Fishermen assured of consultation

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 3

Fishermen assured of consultation

PA Wellington Commercial fishermen yesterday won an assurance that they would be consulted by the Government when it reviews the new levy of $3 a tonne on some species taken by inshore fishermen. The president of the Federation of Commercial Fishermen, Mr Bob Martin, met the Minister of Fisheries, Mr Moyle, to seek assurances about the Government’s plan for inshore fisheries announced on Monday. The Government approved a scheme to set quotas for inshore fishermen and cut the quantities of threatened fish species taken in the next year by 30 to 40 per cent. The changes are expected to cost the Government about $2O million to buy up the tenders of the fishermen who decide they want to leave the industry. But fishery experts hope the reduction in numbers will ease pressure on inshore fish stocks. In turn, the Government plans to charge fishermen a flat levy on their catches. Initially, these have been

set at a nominal $3 a tonne. Mr Martin said he had been given an assurance that commercial fishermen would be consulted when the Government reviewed the nominal levy of $3 a tonne set for the first year. The Minister had not said the $3 figure would not be continued beyond the first year, he said. Before the meeting, Mr Martin said consultation was a key point in the new scheme for the federation. Offshore fishermen had not been consulted last year when the Government lifted the levy in the deep-water fishing industry from $3 a tonne on orange roughy to $7O a tonne.

"Given that there was big money being made on orange roughy, they could sustain it,” he said. “But it is the principle of putting it up overnight with no fishermen having any say in the matter that concerns us.” Mr Martin said that although there had been no concrete figure given by Mr Moyle, the federation was expecting aggregation of quotas to be limited to about 10 per cent in any particular, region.

Mr Moyle said he expected enough of the country’s 2000 licensed fishermen selling their quotas to the Government would cut the catch of threatened species by up to 40 per cent. But Mr Martin said before the meeting he was concerned the Government might cut everybody’s quotas if not enough fishermen sold out. “We will be wanting to make sure that if there are cuts they will not reduce the quotas of small fishermen to such an extent that their businesses are made uneconomic,” he said. A fishing industry source said yesterday that share fishermen were concerned that when licence-holders sold off their quotas there would be no mechanism to ensure that crew members who worked for a share of the catch would receive a share of the payout. The industry source said share fishermen had previously unsuccessfully asked for the Government to pass regulations or direct licence holders to divide the proceeds with members of the crew who did not work for wages.