Sign Up
..... Australian Property Network. It's All About Property!
Categories

Posted: 2019-01-18 07:00:17

It also found restaurants reported continuity of supply issues; most sales were from fishers’ homes or off a fishing boat - raising issues of public accessibility; and Facebook pages established to make the lobster available to the public were ineffectual.

Mr Kelly trumpeted the program as late as October 2018 where he extended it for a four-month period, to bring an extra 25,000 lobsters to homes and restaurants.

It is particularly galling that the first point the minister makes about his secret study is that it says significant amounts of rock lobster are used by fishers themselves. We completely refute that

Fishing Families WA spokesman Brad Arnup

However on Friday he said it had not achieved its objectives.

"This is because at the time the program was introduced in 2016, no rules were set to ensure everyday Western Australians had the opportunity to access the lobster," he said.

"At about 15 tonnes per year, the review found the local lobster program is too small and too inaccessible to the local public or local restaurants.

“While the McGowan Government has introduced a number of new rules to ensure the local lobster program was more effective in providing lobsters to Western Australians, we believe more can be done.”

WAtoday understands the review was sent to 'stakeholders'.

The lobster industry is already seething at the government for its government quota catch plan.

Fishing Families WA spokesman Brad Arnup denied cray fishers were keeping some of the extra catch to themselves and criticised Mr Kelly for not making the review public.

"It is particularly galling that the first point the minister makes about his secret study is that it says significant amounts of rock lobster are used by fishers themselves. We completely refute that," he said.

Loading

"This is because the fishers are selling them, giving them to charity, or giving them to local families. It is illegal for fishers to have tagged lobsters in their homes,” Mr Arnup said.

“It isn’t really surprising the minister isn’t releasing a study about something we have been telling him for a long time, given what he is proposing to industry."

Mr Arnup said the review reflected the industry's concerns with the local lobster program but efforts to fix it by removing red tape and expanding the program had fallen on deaf ears.

"Any problems with local supply are the fault of the government – industry has suggested how to fix this many times and the Government hasn’t done anything about it," he said.

"The reality is the problem with the current system is that it is unworkable because there is too much red tape.

"In September 2017, industry submitted a proposal for a permanent Local Lobster Program which would have resulted in four times more lobsters at more affordable prices than are on the local market right now.

"We heard nothing back from the minister on that.

“He’s trying to sell these appalling reforms as giving more lobsters to the people of WA, something we have been trying to do for a long time, and it isn’t necessary to cripple the entire industry to make that happen.

"These reforms will destroy fishing families’ lives, impact hundreds of family run businesses, the sustainability of the industry, and thousands of regional jobs."

Hamish Hastie is WAtoday's business reporter.

View More
  • 0 Comment(s)
Captcha Challenge
Reload Image
Type in the verification code above