Australian Bluefin Fishing Co-op Feels The Pinch ff

Ulladulla Fishermen’s Co-op manager, Steve Basile has been made redundant for three to four months. Mr. Basile, who has been managing the co-op 14 months, believes his position has been made redundant due to the fact that the long-line tuna boats have been forced out of the area to fish.
 

The managerial position at the co-op has always been a traditional job with a full-time manager available 24 hours seven days. Due to the financial pressure and loss of income the co-op has experienced lately, the board of directors agreed the co-op could no longer afford to employ a full-time manager.

”The co-op will not be shut down,” Mr. Basile emphasized. “It will be running on a skeleton staff but office manager, Jason Apps and floor manager, Adam Nelson will still be here. All the long-liners are gone from the area but in four months it’ll all be busy again when they get back. But the co-op can't afford to pay me while the boats are away and, while there's no fish, there's no money coming in,” he said.

Mr. Basile said his redundancy was the direct effect of new regulations introduced by Australian Fishing Management Authority (AFMA) affecting the areas southern bluefin tuna can be fished. “While the boats are fishing up north, we don't have many fish coming through the co-op.”

Mr. Basile said he would like to dispel any rumors that might arise. “I want to make things clear that I have not been sacked, I have not resigned and I did not send the co-op broke,” he said.

Steve Basile said he is open to offers of employment in a variety of trades. “I don’t know what I’ll do yet, it depends what pops its head up,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot in this job and heaps about computers. “I already knew a lot about fishing, being a fisherman, but it was great to see how a big corporation runs behind the scenes,” Mr. Basile said.

Co-op chairman, Mario Puglisi said he would like to thank Steve on behalf of the board for the great job he had done for the co-op. “It’s sad to see him go. He's part of the place,” Mr. Puglisi said.

”Unfortunately the bills accumulated more quickly than the fish were coming in and all the regulations imposed by the government have put so much pressure on us.

"The board members are going to try to run the co-op ourselves.”

Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) has defended its decision to restrict the fishing of southern bluefin tuna.

According to AFMA Managing Director, Richard McLoughlin, “Australia is part of an international agreement, through the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) which recognizes SBT stocks are overfished. Australia is allocated a portion of the total international catch, which is passed onto Australian fishers in the form of SBT quota. Due to the overfished status of SBT, Australia must ensure it plays its part in conserving the species by not exceeding our quota and breaking the international agreement.”

AFMA spokesperson, Andy Bodsworth said the rationale behind the management of southern bluefin tuna is the species is significantly overfished.

”We are working as closely as we can to make sure the fishery is looked after in the long term.”