A State Liberal government would begin buying back commercial fishing licenses based in the Peel Harvey Estuary if re-elected in March, with the aim to further secure fish and crab stocks.
The policy potentially allows those fisherman who want to leave the industry to do so without having to sell them on the private market.
One of the outlines of the policy is to restock a range of key recreational fish species throughout the state, including blue swimmer crabs.
Liberal candidate for Dawesville Zak Kirkup said the Liberal Government’s newly-announced recreational fishing policy would be a boon for Peel region fishers and would create more opportunities for families to enjoy one of the region’s favourite activities.
“What we’re hoping to do is reduce the overall number of those operators on our estuary in a manner that is fair and equitable to those operators who do want to stay in the industry,” Mr Kirkup said.
Mr Kirkup said there had been a detailed process of communication between himself, the relevant government departments, the local fishing industry and Recfishwest.
Mandurah Licensed Fisherman's Association president Damian Bell said the decision was a long time coming, and would ease some of the pressure inherent in the commercial/recreational balance of the estuary.
“This has been something that’s basically been ten years in the making,” he said.
Mr Bell said the local commercial fishing industry was generally happy with the decision.
“The estuary as it is is sustainable, that was shown by the MSC accreditation last year. We all know stocks are affected by the environment, and they will go up and down from season to season,” Mr Bell said.
“And ten years ago, we could all see how much Mandurah was going to grow. The writing was on the wall then.”
Labor’s Dawesville candidate Adam Woodage said he understood the whiting industry was sustainable.
“I don't think there is any need to go out and do a buy-out, however I have discussed with the party – and we still haven't come to an agreeance – that we may do specific licence buyouts.
“There is a couple of people in the industry admittedly who want to retire and they can't do anything with the licence,” he said.
