10/08/2026
🚨 THE GREATEST ASSET-STRIPPING SCAM IN WA HISTORY: HOW THEY WIPED OUT GENERATIONAL RIGHTS ON THE CHEAP 🚨
Forget the biology and forget the bag limits for a second. Let's talk about the cold, hard reality of what the state government just did to commercial fishing licenses—and why it sets a terrifying precedent for every single industry in Western Australia.
When the government forced through the permanent closure of commercial demersal fishing, they didn't just change the rules. They wiped out statutory, government-backed property rights that families had bought, sold, and used as bank collateral for generations.
And how did they compensate them? Through a heavy-handed Compulsory Fisheries Adjustment Scheme (CFAS).
Look at the trap they set:
⚖️ 1. Forced Acquisition Without Fair Market Value
If the government builds a highway or acquires private land, they are legally forced to pay full, independent market value based on highest and use. But under this scheme, they capped the buyout pool at a fraction of what these multi-generational small-business assets were actually worth—forcing operators into a take-it-or-leave-it corner.
It wasn’t a buyout. It was state-sanctioned asset-stripping.
📉 2. A Terrifying Precedent for Every WA Primary Industry
If a government can declare an artificial "emergency" to permanently erase commercial licenses without paying full replacement value, no state-issued title, permit, or lease is safe.
Today it's line and gillnet fishers. Tomorrow it could be regional water allocations, agricultural leaseholds, or mining exploration rights. Sovereign risk in WA has just hit an all-time low.
🏛️ 3. The Tribunal Bottleneck
The government’s answer to anyone complaining about their payout? "Take it up through the State Administrative Tribunal." That’s not justice—that’s a deliberate financial obstacle course. They know small-business owners, already broken by an overnight ban, don't have the deep pockets or years to fight the State Solicitor’s Office in a drawn-out legal war.
They didn't restructure a fishery. They used legislative muscle to erase private equity on the cheap, masking a bureaucratic shortcut behind fake conservation urgency.
If they can do this to commercial fishing entitlements, they can come for any industry next!
Share this if you believe that government-backed property rights must mean something! 👇
https://www.gofundme.com/f/wa-commercial-fishermen-fighting-fund
