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Oyster growers uncertain on fees
Sophie Wandel
Six months after fees were increased for oyster growers the situation has stabilised after extensive negotiations between oyster industry representatives and the (South Australian) State Government, although the process for determining future fees is still being resolved.
Late last year growers feared they would be hit hard in the pocket after the State Government announced a new cost recovery model for aquaculture lease and licence fees. Growers had fears because this would have led to a 450 per cent increase in overall oyster industry fees with some individual growers' fees increasing by up to 2000 per cent. The industry was concerned this could have resulted in job losses and scaled-back businesses.
On Tuesday, South Australian Oyster Growers Association president Bruce Zippel said the association finished negotiating with the government for the fees for 2008/09.
What resulted was a compromise to double the costs of the previous year - $176,358 total fees paid by growers in 2007/08 - a 100 per cent average increase instead of 450 per cent.
"We had a lot of growers who were going to be hit hard in the pocket and this SAOGA driven compromise saved them many thousands of dollars," Mr Zippel said.
"This has stabilised the situation but there is still uncertainty in the industry and we need to find a better way to structure fees across the entire aquaculture industry."
The deal was done with former Fisheries Minister Rory McEwen as a one-off for 2008-09 but fees for future years still need to be determined.
Mr Zippel said the association was in "sensible discussions" with new Fisheries Minister Paul Caica as well as Primary Industries & Resources SA (PIRSA) aquaculture director Mehdi Doroudi.
Earlier this year, Mr Zippel said the oyster industry was still strongly opposed to the "per site" cost recovery model being used across the aquaculture industry.
He said the per site model adopted by PIRSA saw large finfish farms being charged virtually the same fees as small oyster farms.
"The oyster industry is committed to a sound and credible approach to the principles of genuine cost recovery," he said.
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