THE 113-DAY LOCKOUT - THE 3-DAY WEEK

Patonga NSW

The government doesn’t impose a 9-to-5 roster on commercial fishers. We don’t punch a clock. Instead, they impose a rigid, industrial operational window: Midnight Sunday to Midnight Friday.

Within those hours, we are technically “free” to work. But the seafood market doesn’t operate on a government roster. It is a dynamic, living system driven by supply, demand, and shelf-life.

By forcing us to adhere to a strict Midnight-to-Midnight weekly cutoff, the regulations are fighting against the reality of the market. The result is a “Market Mismatch” that forces operators to tie up their boats even on days they are legally allowed to fish.

Here is how the weekend ban effectively squeezes a five-day working week into just three days.

The Garfish & Bait Problem: Why We Don’t Fish Fridays

In the Sea Garfish sector on the South Coast, the “weekend” does not start on Friday night. For a viable business, it effectively starts on Thursday.

The reason is simple logistics. There is no wholesale market on Friday night, Saturday or Sunday. The Sydney Fish Market auctions do not run over the weekend for general fresh product in the same way they do on weekdays.

If we go out and catch a tonne of garfish on a Friday, that product has nowhere to go. It has to sit in an ice slurry on the boat or in the cool room through Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday, before it can finally hit the auction floor on Monday morning.

Garfish are a delicate species. They are not like heavy reef fish that can handle days on ice without issue. They degrade quickly. Holding them for 72 hours over the weekend is bad business; the quality drops, and the price drops with it.

So, what is the rational business decision? We opt out.

Many garfish haulers simply choose not to fish on Fridays. It is not worth the fuel and the effort to catch a product that will sit in a crate for three days before it can be sold.

Because the government bans us from fishing Saturday and Sunday, days where we could catch fresh fish for a Monday market, we are forced to sacrifice Friday as well.

The same issues are consistent for fishers who chase whitebait and other baitfish. Their product is just as time sensitive, the markets are just as quiet on the weekend, and the combined effect of weekend closures and market shutdowns pushes more professional boats to stand down on Fridays too.

The Prawn Problem: Why We Don’t Fish Mondays

In the Hawkesbury Prawn Trawl fishery, we face the opposite problem. Our “dead zone” isn’t the end of the week; it’s the start.

Prawns are a “celebration” food. The demand curve for prawns spikes later in the week as retailers and restaurants stock up for the weekend trade. Everyone wants prawns on Thursday and Friday.

Nobody wants prawns on a Monday.

Monday is traditionally the quietest trading day for prawns. Retailers are recovering from the weekend, restaurants are closed, and the public isn’t buying seafood. “Monday prawns” are notoriously hard to sell, and they often command the lowest prices of the week.

So, what is the rational business decision for a prawn trawler? We opt out.

Many of us choose not to put the nets in on Monday because the market simply isn’t there to justify the cost.

The Three-Day Week

This is the hidden cost of the weekend ban.

• The Government bans us from working Saturday and Sunday.

• The Biology stops the Garfishers and Baitfishers working Friday.

• The Market stops the Prawners working Monday.

We are left with a “Squeezed Week.” We are legally entitled to work from Midnight to Midnight during the week, but the combination of regulation and market reality often restricts us to just Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

We are trying to run viable small businesses on a three-day roster.

The Saturday Solution

This is why opening up the weekends is critical. It isn’t just about getting “more days”; it’s about getting the right days.

If the Hawkesbury fleet could fish on a Saturday, we would be perfectly aligned with market demand. We could supply fresh product directly to the weekend trade or hit the early-week market with a high-quality catch, rather than fighting to sell into the Monday slump.

For the South Coast fleet, flexibility is everything. If the weather is bad on Wednesday but perfect on Sunday, being able to fish Sunday allows them to land a fresh catch for Monday morning, rather than holding old stock from Friday.

The current system forces us to fight the market. We are banned when demand is high, and forced to work when demand is low.

Removing the weekend ban would allow us to align our fishing effort with the reality of when people actually want to buy fish. It would turn a broken, squeezed week into a viable, logical business model.

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Keep an eye out for the next parts in The 113-Day Lockout series. We’ll dig deeper into how these closures were created, what they mean for local seafood on your plate, and the reforms we’re calling for. If you care about real NSW fish on NSW tables, don’t miss what comes next.