Scallop season delay hard to swallow

Prominent Triabunna scallop fisher Debbie Wisby wrote to Premier Will Hodgman asking him to ensure Fisheries Minister Jeremy Rockliff opened the season.

Ms Wisby, who employs 40 fishermen during the scallop season, said commercial fishers should have been harvesting the seafood two months ago.

“We could have been drip feeding them into the market,” she said.

“Now it is just going to be bedlam.”

Ms Wisby said there was no other type of fishery in the state forced to endure sim­ilar hold-ups. She said she had lost about $11,000 in turnover each day the fishery was closed.

Before scientific data was collected on the fishery, it would open on April 1 each year.

Ms Wisby is calling for a quicker response from the Government once the data is received.

She said every delay meant a shorter season, as scallops spawn when the weather warms up — last year that was in December but it can be earlier — and the scallops lose quality.

Her letter appears to have prompted action with the Government confirming the season would open on July 2.

“Paramount to our scallop fishing industry is ensuring it is managed in a sustainable way for generations to come,” Mr Rockliff said last night.

“The timing of the season’s opening is critical to the sustainability of the fishery and as such is based on annual data which is assessed by scientific and industry representatives of the Scallop Fishery Advisory Committee.

Scallop Fishermen’s Ass­ociation of Tasmania pres­ident John Hammond said the “whole process needs an overhaul”. However, he said at least there would be plenty of scall­ops when the fishery opened.

In her letter, Ms Wisby outlined the severity of the situation for her industry.

“We pay our high fees, we do the surveys at our risk and cost ... our business (and others) are not operating now hence not earning any income, our crew are out of work, our processing factory employees are out of work,” she said.

Source: The Mercury, Matt Smith, June 26^th 2015