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Escalating fuel costs could wipe out the multi-million dollar West Coast fishing industry, a fishing company boss has warned.
Westfleet Fisheries principal Craig Boote said the gravity of the situation could not be overestimated.
Unlike motorists who could reduce costs by car pooling, taking public transport or dusting off the bike, fishermen had no option other than to burn fuel and were now on a financial knife edge, he said.
"Endangering is too kind a word. Fuel costs are crippling the industry, in particular the in-shore trawling," Mr Boote said.
"There used to be a standard joke that when your fuel costs and wages equated to 50 per cent of your business, you were on the verge of bankruptcy.
"Well, those costs are up to 80 per cent now so what does that tell you.
"It's very, very scary, we had no idea this was going to happen - who could have predicted it?
"We can't possibly put the price of fish up enough to compensate."
Mr Boote said the Fisheries Minister could defray some of the costs by allowing the inshore fleet to catch fish by the Danish Seine method instead of trawling long sections of the coastline.
Danish Seining involves the boats encircling the fish and herding them into a central net.
It uses a lot less fuel, but currently there is a ban on using the method within 3.5 miles of the shore.
"It's not a matter of conservation. Once your quota is caught, you have to stop fishing whether it's by trawling or using a Danish Seine so I can't see the sense of the inshore ban," Mr Boote said.
Hundreds of West Coast jobs were at risk and not just in the fishing industry.
Marine engineers and auto electricians were dependent on the industry as were the businesses that supplied provisions for t he ships.
Cook Canyon fishing boat skipper Craig Jones echoed Mr Boote's sentiments.
One of the bigger boats, with a crew of eight, the Cook Canyon had a massive fuel bill which was threatening the viability of the business.
"Fuel has gone up 240 per cent in three years, more than doubled in the past two. It's impossible to recoup hikes like that," Mr Jones said.
"We get the odd increase in the price of fish but those are usually quickly swallowed up by general operating costs. If things keep going they way they are going, the industry will struggle to survive."
- NZPA
