Haggling to start over scampi compo payouts

By AUDREY YOUNG and NZPA

The Government has authorised officials to begin negotiating compensation for six of the seven parties identified in the parliamentary scampi inquiry report as having received unfair and inconsistent treatment from the Ministry of Fisheries.

Sealord will be left out of the negotiations because, while it was identified as having been treated unfairly, it is considered rich enough for the treatment to have had little impact on its business.

The year-long inquiry into the scampi industry was sparked by claims of corruption and bias after Simunovich Fisheries gained the lion's share of the $100 million fishery.

MPs cleared Simunovich of any wrongdoing.

The main accuser, Barine Developments, missed out on compensation.

Yesterday, the Government released its response to recommendations of the primary production select committee and broadly endorsed them.

By a majority, the committee said six fishers should receive almost $2.9 million due to incompetent or unfair treatment, but the Government said the actual amount paid out would depend on negotiations.

The committee chairman, National MP David Carter, refused to say yesterday why the committee had decided not to include Sealord on the list of those that qualified for compensation even though it had been treated unfairly.

National and Act opposed the payments.

"The report has put any Government negotiators in an invidious position where there is a bottom benchmark and no top benchmark," he said. "This was something I felt was unprofessional and that's why we voted against that part of the report."

Mr Carter believed it was because Sealord was considered wealthy, but he suggested NZ First and Labour should be asked; they had set the minimum amounts.

NZ First leader leader Winston Peters said Mr Carter was demonstrating "what an amateur ... an unprofessional person he is", but refused to say why Sealord was left off the list.

Labour MP Janet Mackey said the compensation was recommended "for acknowledgment of the impact the ministry's actions had on the lives and the businesses of a handful of people".

Sealord was "a multimillion-dollar company and we're talking about people who went to their knees".

New Fisheries Minister David Benson-Pope confirmed that the Government would place scampi in the quota management system by October.

The allocations would be much along the lines originally recommended by the ministry some years ago, though there might be minor changes.

MPs set minimums

A majority of MPs on the inquiry panel said the minimum compensation for the fishers should be:

* Trevor Goodship/Pranfield Holdings, $900,000.

* Wayne Howell and HG Cave, $400,000.

* United Fisheries, $400,000.

* Vautier Shelf Company No 14, $400,000.

* Milton J. Roderique, $400,000.

* Noel McLellan, $400,000.