John West affected employees may receive up to AUD 10,000 for training, said SA Regional Development Minister Paul Caica. (Photo: Sa.gov.au/ FIS)

Country's last tuna cannery to end production

AUSTRALIA
Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 22:50 (GMT + 9)

The John West cannery at Port Lincoln is set to end its tuna production in May and transfer the division to Thailand. The South Australia plant employs about 260 workers and is the country’s last tuna cannery.

The decision had been foreseen for some time, according to Chief Executive of the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association (ASBTIA) Brian Jeffriess.

"In periods where the dollar has been very unfavourable to manufacturing in Australia, tuna farming has been able to carry other businesses through. But in this case tuna farming, its profitability has been hit by the quota cut and that affects processing in Australia and then it's very difficult to carry it through," Jeffriess commented, ABC Online reports.

SA Regional Development Minister Paul Caica told that the government was warned that tuna canning would end when fishing quotas were cut last year. However, he has just learned of the official closure at Port Lincoln.

Any workers affected will be offered assistance packages by the government, he said, and hopes that will be enough keep them employed in the town.

"This package would include skills recognition services but also, amongst other things, affected employees would be eligible to receive up to AUD 10,000 (USD 8,998) for vocational education and training up to an advanced diploma level," Caica elaborated.

"We've been preparing for this circumstance and officers from the Department of Further Education, Training and Employment will be speaking to company representatives today to identify affected employees but importantly to look at the package of support that can be provided," he added.

The amount of jobs to go from the factory remains unknown.

"Exceptionally gut-wrenching, I mean the place has been going for 40 years and the people that have worked here and [for] those that have invested large sums of money to try and keep this business afloat it's a pretty tough day," Port Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Chairman Steve Prout said.

Meanwhile, SA Opposition fisheries spokesman Adrian Pederick has accused the government of focusing on city jobs while regional communities struggle.

"We've seen at least 100 jobs go in the Riverland from National Foods, we've seen 130 jobs go from Carter Holt Harvey in the south-east, we have 1,500 jobs under threat at Millicent and we have a government that is so keen to pay out workers instead of retain them," he observed.

Related articles:

- Tuna decision pummels Port Lincoln industry
- Bluefin tuna cut to decimate Australian jobs, increase poaching

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

Print