Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 2) 2000 No. 92
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 2000 No. 92
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 2)
Subsection 168(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed and regulations necessary or convenient to be prescribed in carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Section 4(1) of the Act defines a fishery as a class of activities by way of fishing, including activities identified by reference to amongst other things, an area of waters. Paragraph 4(4)(a) of the Act provides that for the purposes of the Act, in relation to a fishery or a managed fishery that is identified by reference to an area, a reference to activities in the fishery or in the managed fishery includes activities in that area. Section 32(1) of the Act provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may, upon application made in the approved form. grant to a person a fishing permit, authorising the use of a boat for fishing in a specified area of the AFZ or a specified fishery.
Paragraph 168(2)(p) of the Act provides that regulations may be made prescribing short methods of reference to areas of the Australian Fishing Zone (AFZ) specified in the regulations and the purposes for which those methods of reference may be used. Subparagraph 168(2)(e)(ii) provides that regulations may be made for the imposition and recovery of fees in respect of the making of applications under the Act.
The Fisheries Management Regulations (the principal Regulations) prescribe matters in support of the Act, including short methods of reference to fisheries managed by AFMA, and the setting of application fees. The purpose of the Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations (the Regulations) is to amend the principal Regulations to modify the area of two of the fisheries described in the principal Regulations.
The Regulations also amend a section of Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations to make it clearer.
The area of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ET&BF) is extended to include the area of the AFZ surrounding Norfolk Island, excluding inshore waters around the island itself. Norfolk Island is currently part of the AFL The AFMA Board has determined that it should be part of the ET&BF, primarily because the tuna and billfish resource in this area is the same stock as the tuna and billfish fished in the ET&BF. The extension of the fishery area is consistent with the increased fishing effort in offshore areas (including the high seas) rather than the inshore areas of the ET&BF, reflecting changes in fleet structure and fishing strategy.
The area of the South East Non-Trawl Fishery (SENTF) is modified to adjust the western boundary of the fishery. Currently this boundary is described consistently with the 4000 metre isobath off New South Wales and southern Queensland. This is a line that runs roughly parallel to the coastline approximately 80nm off New South Wales and southern Queensland. This boundary delimits the area of Commonwealth jurisdiction over particular species and fishing methods. However, as it is described in the principal Regulations, this boundary does not accurately reflect the Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) arrangements made between the Commonwealth and New South Wales in which the extent of the respective jurisdictions of the Commonwealth and New South Wales are defined. The Regulations adjust the western boundary of the SENTF to make it consistent with the relevant OCS arrangements. This has the effect of extending the SENTF to the limit of Commonwealth jurisdiction. The Regulations also recognise the additional area of the fishery that is open only to purse-seine operators in waters adjacent to NSW.
Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations is amended to reword an item in that Schedule to make its meaning clearer.
Details of the Regulations, which commenced on gazettal, are set out below:
Regulation 1 provides that the Regulations are named the Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2000 (No. 2).
Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.
Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the principal Regulations.
Schedule 1 Item 1 inserts a new reference to the sectors of the South East Non-Trawl Fishery into Part 2B (Fisheries) of the principal Regulations.
Schedule 1 Item 2 amends the area of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery
Schedule 1 Item 3 amends the area of the South East Non-Trawl Fishery.
Schedule] Item 4 amends Schedule 2 of the principal Regulations to reword a section of the table in that Schedule.