jaybee
02-07-2004, 04:51 PM
Courier Mail News
Chris Jones and Michael Madigan 01jul04
AN uncapped compensation fund has been offered to the state's fishing industry to ease anger over the Howard Government's decision to declare a third of the Great Barrier Reef a no-take zone.
The blank cheque was announced 24 hours ahead of today's official closure of an area of the Reef equivalent to half the size of Victoria.
But angry fishermen in Cairns last night were still threatening to blockade the city's main wharf in protest and police were scouring the waterfront after threats over explosives.
The compensation fund offers businesses grants of up to $200,000 and gives commercial fishermen the chance to sell their licences at market rates by tender.
Crew members from boats removed from the fishery will each get payments of up to $5000. Any businesses which can prove the new zoning plan will hurt them financially will receive at least some compensation.
Hundreds of commercial fishers and associated businesses in some of the Coalition's most marginal electorates are expected to make claims under the scheme.
But the generous offer appeared to have paid little dividends by late yesterday.
Cairns police were scouring the city's wharf for explosives after a security scare ahead of the threatened blockade today by angry fishermen.
The Reef's new zoning plan, approved unanimously by Federal Parliament earlier this year, is a key part of the Coalition Government's pitch for the green vote at this year's election.
The zoning will lift the existing 4.7 per cent of "green zones" to 33.3 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef.
Under the move, recreational anglers will only be banned from a few of their favourite haunts.
Commercial operators have lost access to about a ninth of their fishing grounds.
The bans have angered Queensland's vocal commercial fishing lobby, which wields sizeable influence in the same marginal coastal electorates the Federal Government propped up earlier this year with its $444 million sugar industry package.
Hundreds of operators are expected to attend the protest today in Cairns.
Organiser Malcolm Bairstow last night said the protest would be peaceful – despite yesterday's security scare. He said the protesters wanted the public and politicians to realise what damage the Reef closures would do to their businesses.
"We're not a radical bunch," he said.
Studies have estimated the economic impact of the closures on the Reef's $150 million commercial fishing industry to be upwards of $23 million a year.
Townsville-based Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald yesterday said it was inevitable that the creation of the world's largest network of protected marine areas would have an impact on some local businesses.
Senator Macdonald said that the Government was therefore ready to pay what was required to placate those whose livelihoods would be affected.
"It's an open chequebook, it really is," he said.
"We will pay what can be demonstrated is the financial impact of the closure, in accordance with the guidelines."
He said it was not a political issue, but it was "an issue of fairness".
Queensland Seafood Industry Association president John Olsen said that while the compensation package was the most comprehensive ever offered to the nation's fishing industry, it still fell well short of what was required.
Chris Jones and Michael Madigan 01jul04
AN uncapped compensation fund has been offered to the state's fishing industry to ease anger over the Howard Government's decision to declare a third of the Great Barrier Reef a no-take zone.
The blank cheque was announced 24 hours ahead of today's official closure of an area of the Reef equivalent to half the size of Victoria.
But angry fishermen in Cairns last night were still threatening to blockade the city's main wharf in protest and police were scouring the waterfront after threats over explosives.
The compensation fund offers businesses grants of up to $200,000 and gives commercial fishermen the chance to sell their licences at market rates by tender.
Crew members from boats removed from the fishery will each get payments of up to $5000. Any businesses which can prove the new zoning plan will hurt them financially will receive at least some compensation.
Hundreds of commercial fishers and associated businesses in some of the Coalition's most marginal electorates are expected to make claims under the scheme.
But the generous offer appeared to have paid little dividends by late yesterday.
Cairns police were scouring the city's wharf for explosives after a security scare ahead of the threatened blockade today by angry fishermen.
The Reef's new zoning plan, approved unanimously by Federal Parliament earlier this year, is a key part of the Coalition Government's pitch for the green vote at this year's election.
The zoning will lift the existing 4.7 per cent of "green zones" to 33.3 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef.
Under the move, recreational anglers will only be banned from a few of their favourite haunts.
Commercial operators have lost access to about a ninth of their fishing grounds.
The bans have angered Queensland's vocal commercial fishing lobby, which wields sizeable influence in the same marginal coastal electorates the Federal Government propped up earlier this year with its $444 million sugar industry package.
Hundreds of operators are expected to attend the protest today in Cairns.
Organiser Malcolm Bairstow last night said the protest would be peaceful – despite yesterday's security scare. He said the protesters wanted the public and politicians to realise what damage the Reef closures would do to their businesses.
"We're not a radical bunch," he said.
Studies have estimated the economic impact of the closures on the Reef's $150 million commercial fishing industry to be upwards of $23 million a year.
Townsville-based Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald yesterday said it was inevitable that the creation of the world's largest network of protected marine areas would have an impact on some local businesses.
Senator Macdonald said that the Government was therefore ready to pay what was required to placate those whose livelihoods would be affected.
"It's an open chequebook, it really is," he said.
"We will pay what can be demonstrated is the financial impact of the closure, in accordance with the guidelines."
He said it was not a political issue, but it was "an issue of fairness".
Queensland Seafood Industry Association president John Olsen said that while the compensation package was the most comprehensive ever offered to the nation's fishing industry, it still fell well short of what was required.