Melbourne scallop licence ‘absolutely conned’ recreational fishers

[hornet]

Here we go again !
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 8df4e0114c => link seems broken so here is the copy.

‘It doesn’t seem like the best outcome’: Recreational scallop diver Andrew Nash, in Port Phillip Bay, wants the 12-tonne cap restored. Picture: Stuart McEvoy


A battle between a canny fisherman, his allies in Melbourne’s high-end restaurant trade and recreational fishers has erupted over the tasty scallops of Port Phillip Bay.

The row has lawyers battling it out at the Supreme Court over plans to turn a boutique fishery into an export behemoth, while celebrity restaurateur Neil Perry has emerged as an advocate for the firm driving the expansion.

It comes nearly a decade­ after the politics of scallop fishing saw thousands march on parliament and the Kennett government ban the dredge fishery.

Recreational fishers say a loophole in a licence sold for just $180,000 to fisherman Bruce Collis has seen Mr Collis seek to lift the quota on his catch from 12 tonnes to 750 tonnes, an export-oriented harvest that would reap more than $13 million per annum in revenue and see a fleet of boats working the scallop beds.

His company, Port Phillip Bay Scallops, says it’s working within the terms of the licence and offering restaurants a hand-caught sustainable product without disturbing the sea floor.

But recreational fishers say this represents a return to the scale of the industrial fishery of the past and would jeopardise the booming recreational snapper fishery in the bay.

“As recreational anglers we were absolutely conned on this one,” David Kramer, chief executive of the Future Fish Foundation, told The Australian.

“We didn’t know they had given them a licence with an ability to do their own assessment and adjust the cap. They have basically given them a licence to do what they want.”

VRFish, the other main recreational fishing organisation, supported the 12-tonne fishery but opposes the expanded quota.

Stockbroker and recreational scallop diver Andrew Nash wants the 12-tonne cap back. “There’s a whole ecosystem down there and it’s a spawning ground for so many little and big creatures: stingrays, flathead and octopus,’’ he says. If it is going to one provider to make a profit it doesn’t seem like the best outcome.”

The licence was awarded under the previous government and the new guard in Fisheries Victoria is trying to restore the original vision of a boutique operation, amid Supreme Court challenges from Mr Collis’s company.

Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said the government wanted to support recreational fishing in Port Phillip Bay while allowing a sustainable longline snapper fishery and a boutique scallop fishery.

The chief executive of Port Phillip Bay Scallops, Belinda Wilson, defended the increased quota push and said the company was considering export markets and had federal and state support to do that.

“This is a new model fishery. Not only is this a wild catch, hand-dive fishery close to Melbourne, it has been modelled on best practices,’’ she said.

Ms Wilson, who is deputy president of the Law Institute of Victoria, said the price of the licenc­e was determined by market­ forces and the company had assumed all the risk of developing the fishery.

She also supplied a letter from celebrity chef Neil Perry, whose Rockpool group restaurants these scallops. “It’s quite simple — without a supply of fresh quality seafood, Melbourne’s reputa­tion as a global gourmet institution will suffer,’’ he writes.

[4liters]

750 tons is a lot of scallops, I wonder if there is any research out there on what is considered a sustainable quota for PPB.

[hornet]

12 ton to 750 ton seems a tad in excess ?

[DougieK]

I'm not going to pick apart each sentence even though i'd very much like too. 12 to 750 is insane. Something corrupt has happened in the sale of the license and the claim for 750 is probably more about trying to settle for a bit less than anything else.

Like goonbag i'd love to see the research, and also the reasoning behind the increase being about 5000%.

She also supplied a letter from celebrity chef Neil Perry, whose Rockpool group restaurants these scallops. “It’s quite simple — without a supply of fresh quality seafood, Melbourne’s reputa­tion as a global gourmet institution will suffer,’’ he writes.

You've got one you f wit. What you're trying to do now is exploit and export a natural resource that you have a monopoly on.

[hornet]

More...

http://wefishaustralia.blogspot.com.au/ ... lshit.html

[hornet]

The submission in question..

http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/__data/as ... y-2015.pdf

[hornet]

More Interesting reading..

http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/fisheries ... nsultation

[hornet]

From Rex hunt as part of the invitation to comment on the subject: Rex Hunt [MS Word Document - 13.7 KB]

"For what it is worth my opinion is:
12 tonne scallop fishery was just nice, a boutique business to supply a few upmarket restaurants with Bay scallops.
750 tonne is a ridiculous amount because it is just not attainable.
I was quoted in the Age last year that I supported the dive, and I do. It was never meant to turn into a piscatorial circus like this.
The average scallop in the shell before shucking shell weighs 50 grams, less after spawning in the summer.
That gives us 20 scallops per kilo in the shell. 750 tonnes of scallops is 750,000 kilos.
This equates to 15 Million scallops.
That equates to 41,095 scallops per day every day of the year.
That equates to 1712 scallops per hour, every hour of the year.
All this gathered by hand, please spare me.
Bill, this is a platform for the Fisheries and Government to undo all their goodwill in Fisheries.
This can backfire big time. I as an angler and stakeholder in the fishery feel jilted.
I certainly will be pointing out these “fantasy” figures on my radio program when I interview the Director Travis Dowling in the New year..
It should remain as a small boutique fishery to supply the up market restaurant trade in Melbourne only.
It was always going to be dangerous to only involve one operator in a thing like this.
This smacks of greed and something boiling for foreign involvement, just my thoughts."

[4liters]

Sounds like a real mess. The VRFish and Future Fish submissions and subsequent actions come across as poorly researched and sensationalist (what a surprise). I don't know the details of what the government department is supposed to do but from the PPBS submission and the Supreme Court judgement it looks like they've ****** up, and I'd be surprised if the PPBS isn't trying to take full advantage of the fuckup. Scallops are't cheap and they stand to make some fat stacks if they get their licence expanded. We'd do well to be a bit skeptical of PPBS 'independent' expert too I think, there is a bit of a financial incentive to agree with whatever the position of the company paying them happens to be. However I can't find much about him online so who knows if he's a corporate shill or legit independent.


Personally I'd be happy to go along with anything under what the department recommended based on a biomass survey which was 585t. Still sounds like a lot but from what I've read scallops have a short lifespan and the quota is based on a minimum size that allows scallops to spawn twice before harvesting, only 24% of the bay subject to scallop fishing and 585t being 10-20% of the available biomass (i.e. legal size within the fishery zone) which is apparently deemed sustainable.

[cobby]

Quite a few fuckups and quite a few fuckwits in the quoted texts (Neil Perry is one, guess the rest).

To attain 750000kg by hand annually requires huge manpower to do it. Bordering on impossible. Half that and it'd be just about perfect middle ground for all involved (certain people will continue to get their knickers in a knot just for the attention).
It was setup as a boutique commercial fishery and it should remain somewhat so. Expanding to huge numbers to satisfy overseas interests is crap