The Minister’s Nearshore Hot Potato

On 31 July 2017 the Addendum to the General Published Reasons for the West Coast Rock Lobster Nearshore sector was published by the Deputy Director General: Fisheries Management Branch acting in a capacity as the Delegated Authority of the Minister.

The final General Published Reasons (GPR) set out the Delegated Authority’s (DA) final decisions with respect to the allocation of rights in the west coast rock lobster nearshore sector (WCRLN). Most notable in the Final GPR was the substantial shift in the position by the DA from the preliminary GPR where the DA decided to allocate only 10% of the historic Nearshore TAC to the WCRLN sector.  This translated to only 75 historic WCRLN right holders out of over 800 being granted rights.

In the final GPR the DA shifted her split of the nearshore TAC from 10/90 to 50/50, this translated to there being 410 successful historic right holders as opposed to the initial 75.

Of particular interest was the DA’s recordal that she had allocated 20% of the global offshore TAC to the small-scale sector and thereafter split the historic nearshore TAC between the small-scale sector and the WCRLN sector on 50/50 basis.