Moyle’s plans criticised

Press, 13 August 1988, Page 4

Moyle’s plans criticised

PA ' z Nelson The New Zealand fishing industry could “go to the wall” if resource rentals were increased by 20 per cent, said the Sealord Products chief executive, Dr Brian Rhoades, yesterday.

He said the Minister of Fisheries, Mr Moyle’s proposal to increase resource rentals by the maximum permissible, was “nonsense.”

Mr Moyle has said he proposed to introduce the 20 per cent rise for the coming season which starts on October 1 and had invited comment from the industry, a spokesman for his Wellington office said yesterday.

The only species exempted is squid, which will attract a proposed 5 per cent increase.

Dr Rhoades said he hoped Mr Moyle’s proposal was “only an opening point for industry negotiations, otherwise it is a total nonsense, which shows the Minister is badly advised on what the industry can afford.”

He said the conditions the industry was working under were worse than conditions last year when the profitability study was formulated. Dr Rhoades said the situation had been further exacerbated by the volatility of exchange rates. “In reality the industry is struggling very hard to achieve a result comparable to last year’s which was totally unsatisfactory. “We have an industry in a desperate state and a Minister who appears not to recognise or accept that. That sounds like a

recipe for disaster.” The industry had said, at the time of the Maori fisheries working party study, that a “secret agenda could be involved.” The fear was the Government could raise resource rentals and nationalise the industry under joint Crown-Maori control. Dr Rhoades said the industry had been talking with M.A.F. about a mechanism to set resource rentals since the Government proposed a change last year in legislation which could have seen resource rental rises of up to 450 per cent for some species.

The Government had “backed down quickly” after the industry provided information to show

such proposals were ridiculous.

“But, despite over a year of discussions, the Government has taken no notice whatsoever of any of the submissions the industry has made and that can only be of the greatest concern.”

An independent profitability study by the Department of Statistics had found the return on assets of more than $500,000 was less than 3.3 per cent for the last financial year, Dr Rhoades said.

“Everyone knows you can get a better return by putting your money in the bank.

“It would appear somebody is hellbent on destroying the economic return of the industry. Presumably, it’s still their wish to have the quotas revert back to the Crown. That’s the only logic I can see in this approach at ail.

“It could see the industry go to the wall.” The spokesman for Mr Moyle’s office said it was “purely coincidental” news of the resource rental increase proposal had come after a High Court decision on Thursday rejecting the industry’s call for a review of the setting of rentals. The proposal had been communicated to the sectors of the industry for their comment and had been leaked to the media by the industry, he said.