EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1987 No. 214
Issued by the Authority of the Minister for Resources
FISHERIES LEVY ACT 1984
FISHERIES LEVY (SOUTHERN BLUEFIN TUNA FISHERY) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)
The purpose of the amendment is to set the rate of levy for the 1987/88 southern bluefin tuna season beginning on 1 October 1987. The levy is collected to recover a proportion of the cost of managing the southern bluefin tuna fishery.
For each unit of fishing capacity established for the fishery by the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery Management Plan (“the plan”) and either assigned to a boat at the time of licensing the boat under the Fisheries Act 1952 or allocated to the registered holder, the amount of levy imposed by the regulations is $72.00.
The plan provides for payment of levy at the time of the grant of the boat licence or the allocation or re-allocation of units otherwise than at the time of their assignment to a boat. No application to allocate units may be granted unless the amount of levy payable in respect of those units is tendered with the application. No application to assign units to a boat may be granted unless the units have been allocated and the boat is licensed.
The plan provides for each unit to represent an amount of quota of catch of southern bluefin tuna determined by dividing the total allowable catch in the relevant licensing year by the total number of units established by the plan. Notice No. 170 under section 8 of the Fisheries Act prohibits the taking of southern bluefin tuna in proclaimed waters in excess of the quota represented by the number of units assigned to the boat used to take the catch.
Due to the reduced interval after the 1987/88 Budget in relation to the commencement of the 1987/88 southern bluefin tuna season, it was not possible to provide unit holders with the customary one month’s notice of the rate of levy imposed by the regulations. Each registered unit holder was personally notified of the new rate of levy immediately after the Administrator approved the proposed regulations.