SA commercial fishing industry coordinating Marine Parks compensation claims

THE peak body for SA’s commercial fishing industry is co-ordinating “at least a dozen” compensation claims, running into millions of dollars, by angry operators who say they are seeing “death by a thousand cuts” due to exclusion from the state’s marine parks.

Ferguson Australia managing director Andrew Ferguson with a Southern Rock Lobster.

EXCLUSIVE: THE peak body for SA’s commercial fishing industry is co-ordinating “at least a dozen” compensation claims, running into millions of dollars, by angry operators who say they are seeing “death by a thousand cuts” due to exclusion from the state’s marine parks.

Wildcatch Fisheries SA and the South Australian Northern Zone Rock Lobster Fishermen’s Association are understood to be backing one member each as a “test case” ahead of a “flood of claims”.

“There is a growing anger and frustration in the industry, people are going broke, there are family upheavals, and the emotional stress,” Wildcatch Fisheries SA president Dennis Holder said.

“One operator is fishing distances of up to 400km away from his family and there is every chance there are just no fish there,” Mr Holder said.

A recent Environment Department’s marine parks five-year status report 2012-17 said there was “no evidence of negative regional impact that correlates with the implementation of marine park management plans”, but Mr Holder said the findings were “open for debate”.

The state has about 19 marine parks, which have more than 80 sanctuary zones that ban fishing and commercial activity.

The restrictions have hit fishing areas near Kangaroo Island and the Gulf St Vincent the hardest.

South Australian Northern Zone Rock Lobster Fishery’s chief executive Kyri Toumazos said 6 per cent of area taken from the fishery’s footprint was in fact 30 per cent of the most productive area in its fishery.

“We are fishing in peripheral, unproductive areas and for some, it’s not just viable anymore.”

Mr Toumazos said a compensation claim made by a Port Lincoln operator was now “sitting in the Crown Solicitor’s office”.

“We as an industry have made a decision to support one claim to start off with as a test case and then we are going to follow that up with wider industry putting in claims.”

“Our aim as operators though is not compensation but to operate in a viable industry that creates jobs.

“Our industry alone employs more than 600 full-time people with hundreds of millions in economic spin off benefits.

“We want to have a marine park process which is risk-based. some of those can remain as sanctuary but some should be come habitat protected zones with access in some of those areas to make it economically viable.”

With the impact on one operator being “in excess of a quarter of a million dollars”, he estimated the 63 local lobster fishers had taken a hit of $30-50 million.

“What is worse is that my members’ mental health has suffered enormously. I can see the impact — the uncertainty has created a hellish burden on my members.”

He said the abalone, marine scale and crab fishers had also been affected.

A private members bill by Liberal Party’s Michelle Lensink to reduce fishing restrictions in 12 zones was defeated by one vote in 2014.

The state’s most lucrative lobster exporter Ferguson Australia’s managing director Andrew Ferguson said the marine parks had been the worst policy change he had seen in his many decades in the industry.

“Two or three years of the marine parks process has come through as a result of which we haven’t fished in these areas and we are seeing the effects of that.”

“We are close to losing our sustainable fishing licence — and we have gone from being a great conservative/sustainable fishery to one with depleting resources.

“Our license values have decreased, quotas have fallen.

“We were forced to move away from our home base of Kangaroo Island, one of our most valuable fishing grounds, to the South East and we are also now diversified into tuna and other fish to sustain the business,” Mr Ferguson said.

“I have grown up fishing rock lobster, seen all the good and bad — this is the worst by miles.

“This is about less product for the state, less infrastructure in small country towns that depend on them and other areas — it all eventually dies and that is what is happening.”

About 99 per cent of Ferguson Australia’s lobster fetches a premium price in China.

“We were used to being in control of our destiny with fisheries management. It’s a death by a thousand cuts.”

KI operator Bernie Evans said the lack of investment warning had left operators in lots of problems.

“I have half the quota I paid for and have had to sell property.”

Another operator Roger Rowe said people didn't understand the true implications of when an ideological whim “rips the economic heart out of the industry” with millions of investment on the line.

“The average person in the street may spend a lifetime, a lifetime, repaying a $250,000 housing loan, what does one have to earn (in our industry) to cover just the stamp duty costs while supporting families and stranded assets (equipment, vessels, etc).

Environment Minister Ian Hunter last week said SA’s marine park network is on track to protect and conserve SA’s marine life for the future.