These steps were taken after tests showed the level of cancer-causing dioxin in fish was almost 100 times the World Health Organization's recommended levels.
The state's primary industry minister, Ian MacDonald, said the dioxin, a key ingredient of the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War, was the result of the industrial pollution.
The government will spending us $4.3 million buying back fishing licences and compensating some 40 fishermen who sell their catches to restaurants which dot the shoreline.
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