Federal Member for Gippsland Darren Chester says Victorians will be paying more for fish and chips if the Albanese Government’s illogical plan to create more Marine Parks is allowed to proceed.
Mr Chester is supporting commercial fishermen in Gippsland who have warned that consumers will be forced to buy more imported products under the plan to close high catch areas in the Beagle Marine Park.
“As a nation, we have two choices with wild catch seafood. We either harvest our own with world-class and sustainable fishery management or import more products from countries with poorer environmental protocols,” Mr Chester said.
“We have a highly regulated and sustainable commercial fishery off the coast of Victoria and Tasmania, but it will be unviable if the Labor-Greens keep combining to ban fishing with more Marine Parks.
“The Southern Shark Industry Alliance has my full support, and the Coalition is working to disallow the proposal, which would increase our reliance on imports and destroy family-owned fishing businesses.”
Mr Chester said the SSIA had advised that the planned closure of high catch areas in the Beagle Marine Park locks shark fishing out of the only fishing grounds in eastern Bass Strait not covered by offshore wind zoning overlays.
There is a small amount of space between the Gippsland wind zone and this new marine park, but it is not large enough to fish in. This poses a significant threat to the viability of the shark fishery, which supplies approximately 1,600 tonnes of local flake annually.
