BLACK MARKET BLUES
Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur used an adjournment debate in Parliament this week to ask the Minister for Fishing and Boating to investigate the seafood black market.
Approximately 80 percent of Victoria’s fish is now imported, since the phasing out of commercial net fishing in Port Phillip and Corio Bays in 2015.
Bev McArthur said “the creation of a seafood black market, has both lowered food safety standards for consumers and damaged the previously existing ability to regulate catches and support stock population levels.”
“This is an unintended consequence, but it should hardly be a surprise. As we know well, government intervention can do as much harm as good.”
A commercial fisherman had told Mrs McArthur, 'people still want their fish… and at the end of the day, they don’t really care where they get it’.
Bev McArthur said “A Camperdown fish and chip shop is a case in point. Three men were convicted last year of the sale through the shop of illegally landed fish.” This is an inevitable consequence of a ban on commercial fishing. There is a market for locally caught fresh fish and someone will attempt to meet it.
“Recreational fishermen take a catch, with no regulation or necessity to declare, and simply sell it on. These fishermen are well equipped. Previously classified commercial fishing gear like electric powered reels have now expanded into the recreational fishing sector.”
“It is not simply that the regulation of these fishers is limited; even where enforcement is attempted, the resources allocated are pitifully inadequate.”
“I therefore ask the minister to investigate the black market that is expanding in illegally sold fish and ask for a report to the house on the resources employed for enforcement. This is too important to be ignored.”
“It is not just about food traceability and safety or unregulated overfishing of sensitive fish stocks. It is adding insult to injury to commercial fishermen, who were previously heavily regulated and inspected, to now see criminals profiteering while their livelihoods have vanished,” she concluded.
15 November 2019