EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
Amendment of the List of Exempt Native Specimens in accordance with Section 303DC
Section 303DB of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) provides for the establishment of a list of exempt native specimens. Specimens included in the list are exempt from the trade control provisions that apply to regulated native specimens.
The instrument deletes specimens from the list of exempt native specimens that are taken in fifteen fisheries specified in Schedule 1. The instrument also includes specimens from the same fifteen fisheries in the list of exempt native specimens, with notations that inclusion of the specimens in the list are subject to restrictions or conditions that the specimen, or the fish or invertebrate from which it is derived, was taken lawfully, and that the specimens are included in the list until the dates specified in Schedule 2.
The relevant fisheries are as follows:
Western Australian Developmental Octopus Fisheries
Western Australian South Coast Trawl Fishery
Western Australian Pilbara Fish Trawl Interim Managed Fishery
Torres Strait Beche-de-mer Fishery
Torres Strait Tropical Rock Lobster Fishery
New South Wales Lobster Fishery
New South Wales Ocean Hauling Fishery
New South Wales Estuary General Fishery
New South Wales Ocean Trawl Fishery
New South Wales Estuary Prawn Trawl Fishery
New South Wales Abalone Fishery
Northern Territory Demersal Fishery
South Australian Scallop and Turbo Fisheries
South Australian Specimen Shell Fishery
South Australian Sea Urchin Fishery
Non Commonwealth Acts and disallowable instruments that are incorporated by reference in this instrument are to be incorporated as in force from time to time. All State and Territory legislation incorporated by reference in this instrument can be freely accessed on the relevant State legislation websites:
- New South Wales legislation at www.legislation.nsw.gov.au (as of May 2017)
- Northern Territory legislation at www.legislation.nt.gov.au (as of May 2017)
- South Australian legislation at www.legislation.sa.gov.au (as of May 2017)
- Western Australian legislation at www.slp.wa.gov.au (as of May 2017)
The effect of this instrument is to extend the export approval for the specimens until the dates specified in Schedule 2. These fisheries have been identified by the Department of the Environment and Energy as fisheries that may be included in a block assessment approach by jurisdiction over the coming twelve months.
In determining to include the specimens in the list of exempt native specimens regard was had to the Australian Government’s ‘Guidelines for the Ecologically Sustainable Management of Fisheries – 2nd Edition’. Those Guidelines establish the criteria for assessment of the ecological sustainability of the relevant fishery’s management arrangements.
Subsection 303DC(3) of the EPBC Act provides that before amending the list, the Minister for the Environment and Energy must consult such other Commonwealth minister or ministers and such other minister or ministers of each state and self-governing territory, as the minister considers appropriate. The minister may also consult with such other persons and organisations as the minister considers appropriate. In this instance, the Delegate of the Minister for the Environment and Energy consulted with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Western Australian Department of Fisheries, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Resources, and the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia as the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, the Western Australian Department of Fisheries, the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Resources, and the Department of Primary Industries and Regions South Australia have management responsibilities for the fisheries concerned.
This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
The instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY FOR A BILL OR LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT THAT DOES NOT RAISE ANY HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES