Case Closed? Horse Mackerel Fishery Gets Some Answers

How can the government begin a new fishing rights allocation process without completing the one before? This is a question that has been puzzling some sectors of the commercial fishing industry, especially the horse mackerel fishery, which has been waiting for six years to get the results of an ongoing appeal process. Then the day after the current FRAP 2021-22 Appeals process opened, the document “Final General Published Reasons for the Decisions on Appeal in the Horse Mackerel Fishery: 2015/16”, was published. Case closed? Hopefully, but perhaps not…

It’s a complicated tale of poor decision-making in an era of difficult politics, the contentious allocation of rights commencing with the Long Term Right Allocation Management Process (LTRAMP) cycle in 2015-16, culminating in the 2019 appeals process and further objections and litigation.