Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Gear Requirement Direction for the Commonwealth Trawl Sector 2006(B) (Cth)

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT ACT 1991

SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SCALEFISH AND SHARK FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN 2003

SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SCALEFISH AND SHARK FISHERY GEAR REQUIREMENT DIRECTION FOR THE COMMONWEALTH TRAWL SECTOR – 2006(B)

I, Richard John McLoughlin, Managing Director of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, as delegate, make the following Direction under subsection 17(5A)(a) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and subsection 56(1) of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003.

Dated                    3^rd July                         2006

Richard McLoughlin

Managing Director,

Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Citation

1.    This Direction may be cited as Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Gear Requirement Direction for the Commonwealth Trawl Sector – 2006 (B).

Commencement

2.    This Direction commences on the day after it is registered.

Application

3.    This Direction applies to a holder of a trawl boat statutory fishing right in the Commonwealth trawl sector (excludes Danish seine) of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery and to a person acting on behalf of the holder.

3.1  However, this Direction does not apply to the holder of a scientific permit that authorises the use of an alternative fishing gear type.

Period of Application

4.   This Direction applies for a period beginning on the date this Direction commences and ending at 2400 hours UTC on the 31 December 2006.

Interpretation

5.1     In this Direction:

"boat"  means a boat that is nominated on a trawl boat statutory fishing right for the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery;

"fishing" means the commercial fishing activities that are referred to in section 20 of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003  and defined in the Fisheries Management Act 1991;

"equipment" means equipment for fishing;

"UTC" means Coordinated Universal Time, the time scale based on the second (SI), maintained by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.  For the purposes of this Direction UTC is equivalent to mean solar time at the prime meridian (0 degrees longitude), formerly expressed in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

5.2     A term used in this Direction that is defined for the purposes of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003 has the same meaning in this Direction as it has in that plan.

[Notes:             1.  Terms defined in the Fisheries Management Act 1991 have the same meanings in this determination.

2.  Terms defined in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003 include "Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery " and "Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery area". ]

Gear requirement; otter trawl nets when fishing for fish

6The fishery is closed to a boat using an otter trawl net when fishing for fish unless the otter trawl net used by the boat has the following requirement:

That 115 mm mesh (4 ½ inch) is the minimum mesh size in the wings and the net mouth (shoulders, belly and veranda). The net mouth is determined as at least 50 meshes from the centre of the headline towards the codend.