Fisheries Management (E-monitoring Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery) Direction 2020

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the Authority of the

Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Plan 2005

Fisheries Management (E-Monitoring Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery) Direction 2020

Authority

The Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may make a written direction under s40A(1), requiring any person who holds a fishing concession, or a scientific permit, of a class prescribed in the direction, to comply with obligations that are prescribed in the direction relating to the electronic monitoring (e-monitoring) of fishing related activity or prescribed restrictions on engaging in fishing if any obligation in the direction has not been, or is not being complied with.

The Fishery

The Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery (WTBF) covers the area of waters in the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) included on the west coast of Australia, westward from Cape York Peninsula (142°30’E) off Queensland to 34°S off the west coast of Western Australia. It also extends eastward from 34°S off the west coast of Western Australia, across the Great Australian Bight to 141°E at the South Australian/Victorian border. The fishery also includes Australian waters outside of 12 nm off Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling Islands. The Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Plan 2005 (the Plan) also applies to Australian boats fishing in the high seas within the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s (IOTC) Area of Competence.

Management in the WTBF has been through output controls in the form of individually transferable quotas since the Plan was determined in 2005. 

Background to Direction

AFMA is established under the Fisheries Administration Act 1991 (FA Act) and the objectives that it must pursue are contained in s3 of the Act and s6 of the FA Act.  

Under legislation, AFMA is required to ensure that the exploitation of fisheries resources is ecologically sustainable, to implement efficient and cost-effective fisheries management and to collect information about possible breaches of the law and the management of and research into fisheries and the marine environment. To effectively carry out its legislative objectives and functions, AFMA requires accurate and comprehensive data on fishing activity.

E-monitoring is the electronic recording of fishing and related activities with the use of specialised equipment installed on boats for data collection and compliance purposes. E-monitoring equipment can include cameras, global positioning systems or sensors, and vessel monitoring systems, thereby generating a range of visual and non-visual data. E-monitoring complements other monitoring techniques, such as catch and effort logbooks and human observers.

Since 2015, e-monitoring has been mandated for all concession holders using the pelagic longline method in the WTBF fishing thirty shots or more in a season. Due to the level of fishing effort in the WTBF, all concession holders currently fishing are currently required to have an e-monitoring system installed and operating. The direction removes the thirty shot threshold and requires all concession holders fishing in the WTBF using the pelagic longline method to have an e-monitoring system installed regardless of the number of shots undertaken in a season.

The Direction

The Fisheries Management (E-Monitoring Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery) Direction 2020 directs all concession holders using the pelagic longline method in the WTBF to comply with e-monitoring obligations no later than three months from the date of this direction commencing or on the day the e-monitoring system is first installed within this period. This timeframe provides a reasonable period after the direction is made, by which compliance with the obligation or restriction must occur or commence in accordance with s40A(3) of the Act.

The direction also requires concession holders to monitor the functioning of the e-monitoring system and provide certain information to AFMA.

The direction is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.

Consultation

In November 2019, AFMA consulted with the industry association, Tuna Australia, which is supportive of the requirement for all concession holders using the pelagic longline method to have an installed and operating e-monitoring system on nominated boats.

In July 2020, AFMA consulted the Tropical Tuna Management Advisory Committee, which is supportive of the additional requirement for all concession holders using the pelagic longline method to have an installed and operating e-monitoring system on nominated boats.

The consultation for this direction accordingly satisfies the criteria in s40A(4) of the Act.

Regulation Impact Statement

The Office of Best Practice Regulation advised that a Regulation Impact Statement was not required for this direction consistent with the agreement in place to cover all regulatory changes deemed to be of a minor or machinery nature (ID:25697). 

Statement of compatibility prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

The direction is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in s3(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. The direction places limitations on the prohibition on interference with privacy and the right to work; however, those limitations are reasonable, necessary and proportionate.

Details of the direction are set out below: