs little to run. There is no rent and maintenance costs are modest – especially because, in recent years, significant funding has been spent to modernise the site. It is estimated that staff relocation costs will be in the order of $60,000 per person (x 152 staff) = $9.1 million.

If 90 per cent of staff decline to move, as a recent survey indicated, the redundancy costs could be double that amount.

Offices will need to be built, rented and/or refurbished at Coffs Harbour and Nowra at significant up-front and continuing expense. The actual moving of equipment, offices, files, the library, etc. is estimated to be in the order of $1 million.

Waste of recreational fishing licence money

The costs of either bringing Fisheries staff from Nowra to Sydney for consultative meetings, seminars or briefings or paying the travelling costs of participants to get to Nowra is simply wasteful. Poor consultation makes for poorer policy and a worse deal for rec fishers.

The acclaimed Get Hooked programme for young people will cost more to run if it is to be located away from the majority of schools in the State.

Cost local jobs and loss of valuable waterfront site

As well as losing jobs and expertise, the site at Cronulla is the subject of a claim by the La Perouse Aboriginal Land Council which could raise uncertainty over the future of an important waterfront site.

Move fisheries services away from Sydney the prime recreational fishing area in NSW

Over 60 per cent of anglers in NSW live in the Sydney area compared to less than 2 per cent at Nowra.

Waste millions on rebuilding specialised research laboratories

A new laboratory will have to be built at Port Stephens – the new laboratory at Cronulla cost $1 million 6 years ago which will now be money wasted. The upgrades to the seawater system at Port Stephens will cost many millions of dollars as the water there is brackish and not marine.

Lose hundreds of years of fisheries research & management expertise

Closing Cronulla will mean a huge loss of corporate, scientific and technical knowledge and expertise. Cronulla has also been a major site for the training of Fisheries Professionals in Australia – many of the senior fisheries people in Australia began their careers at Cronulla including the current Director of Fisheries in Victoria, the Director of Fisheries Research in Western Australia and the head of Fisheries Research at CSIRO.

In conclusion, I don't want to see a promising new fisheries minister damaged or the fisheries service made worse and more expensive and remote by pressing ahead with this ill-considered proposal.

There's still time to make the politicians see sense and it is important that local fishos make their voices heard. Simply go to www.savecronullafisheries.net/ and fire off your objections.