Commercial fishers ‘gutted’ by govt reforms
Commercial fishers gathered in Coffs Harbour from across the state in protest against fisheries reforms. More than 80 fishermen from Hawkesbury River to as far north as the Tweed rallied at the Jetty foreshores on Tuesday and Wednesday to garner public support to fight the reforms. Fishermen like Allan Bodycote, of the Clarence Valley, say the State Government’s Commercial Fisheries Business Adjustment Program will cripple their businesses because they will need to buy back their right to continue their current catch quotas. “We’ve got active fishers here who have been actively fishing up to 35 years in the game and come 2017, we believe we won’t have access to the shares to continue fishing because there is not enough shares to go around,” Mr Bodycote said. “We are buying our jobs back, how many times do you have to buy your job?” Read the rest here 17:04
Leave a Reply