‘This is going to cost you your job’: Marine lockouts will force out fishermen
Ray Hadley has been inundated with emails from listeners who are up in arms over a proposed marine park along the state’s coast.
The proposal would set up 25 marine parks, locking out fishermen and forcing them into dangerous locations as the areas are rezoned to protect marine life.
The proposal covers areas from Newcastle to Wollongong (see the proposed areas here.)
President of Narooma fishing club David Clark on the state’s south coast tells Ray he’s felt the ramifications of government-controlled marine parks.
“They turned around and locked us out. They turned around and said, ‘You aren’t going to fish here and you aren’t going to fish there’.
“This used to be a very vibrant town and within six months of that… it was 26 businesses that went to the wall.”
Mr Clark says the marine authorities justify the lockouts with “new scientific evidence” but when he asked to view the evidence, “it was never produced”.
“It’s all been lies and it’s really frustrating.
“I’ll tell you what, if it does so much damage down here, once it gets into Sydney and Wollongong and Newcastle, all hell will break loose.”
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Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party MP Robert Borsak also called in, telling Ray “there’ll be extremely limited access if any at all”.
“I would doubt that Gabrielle Upton ever cast a line anywhere. I doubt that Gladys Berejiklian’s ever baited a hook and I doubt Niall Blair has done likewise,” says Ray.
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair then called into the show, telling Ray it’s not about locking out fishermen.
He says it’s in a bid to prevent a possible future Labor government from implementing complete lockouts.
But Ray isn’t having it.
“This is going to become bigger than the greyhound ban.
“This is going to cost you your job, it might cost Gladys Berejiklian her job as well.”
As for the safety concerns of fishermen, the minister says, “we’re not going to be putting a final decision that’s going to push people into an unsafe area”.
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