Four months after Western Australia permanently shut commercial demersal fishing along 900 kilometres of the West Coast bioregion, a family-owned business out of Bunbury has crowdfunded more than $25,000 in one weekend to put the ban in front of a judge.
Southwestern Fresh Fish, run by long-time commercial fisherman and seafood retailer Brian Scimone, opened an online fundraiser at the weekend with a $35,000 target. The cash will sit in a trust earmarked for legal advice on challenging the ban itself and the Cook Government's compulsory buyback scheme. Licence holders along the West Coast bioregion now have just six weeks to apply under the $20 million package.
The ban has been in force since January 1 and stops all commercial demersal fishing from Kalbarri in the north to Augusta in the south. Fisheries Minister Jackie Jarvis has said the closure is needed to protect dhufish, pink snapper and red emperor stocks that scientists rate as on the verge of extinction in parts of WA. The decision triggered protests, including the high-profile incident in which shark heads were dumped at the minister's office.
For Scimone, the buyback is no soft landing.
"We're not seeing any progress," he said. "We're not getting any further advanced on whether we can reopen the fishery and the compensation is nowhere near enough for a lifetime of loss. This is a life ban."
"It doesn't even enter the millions and we're one of the biggest holders on the coast," he said. "The compensation offered is not good enough. We have boats that are purpose-built, equipment that's purpose-built, factories deemed unusable, nets and fishing gear deemed unusable."
The damage is also flowing into the wider marine economy. Bunbury-based Nathan Boyce, who services commercial vessels between Broome and Augusta, said he lost a $150,000 motor sale the day after the ban was announced.
"Once a commercial fisherman doesn't have a business, he's not going to spend any money with me," Boyce said. "Business with commercial fishermen has just dropped right off."
Seafood operators in WA's north have already filed in the Supreme Court to overturn the closure. The Bunbury action raises the prospect of a coordinated southern challenge.
A state government spokesperson defended the decision in response to the prospective legal action. "While these have been difficult decisions to make, they had to be made," the spokesperson said. "Urgent action is needed to save them for the future generations of fishers."
The spokesperson said the buyback amounts had been calculated against market value methodology in line with industry feedback. The South West fleet does not see it that way.
With the legal trust ticking past $25,000, Scimone has framed the case as existential. The compensation, he argues, cannot replace decades of purpose-built infrastructure or generational know-how. Whether the West Coast demersal fishery ever reopens to commercial boats may now end up being decided not by the Fisheries Minister, but by a court.