The Commonwealth and Queensland governments, have to date spent $10.7 million restructuring the Tropical Rock Lobster fishery. As part of this restructure, the Indigenous commercial sector now holds 53 per cent of the Australian component of the fishery. A business plan investigating how to develop the fishery in the medium term should be created as it will assist in identifying and developing capacity building initiatives that build upon the restructure that has already occurred in the fishery. This plan will greatly enhance the economic and social utility of the fishery and in particular will be of benefit to the Indigenous commercial sector.
This plan will also explore how each sector’s desires can be met in an innovative and co-operative approach, as well as incorporating additional factors such as
• the optimum utilization of resources;
• product development;
• market access opportunities and
• the sustainability of the fishery.
As part of exploring the sustainability of the fishery, consideration for the introduction of the new management plan for the fishery will need to be incorporated into discussions.
Current negotiations as part of introducing the management plan for the fishery have stalled due to the non-Indigenous commercial and Indigenous commercial sector’s positions being inconsistent with each other. Both sectors have agreed to continue negotiations as part of developing this medium term business plan.
Outcomes from this strategic plan will be used to assist in gaining consensus amongst the sectors to the introduction of the management plan and assist in broader strategic policy planning and business development in the TSPZ for the benefit of the non-Indigenous commercial and Indigenous commercial sectors of the fishery.