Media release
16 November 2012
The Gillard Government today announced details
of the Fisheries Adjustment Assistance Package
worth around $100 million that will support
the creation of the largest network of marine
reserves in the world.
Environment Minister,
Tony Burke, said the assistance package
recognises that while the marine reserves
are estimated to only have around 1 per
cent impact on the commercial fishing industry
nationally, some fishers and fishing businesses
will be affected.
"In June, when
I announced the government's proposed marine
reserves, the Minister for Fisheries, Joe
Ludwig, and I also announced the start of
consultations with the fishing industry
on government assistance," he said.
"Since that time
industry representatives have participated
in a national workshop on the scope of the
package and provided feedback on a discussion
paper outlining proposed features and design
considerations for the assistance package.
Consultation with industry is ongoing."
The major elements of
the Fisheries Adjustment Package include:
Transitional Business
Assistance – payments to fishing businesses
based on their recent fishing history in
those parts of the new marine reserves where
they are impacted once the management plans
are operational.
Sectoral measures – competitive grants to
improve the long term sustainability of
fisheries displaced by the marine reserves.
Removal of commercial fishing effort – the
purchase of individual fishers' entitlements
or quota units in fisheries where the scale
of the fishery has been reduced by the reserves
to help ensure that they remain sustainable.
Mr Burke said as a result of the extensive
consultation on the reserve network, the
government has made a number of changes
to the draft reserves he first proposed
in 2011, so that the impacts on industry
would be minimised while still delivering
an unprecedented advance in marine conservation.
"Anywhere where
we could achieve the same environmental
outcome, but minimise the impact on commercial
and recreational fishers, we have done so.
"Analysis done
by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural
and Resource Economics and Sciences showed
that overall the new marine reserves will
displace around one per cent of catch from
Australia's diverse wild-catch fisheries."
Mr Burke said the funding
available for the assistance will begin
to flow from early in 2013-14 once the management
plans for the new reserves were in place
but before any zoning restrictions take
effect in July 2014.
"We will start
by providing the Transitional Business Assistance
as a payment that is directly related to
the catch history of individual fishers
in the reserves where they are impacted.
The bigger the impact; the bigger the payment,"
he said.
"In the short-term,
as the fishing exclusions in each reserve
come into effect, it will be the fishing
businesses that have used those areas in
recent years that will be directly affected.
"The first phase
of the package will help those who wish
to continue to fish in nearby areas, explore
opportunities in other areas or change their
fishing operations."
Details of eligibility
and how fishers can access those payments
will be released next year following further
consultation with the fishing industry and
fisheries management agencies on guidelines
and delivery.
Mr Burke said this first
phase of payments to fishers would be followed
by the further targeted measures that address
the impact of the new reserves on fisheries
management and development.
"Where fishing
effort or catch needs to be reduced to account
for the reduced access imposed by the new
reserves, the government will work with
the relevant fisheries managers and the
industry to remove the necessary entitlements
through buybacks," he said.
The assistance package
is consistent with the Fisheries Adjustment
Policy released by the Government in 2011.
It will be designed to avoid impacting on
the value of fisheries entitlements held
by fishers.
"Beyond the transitional
assistance and buybacks, we'll also be supporting
the industry to innovate and adapt to the
new reserves," Mr Burke said.
"The government
will also provide funding for "sectoral
measures" for the fisheries impacted
by the reserves so that industry, fisheries
managers and research organisations can
develop innovative projects that help industry
continue to develop in a way that is compatible
with the long-term conservation aims of
the reserves system.
Mr Burke said it was
possible there would be a small number of
vertically integrated fishing businesses
with land-based assets such as processing
facilities that will be significantly affected
by the new reserves, particularly in the
Coral Sea region. The government will be
working with these businesses to evaluate
their need for assistance above that provided
for in the core elements of the adjustment
package.
