Fishers warn snapper, kingfish prices could soar under proposed catch limits

Seafood shops and fishers are warning snapper and yellowtail kingfish could become unaffordable if catch limits are tightened.

Both species are popular menu items, but stocks of kingfish in particular were described as "dangerously low" in a recent statement from the NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty.

The state government has proposed reducing the annual kingfish catch from 250 tonnes to 120 tonnes a year.

The snapper take would remain at 300 tonnes a year, but the proposal would include commercial monthly catch limits and a bag limit of three, with only one over 70 centimetres for recreational fishers.

Adam Hambley, who owns a seafood shop in South Grafton in northern NSW, said stricter limits would lead to higher prices.

"If we see a $5 increase on the whole fish, we're going to see a $20 increase in the fillet, so you're going to near $80-90 a kilo for snapper fillets… I don't believe that anyone here will pay that much," he said.

"If that price does go up, which it definitely will with less in the marketplace, they'll simply disappear out of the local area."

A 'waste' of fish

On a regular day, Noel Gogerly would pull in up to 40 kilograms of snapper while commercially fishing at Tuncurry on the NSW mid north coast.

Under the proposed reforms, he would be allowed 10 kilograms, which he estimated would cost him up to $300 a day.

Mr Gogerly said any fish thrown back were unlikely to survive due to internal damage caused by the pressure change when pulled from the deep ocean.

"You're going to have snapper just laying on top of the water," he said.

"The fish will die, the sharks will eat them and it's just a good product that's going to go to waste."

Wider impact

Charter operators and recreational fishers are also worried.

Under the changes yellowtail kingfish limits would drop from five per person to one per boat.

Charter fishing operator Craig McGill said the proposed changes would ruin his business.

"That would probably be the end of me," he said.

"I get four guys on board; for me to have to tell them that they've got to share one kingfish, or that one guy gets to take one kingfish and the others can't catch one … they all pay a premium to come charter fishing with me."

Michael Mashado estimated the proposed changes would cost his tackle store in Eden, on the NSW far south coast, up to $200,000 in sales per year.

"Nobody's going to come and buy the quantity of gear to go and catch one kingfish or three snapper," he said.

"By the time you throw in fuel, travel, and all the other bits to be able to keep one kingfish for a boat, it isn't worth going."

Mr Mashado said fishing was one of the south coast's biggest tourism industries.

"If you look at a family that comes here with a big boat, they spend [money] in the tackle shop, they spend it at the pub, they spend it at the supermarket," he said.

Rebuilding stocks

The DPIRD said the proposal aimed to allow historically depleted fish stocks to recover, while still allowing some commercial and recreational catch.

"We know approximately recreational fishers take about 50 per cent of the catch, as do commercial fishers, for both of these species," DPIRD director of fisheries management Heath Folpp said.

"We try to make those changes, where we can, as equal as possible, so every sector essentially feels the same pain … when it comes to pulling down those numbers that are being harvested."

Public consultation on the proposed changes was extended until mid-February in response to industry concerns.