EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 NO. 1
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Primary Industry
FISHERIES LEVY ACT 1984
FISHERIES LEVY (NORTHERN PRAWN FISHERY) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The purpose of the amendment is to set the rates of levy for the 1987/88 licensing year. The levy is collected for two purposes - to recover a portion of the cost of managing the fishery and to fund the voluntary adjustment scheme provided by Part 8 of the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan (the principal plan).
The Northern Prawn Fishery (Special Provisions) Management Plan (the special plan) which was notified in the Gazette on 27 January 1987 gives effect to measures approved by the Australian Fisheries Council on the recommendation of the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Committee, comprising Commonwealth, Queensland, Western Australian and Northern Territory fisheries officials and representatives of fishermen in the northern prawn fishery.
These recommendations include support by the industry representatives for an increase of 300% in the rates of levy for funding the voluntary adjustment scheme in a programme of
reduction of the number of Class A units of fishing capacity in the fishery during the three years ending 28 February 1990. The regulations give effect to that increase in the levy rates in the first of those years.
The broad basis of the levy is that for boats to which a Class B unit, authorising use of the boat in the whole of the fishery, and 375 or fewer Class A units, measuring the fishing capacity of the boat, are assigned under the principal plan, the amount of levy imposed for purposes of the voluntary adjustment scheme is half of the rate for boats of more than 375 Class A units.
Levy imposed for purposes of the voluntary adjustment scheme on allocation of units not assigned to a boat at the time levy is paid is calculated at the higher rate. Levy collected for purposes of recovering part of the cost of managing the fishery is the same for all Class A units, regardless of the number assigned to a boat, except as described in the following paragraph.
In the case of a boat to which a Class C unit, authorising the use of the boat only in sub-area 2 of the fishery (west of Cape Ford, NT), and the applicable number of Class A units are
assigned under the principal plan, the basis of levy in 1987/88 is a concessional rate of $1.00 per Class A unit assigned to the boat on the grant of the licence for it under the Fisheries Act 1952 (the Fisheries Act). Levy on other Class A units held by licensees for such boats but not assigned to a boat is the same as levy on the allocation of Class A units generally.
During the 1987/88 licensing year under the principal plan, ending on 29 February 1988, the special plan provides for two fishing periods and for licences or units on which levy has been paid for the first fishing period to be renewed in respect of the second fishing period on payment of levy imposed in relation to that period.
Paragraph 5(a) of the Fisheries Levy Act 1984 (the Act) imposes levy on the grant of a prescribed boat licence under section 9 of the Fisheries Act. Paragraph 5(ba) of the Act imposes levy on the renewal of a prescribed licence. Paragraph 5 (bc) of the Act imposes levy on the allocation of a prescribed unit of fishing capacity under a management plan in force under section 7B(1) of the Fisheries Act. Paragraph 5(bd) of the Act imposes levy of the renewal of the allocation of such a unit.
Regulation 2 of the amending regulations adopts the definitions of “first fishing period” and “second fishing period” inserted in the principal plan by the special plan and the definition in the principal plan of “Class C unit of fishing capacity”.
Regulation 3 of the amending regulations includes in the prescribed class of licences for purposes of paragraphs 5(a) and (ba) of the Act, a licence in respect of a boat to which Class A units and a Class C unit are assigned.
Regulation 4 of the amending regulations prescribes suspense units under the principal plan as units on the allocation of which levy is imposed by paragraphs 5(bc) and (bd) of the Act when that allocation takes place simultaneously with conversion of the suspense units to active units and their assignment to a boat.
Regulation 5 of the amending regulations prescribes the manner of calculating the amount of levy payable, based on the number of Class A units assigned to the boat for which the licence is granted or renewed, whether a Class B or a Class C unit is also assigned to such a boat and whether the licence or
the allocation of the units is valid for the first or the second fishing period.
The levy on the grant of a licence for the first fishing period in respect of a boat to which 375 or fewer Class A units and a Class B unit are assigned, is $7.00 per Class A unit. If the boat is of more than 375 Class A units, the levy on the grant of the licence for the first fishing period is $12.00 per Class A unit.
The levy on the grant of a licence for a boat to which any number of Class A units and a Class C unit are assigned is $1.00 per Class A unit. This covers the full licensing year.
The levy on the renewal of a licence for the second fishing period in respect of a boat to which 375 or fewer Class A units and a Class B unit are assigned is $15.00 per Class A unit. The levy on the renewal of a licence for the second fishing period in respect of a boat to which more than 375 Class A units and a Class B unit are assigned is $30.00 per Class A unit.
When levy is imposed on the allocation or the renewal of the allocation of Class A units at a time other than on the grant or renewal of a boat licence, the amount in respect of the first fishing period is $12.00 per Class A unit and in respect of the second fishing period is $30.00 per Class A unit.
S.R No. 6/87