Regulations, restrictions and huge costs are strangling businesses, they say.

The Hastings and Laurieton fishermen’s co-operatives believe the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) – which control the industry – has failed to address the problems faced by those for whom fishing is a livelihood.

Hastings River Fishermen’s Co-operative chairman Rob Elford said membership had dwindled from 32 members to just six in the past five years. Two other “outside” fishermen also were members.

“At this rate, there’ll be none five years from now,” Mr Elford said.

The river closure five years ago had encouraged recreational fishing to replace commercial operations with, reportedly, as many crab traps on the Hastings now as there were when it was open to his members, he said.

Mr Elford said commercial fishermen were still expected to pay for environmental impact studies for the Hastings, even though they were no longer entitled to use the river.

Gillian Beakey, office manager at Laurieton Fishermen’s Co-op, offered a similarly bleak outlook for the industry along that stretch of the coast.

“Our membership has dwindled from 24 down to 12 in the last eight years,” she said.

“[It is the] result of a combination of things. The restrictions we’ve faced – not being able to fish at weekends and holidays, and the partial closure of the Camden Haven River – have had a negative impact.’’

Mrs Beakey said the closure of a stretch of river and cod grounds had forced commercial fishermen to move to open waters.

This increased the number of those who used the same waters and made it a more stressful occupation.

Overheads were increasing considerably, as was the regulatory burden, she said.

“Commercial fishermen understand the need for conservation – more than most people might think,” she said. “It’s in their own interests to make it a sustainable industry. We believe the DPI has gone too far in favour of protecting individual species at the expense of commercial viability.”

The NSW DPI was unable to provide a response about fishery management policy in time for publication. The Port News aims to feature the DPI reply in Friday’s edition.