Sweeping commercial bans have triggered a surge in the retail price of table fish in one of Australia’s leading seafood markets.
As part of the restrictions imposed on January 1, catch limits have been slashed along most of Western Australia’s vast coastline.
Professional operators are also prohibited from harvesting prized demersal species, including pink snapper, red emperor and dhufish in a 900km stretch of ocean north and south of Perth.
The measures have attracted a wave of criticism from frustrated businesses, while retailers are reporting an immediate drop in the supply of fresh fish from local waters.
Although the bans are designed to address WA’s depleted stocks, industry action group Fish For All is demanding they be paused.
It also wants the science behind the government reforms re-examined and access to other species, such as certain sharks that are often used in fish and chip stores, to be allowed.
“People have lost their livelihoods in a matter of three weeks,” the group’s chair and seafood business owner Phil Clark says.
“The price of fish – that hit straight away once the ban happened. We’ve seen about a 30 to 40 per cent increase.
“Customers are shocked.”
The fall in supply has meant Mr Clark, who co-owns Fins Seafood, has had to source fish from overseas.
“More concerning is that for my business this week, the lion’s share of all the fish came from New Zealand,” the supplier and retailer says.
“We’re having to import our fish from other areas to actually have a supply.”
The regulation changes equate to about a 60-tonne fall in local supply per week, Mr Clark says.
Fishmonger Effie Tsocas says supply availability for her retail store in Perth’s northern suburbs has fallen and prices have jumped.
“Last Sunday (Effie’s Gourmet Chicken and Fresh Fish) ran out of fish,” she says.
“We’re talking to our suppliers about potentially taking fish from New Zealand to meet the shortfall.”
Rain Liu has plenty of demersal species for sale at 7 Seas Seafood but they’re from areas in northern WA not impacted by the ban.
“The price has gone up because the catch limits have been reduced and there are fewer small fish due to the trawling ban for demersals in the Pilbara,” he says.
“We’re going to see more fish coming from interstate fisheries, like the Northern Territory, to meet demand here if it stays like this.”
Staff at another seafood retail store that mostly sells fish from overseas processors say their prices have yet to rise.
However, they expect they will, because exporters from countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam are aware of WA’s changed regulations.
Mr Clark fears heavy reliance on overseas fisheries could result in over-harvesting.
“New Zealand has good fishing practices but another tempting option is Indonesia … where we’re taking it from a fishery that doesn’t have the regulations we have,” he says.
WA Premier Roger Cook insists the new policy regime is needed to prevent an eventual collapse of the state’s commercial fishing sector.
“Someone had to intervene and act decisively in order to save our fish stocks so that people in the future, our kids, our grandkids, can enjoy fishing for these fish species,” he says.
“These are tough decisions but it’s important we do it for the future of our fishing industry and for our fishing community.”
Fish For All and the peak body for WA’s seafood industry, WA Fishing Industry Council, have met with the government in recent days to discuss the situation.
Mr Cook has agreed to further talks with the council next week, with fishers quietly optimistic that a solution could be found to protect the environment and maintain supply.
It comes as some frustrated fishers take matters into their own hands.
Three men were charged in December after dumping shark heads outside the WA fisheries minister’s office, while a protesting fisherman locked his boat to the gate of a departmental agency on Tuesday.
Across the country, commercial fishers are also grappling with the impacts of regulatory change and natural disasters.
In South Australia, a massive toxic algal bloom has decimated some stocks, leaving many fishers without a catch.
In Queensland, there is an ongoing ban on scallop fishing in the state’s major production region due to severely depleted stocks.
Gillnet fishing is being phased out in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area to protect threatened species and the practice is destined for a similar fate in the Northern Territory for barramundi fishers.
NSW and Queensland commercial fishers are being impacted by biosecurity control orders aimed at stopping the spread of white spot disease in crustaceans, such as prawns, yabbies and crabs.
Seafood Industry Australia says while it’s necessary to maintain sustainability, increasing the regulatory burden pushes up costs and, in turn, seafood prices at the cash register.
“In WA, what’s happening in Queensland, the pinch points with our algal bloom here in South Australia, they’re always challenging,” the peak body’s chair Kyri Toumazos says.
He’s urging government and business to work together to resolve the WA situation.
Curtin University agri-food supply chain expert Elizabeth Jackson believes the state government has been “overzealous”.
“One of the major custodians of the maritime environment is the fishers,” she says.
“While these policies are extremely important, how they have been delivered has been … absolutely devastating to the seafood industry.”
The changes have a knock-on effect from wholesalers to retailers and ultimately impact the consumer, Dr Jackson says.
“The consequence can only be an increase in prices and the genuine threat of imports that aren’t as fresh … from countries that do not have as rigorous regulations and standards when it comes to maritime food production and food safety,” she says.
“The consumer is right to be alarmed.”
Australia’s fisheries and aquaculture production is projected to remain steady between now and 2028/29, averaging $3.48 billion, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.
Real average national prices are expected to soften due to increasing global supply and an appreciating Australian dollar.