The Fisheries Minister says his contentious bill will be paused, for the time being.

It faced backlash for planning to cut commercial fish size minimums - and stopping people viewing boat footage via Official Information Act requests.

Shane Jones says there's it's caused disharmony across parties in Parliament.

He says the contested bill needs more time.

"The Greens can engage in political intercourse, the recreationists can engage in the process of an election - and let's see what happens." 

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