kc
19-09-2002, 11:54 AM
Having just filled out the RIS and finding it very much a double edged sword..shafted either way
The big push should be (in my opinion) a squeeze on exports not so much on the pro's.
They ae no different from anyone with a reward for effort job. The harder (and smarter) they work the more they get paid. trouble with pro fishing is that they are now trying to supply an export market which is insatiable. When the spotty catch was steady at around 150 tones it was primarily feeding domestic markets. the extra 200 tonnes of late has been all export driven. When the quoto is back to around 150 tonnes it will still be exported and the fish buying public will have to buy increasing amounts of imported fish farm crap. Coral trout are going the same way with a previuos steady domestic market at around 1400 tonnes now up to 2098 tonnes (last year) and being sent overseas. Not so many years ago we used to be able to afford good fish, even crays, abalone and ocean king prawns were affordable.We used to be able to catch yellowfin tuna...gone O/S, same for southern bluefin before shashimi was heard of and I don't know about anyone else but I never dreamed of eating a marlin and yet export demand has made them a viable commercial target.
The pro's as such are not the problem, government policy which encourages the export of "our" seafood is. Supply and demand logic dictates that if Australian seafood was harvested for domestic consumption then both commercial pressure/catches would reduce and so would the price "we" have to pay for our own #@%$ seafood at the local fish shop.
The ones really screaming would be the same dickheads who have already totally stuffed up their own fisheries and now want to buy out ours.
Give the goverment a kick rather than just blame the pro's. If they couldn't sell it they wouldn't bother catching so much.
The big push should be (in my opinion) a squeeze on exports not so much on the pro's.
They ae no different from anyone with a reward for effort job. The harder (and smarter) they work the more they get paid. trouble with pro fishing is that they are now trying to supply an export market which is insatiable. When the spotty catch was steady at around 150 tones it was primarily feeding domestic markets. the extra 200 tonnes of late has been all export driven. When the quoto is back to around 150 tonnes it will still be exported and the fish buying public will have to buy increasing amounts of imported fish farm crap. Coral trout are going the same way with a previuos steady domestic market at around 1400 tonnes now up to 2098 tonnes (last year) and being sent overseas. Not so many years ago we used to be able to afford good fish, even crays, abalone and ocean king prawns were affordable.We used to be able to catch yellowfin tuna...gone O/S, same for southern bluefin before shashimi was heard of and I don't know about anyone else but I never dreamed of eating a marlin and yet export demand has made them a viable commercial target.
The pro's as such are not the problem, government policy which encourages the export of "our" seafood is. Supply and demand logic dictates that if Australian seafood was harvested for domestic consumption then both commercial pressure/catches would reduce and so would the price "we" have to pay for our own #@%$ seafood at the local fish shop.
The ones really screaming would be the same dickheads who have already totally stuffed up their own fisheries and now want to buy out ours.
Give the goverment a kick rather than just blame the pro's. If they couldn't sell it they wouldn't bother catching so much.