EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT
Determination 109, 2007 (the Determination)
The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.
Subsection 42(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that:
AFMA may, by a written determination, in relation to a particular fishery, provide for holders of fishing concessions in respect of that fishery to keep and maintain logbooks containing information in respect of their activities in that fishery.
Subsection 42(1A) of the Act provides that:
without limiting the generality of subsection (1), a determination by AFMA in respect of a particular fishery may cover matters including the form and content of logbooks for that fishery to be kept by the concession holder.
Subsection 42(1B) of the Act provides that:
the content of the logbook kept by the holder of a fishing concession in respect of a particular fishery, and of any return of information from such a logbook, may extend to information in relation to the taking, carrying, transhipping and processing of fish under that fishing concession and the course or position inside, or outside, the outer limits of the AFZ of boats to which the fishing concession relate.
Background
The NP15 is a form of logbook requiring holders of fishing concessions in the Northern Prawn Fishery to provide records of fishing position, fishing effort and fish catches.
The determination determines the form and content of the logbook to be kept and maintained by all concession holders of the Northern Prawn Fishery by reference to the NP15 logbook at Attachment A to the determination. Copies of the NP15 can be obtained from the Australian Fisheries Management Authority.
Consultation
Consultation was undertaken with the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee, the Bycatch Sub-committee and Resource Assessment Group. All groups agreed that it was important for sawfish interactions to be recorded and noted that being able to record interactions in the logbook would assist this.
Regulation Impact Statement
The Office of Regulation Review has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required on the basis that the determination is of a minor or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements (ORR ID 8967).
The Act does not specify any condition as needing to be met before the power to make the determination may be exercised.
Details of the determination, which commenced on the day after it was registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments, are set out below:
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1 provides for the determination to be cited as the Determination 109.
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2 provides that the determination commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments.
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3 defines the term “Northern Prawn Fishery”.
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4 defines the term “distinguishing mark”.
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5 defines the term “NP15 Daily Fishing Log”.
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6 determines the NP 15 will be the form and content of the logbooks that must be used to record information about the taking of prawns by all concession holders for the Northern Prawn Fishery.
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7 determines the NP 15 will be the form and content of logbooks for all concession holders for the Northern Prawn Fishery from the date of commencement.