Arrangement Between the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Queensland in Relation to the Fishery for Northern Demersal and Pelagic Finfish in the Gulf of Carpentaria

ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND THE STATE OF QUEENSLAND IN RELATION TO THE FISHERY FOR NORTHERN DEMERSAL AND PELAGIC FINFISH IN THE GULF OF CARPENTARIA

AN ARRANGEMENT entered into between the Commonwealth of Australia (the Commonwealth) and the State of Queensland (the State).

WHEREAS:

(a)               On 8 February 1995, an arrangement was made by the Commonwealth with the State under subsection 71(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 of the Commonwealth (the Management Act) in relation to the fishery for Northern Demersal and Pelagic Finfish in the Gulf of Carpentaria, published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.S44 at page 13 to 17, providing for the management of the fishery therein by the Queensland Fisheries Joint Authority in accordance with the law of the State.

(b)               This arrangement was subsequently terminated pursuant to subsection 75(1) of the Management Act in an instrument titled “Termination of an Arrangement Between the Commonwealth of Australia and the State of Queensland in Relation to the Fishery For Northern Demersal and Pelagic Finfish in the Gulf of Carpentaria” approved by the Commonwealth Minister on behalf of the Commonwealth and the Minister of the State.

(c)               Subsection 72(1) of the Management Act provides that the Commonwealth may make an arrangement with a State with respect to a particular fishery in waters relevant to the State (not being a fishery to which an arrangement under subsection 71(1) applies) and that is wholly or partly in waters on the seaward side of the coastal waters of the State, to be managed by the State in accordance with the law of the State.

(d)               The waters relevant to the State are, by operation of subsection 58(2) of the Management Act, defined to include the coastal waters of the State and the Australian Fishing Zone.  In addition, section 73 of the Management Act provides that an arrangement under Division 3 of Part 5 of the Act does not have any effect in relation to any area within the Protected Zone or, if there is in force a Proclamation under subsection 15(1) or (2) of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 in relation to an area adjacent to the Protected Zone, any activities within that area to which that Act applies by virtue of the Proclamation.  

(e)               Subsection 132(1) of the Fisheries Act 1994 of the State (State Act) empowers the State to make an arrangement with the Commonwealth under inter alia subsection 72(1) of the Management Act.

(f)                Both the Commonwealth and the State are desirous of exercising their respective powers under the Management Act and State Act to make a further arrangement for the management of the fishery by the State.

THEREFORE in accordance with the Management Act and the State Act and all other enabling powers it is mutually arranged as follows:

1. Pursuant to subsection 72(1)(b) of the Management Act, the Commonwealth and the State hereby arrange that the fishery referred to in paragraph 2 is to be managed in accordance with the law of the State.

2.      The fishery to which this arrangement applies is the fishery in waters relevant to the State, being coastal waters of the State and waters of the Australian Fishing Zone that lie within the “Scheduled area for Queensland” as described in Schedule 1, item 3 of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 of the Commonwealth, that is west of 142 degrees 31 minutes 49 seconds East longitude for the taking of all species of the Class Osteichthyes and of the Class Chondrichthyes except for:

(a) tuna and tuna-like fish of the following species:

(i) Thunnus albacares (Yellowfin Tuna)

 Thunnus maccoyii (Southern Bluefin Tuna)

 Thunnus obesus (Bigeye Tuna)

 Thunnus tonggol (Longtail Tuna)

 Thunnus alalunga (Albacore Tuna)

 Thunnus thynnus (Northern Bluefin Tuna)

 Katsuwonus pelamis (Skipjack Tuna);

(ii) fish of the family Bramidae (Pomfrets);

(iii) fish of the families Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae (billfish);

 (b) fish taken as bait (dead or alive) by a person for his or her own use in the exercise of a right conferred by a fishing concession granted by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority under the Management Act to take tuna and tuna-like species as listed in clause (a) above.

(c) fish of the following species:

(i) Lates calcarifer (Barramundi);

(ii) Polydactylus sheridani (King Salmon);

(iii) Eleutheronema tetradactylum (Blue Salmon);

(v) Nibea squamosa, Protonibea diacanthus (Jewfish);

(vi) Pomadasys kaakan (Spotted Grunter-bream);  

(vii) Scomberoides lysan, S. commersonianus (Queenfish);

(d) fish taken whilst trawling for prawns in the exercise of a right conferred by a fishing concession granted by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority under the Management Act for the Northern Prawn Fishery, which is described as the fishery for:

(i) decapod crustacea of the families Penaeidae, Aristeidae, Solenoceridae (prawns), Nephropidae (scampi), Scyllaridae (bugs), and Mollusca of the family Pectinidae (scallops) other than when a bait net or haul net, set from the shore and drawn to the shore, with or without the use of a boat, is used;

(ii) molluscs of the family Loliginidae (squid) when prawn trawl apparatus is used; and

(iii) all fish taken in the exercise of a right conferred by a fishing concession granted by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority under the Management Act for the fish to which paragraph (d)(i) applies, but excluding pearl shell (Pinctada spp.) trochus (Trochus niloticus), and fish listed in paragraph (c) of this arrangement.

(e) all fish specified in paragraph (a) and (b) taken in the exercise of a right conferred by a licence or other authority granted by the State for the fish to which this arrangement applies;

(f) fish to which this arrangement applies taken in the exercise of a right conferred by a fishing concession granted by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority under the Management Act for the fisheries described in paragraphs (a), (b) and (d).

3.      This arrangement takes effect on the day after it is published in the Commonwealth Gazette.

DATED the   20          day of      AUGUST      2021