The price of fish

Australia boasts the third-largest coastline of any nation, yet we are a net importer of seafood and rank a miserable 54th in terms of exploiting our local fisheries. At Catallaxy Files, the explanation comes courtesy of Alan Moran:

“Regulatory approval had been previously been given by the Commonwealth fisheries management to the Abel Tasman, one of a new more productive class of trawlers, to take part in Australia’s fish harvesting. The approval has no effect on the total catch because that’s already limited by a fixed quota. However the Commonwealth Agriculture Department, decided to over-rule the approval and implement a temporary ban in Commonwealth waters.  Now, staffed by refugees from the Department of Sustainability, Environment etc., it has confirmed the ban.  Somehow the regulatory productivity-killers seem also to have persuaded the Prime Minister of the policy’s merits since he said in Parliament in March of this year that the ban would stay.”

Labor-era Environment minister Tony Burke first approved the Abel Tasman’s permit to operate in Australian waters, then rescinded it after a slick and organised avalanche of Greenpeace stunts and Twittered disapproval. As he cools his heels on the opposition benches and awaits Labor’s return to power, Burke must be heartened to know that the current PM heeds the same dark-green cues and activists.  

Read More