Share transfer freeze, distribution of quota and cancellation of forfeited and surrendered shares

Cancellation of shares

The Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW has decided to cancel commercial fishery shares that were surrendered to him by the Australian Securities Investment Commission and others forfeited in accordance with an Order of the Court following prosecution for serious offences.

The cancellation of these shares means that shareholders will receive a larger share of quota annually.

View the letter from the Minister for Agriculture and Western NSW to NSW Commercial Fishing Shareholders concerning the cancellation of these shares (PDF, 271.77 KB).

Distribution of quota

The Minister has also decided to distribute among relevant shareholders the quota allocated against these shares for the current fishing period.

The quantity of quota to be transferred to each relevant shareholder will be, subject to regulation, proportional to the number of corresponding shares held, rounded down to the nearest 0.1 kg.

The quota to be distributed among relevant shareholders is for the following species or activities in the Lobster, Ocean Trawl and Estuary General fisheries:

• Lobster quota
• Trawl whiting quota
• Silver trevally quota
• Bluespotted flathead quota
• Tiger flathead quota
• Ocean trawl prawning effort (day) quota
• Meshing effort (day) quota in region 7
• Category 1 hauling effort (day) quota in region 7
• Mud crab quota
• Blue swimmer crab quota

Shareholders are encouraged to keep an eye on their quota balances in FisherDirect.

Given that the total amount of some types of quota to be allocated to relevant shareholders is very small, your quota balance may not change. This is because amounts of quota less than 0.1 kg cannot be transferred.

Short share trading freeze

There will be a short freeze on share transfers in all fisheries between Monday 22 June and Thursday 24 June 2020 to allow for the distribution of quota.

Please ensure that your current and planned share transfers are completed by midnight Sunday 21 June 2020. Any online share trade that has been initiated but not finalised by midnight Sunday 21 June 2020 will be cancelled.

The transfer of quota will not be impacted during the share transfer freeze.

Contact

If you have any enquiries, please contact the Commercial Fisheries Hotline on 1300 726 488.