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 the following four fisheries managed by the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. The instrument also includes specimens from the same four 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 28 August 2026.

The relevant Victorian managed fisheries are as follows:

                    Abalone Fishery

                    Giant Crab Fishery

                    Sea Urchin Fishery

                    Rock Lobster Fishery

The effect of this instrument is to simplify the description of the specimens in the list of exempt native specimens, and to extend the export approval for the specimens until 28 August 2026. These fisheries have been identified by the Department of the Environment and Energy as low risk fisheries suitable for extension of export approval for ten years.

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 Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources as the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources has management responsibilities for the fisheries concerned. Additionally, consultation on the proposal to extend export approval to ten years for low risk fisheries was carried out, including formal correspondence with all Commonwealth, state and territory fisheries ministers, and with Commonwealth, state and territory fisheries management agencies. Conservation organisations and peak fishing industry associations were also briefed on the proposed reform, and were invited to comment via a public submission process, along with the general public.

This instrument is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.

The instrument commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.

STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY FOR A BILL OR LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT THAT DOES NOT RAISE ANY HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES