Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1) 2004 No. 70
Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1)
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 2004 No. 70
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1)
Subsection 168(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed in carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
Subsection 14(1) of the Act provides that for the purpose of conserving the marine environment, the regulations may prohibit, or make provision for the regulation of, the engaging in specified activities, or the use of specified practices, by persons engaged in fishing in the Australian Fishing Zone (the AFZ) and Australian boats, and persons on Australian boats, engaged in fishing outside the AFZ. The AFZ encompasses the waters adjacent to Australia within the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone adjacent to the coast of Australia and the waters adjacent to each external territory within the exclusive economic zone adjacent to the coast of the external territory. The AFZ does not include coastal or internal waters of a State or Territory or waters that are excepted waters.
Subsection 14(2) provides that regulations may be made in relation to, among other things, the employment of specified fishing practices or methods, the use of specified fishing equipment and the taking and treatment of by-catches. By-catch relates to that part of a catch which, through interaction with fishing gear, does not reach the deck of the fishing vessel or represents catch that is returned to the sea either because it has no commercial value or the law forbids its retention.
The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Fisheries Management Regulations 1992 (the Principal Regulations) to remove purse-seine fishing for skipjack from the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF) and the Southern and Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery (SWTBF) and to create the Eastern Skipjack Fishery and the Western Skipjack Fishery. The Regulations specify the area and method of fishing for the Eastern and the Western Skipjack Fisheries.
Skipjack tuna are predominantly caught using the highly selective purse-seine method of fishing. In previous years, purse-seine fishing was undertaken as part of the SWTBF and the ETBF. However, as part of the process to manage the SWTBF and the ETBF under statutory management plans, it was decided not to include purse-seining for skipjack as part of these plans and to develop separate arrangements to principally manage this species of tuna.
The Skipjack Fisheries extend throughout the areas of the SWTBF and the ETBF. These fisheries also extend to high seas areas of the Indian Ocean and the western and central Pacific Ocean. The Skipjack Fisheries are two separate fisheries based on separate fish stocks in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Details of the Regulations, which commenced on gazettal, are set out below:
Regulation 1 provides for the Regulations to be cited as the Fisheries Management Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1).
Regulation 2 provides for the Regulations to commence on gazettal.
Regulation 3 provides for Schedule 1 to amend the principal Regulations.
Schedule 1 Item 1 adds the Eastern Skipjack Fishery to those fisheries listed in regulation 4B(d) of the Management Regulations.
Schedule 1 Item 2 deletes 'fishing activity' from regulation 4B(e) and (m) and inserts fishing, other than commercial fishing, for skipjack tuna by the purse-seining method.
Schedule 1 Item 3 adds the Western Skipjack Fishery to those fisheries listed in regulation 4B(d) of the Management Regulations.
Schedule 1 Item 4 deletes 'fishing activity' from regulation 4B(q) and inserts fishing, other than commercial fishing, for skipjack tuna by the purse-seining method.
Schedule 1 Item 5 replaces 'method; or' with 'method' in regulation 4C(1)(ka).
Schedule 1 Item 6 deletes regulation 4C(1) (1) to (p). This removes sub-areas 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery, which were previously available for commercial fishing for tuna using the purse-seining method.
Schedule 1 Item 7 inserts Part 2B - Area of the Eastern Skipjack Fishery. This adds the description of the area of the Eastern Skipjack Fishery into the principal Regulations.
Schedule 1 Item 8 omits clause 3 in Division 2, Part 3, Schedule 1A from the area of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery as it refers to the purse-seining method of fishing.
Schedule 1 Item 9 substitutes a new heading for clause 4 in Division 2, Part 3, Schedule 1A, in which the reference to purse-seining has been removed, as this method of fishing will no longer be used in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery.
Schedule 1 Item 10 substitutes a new heading for clause 6 in Division 2, Part 3, Schedule 1A, in which the reference to purse-seining has been removed, as this method of fishing will no longer be used in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery.
Schedule 1 Item 11 substitutes a new heading for clause 7 in Division 2, Part 3, Schedule 1A, in which the reference to purse-seining has been removed, as this method of fishing will no longer be used in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery.
Schedule 1 Item 12 substitutes a new heading for clause 8 in Division 2, Part 3, Schedule 1A, in which the reference to purse-seining has been removed, as this method of fishing will no longer be used in the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery.
Schedule 1 Item 13 inserts Part 12A 'Area of the Western Skipjack Fishery' into the principal Regulations.