EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Temporary Order
Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Plan 2005
Fisheries Management (Eastern Tuna and Billfish Management Plan) Temporary Order 2009
Section 43 of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) provides for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (the Authority) to make an order to enable quick action to deal with (inter alia), circumstances where urgent action is required for purposes related to the management of a fishery. Under section 92(1) of the Fisheries Administration Act 1991, the Commission has delegated its powers and functions under section 43 of the Management Act to the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority.
The Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery
The Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (the Fishery) extends from Cape York to the South Australia-Victoria border and includes waters around Tasmania. Broadbill swordfish (Xiphias gladius), bigeye tuna (thunnus obesus) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) are the most valuable commercial species. They are caught by pelagic longline and either airfreighted fresh-chilled to Japan and the United States or sold on the domestic market, which now takes the greater share.
Longliners also take significant amounts of striped marlin (Tetrapturus audax) and albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga). Some of these species are also caught by other fishing methods, such as rod-and-reel, handlining and trolling, but almost no bigeye or swordfish, and probably less than 5% of the annual yellowfin catch, are taken by methods other than longlining.
Several other species make up a significant component of the retained catch, including black oilfish or escolar (Lepidocybium flavobrunneum), rudderfish (Centrolophus niger), moonfish (Lampris guttatus) and mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus).
The Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Plan 2005 (the Plan)
The ETBF Management Plan 2005 (the Plan) was accepted by the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation on 12 October 2005. The Plan was registered as a legislative instrument on 22 October 2005 and transitional provisions of the Plan became operational on 24 October 2005. An amendment to correct technical errors in the Plan was made in 2007.
The final grant of Statutory Fishing Rights (SFRs) under the Plan was completed in September 2009 following the conclusion of proceedings in the Statutory Fishing Rights Allocation Review Panel and in the Federal Court of Australia (Lamason v Australian Fisheries Management Authority [2009] FCA 245). The SFRs will come into force on 1 November 2009, when the first fishing season under the Plan commences.
The Plan provides for the management of the Fishery by an effort-based system of input controls. Under this system hook-based longline and minor line SFRs granted under the Plan give holders a proportional share of the total allowable effort (TAE) for the Fishery. The TAE, determined prior to each season, represents the total number of hooks that may be deployed in the season. An SFR is then given a value, in effort units, depending on the TAE.
Background to the temporary order
Section 48 of the Plan requires hook deployment be monitored in one of two ways, via a drum monitor or through a hook counting device. Either option will require additional hardware to be fitted to vessels and systems development and monitoring costs within AFMA.
However, in accordance with the Ministerial Direction of December 2005, the current Plan will be replaced by a plan that provides for the implementation of output controls instead of input controls in the form of individual transferable quota units (ITQs). The quota Plan is expected to be in force by 1 March 2011.
With the effort based management system for the fishery expected to be in effect for approximately 16 months, the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Advisory Committee (Eastern Tuna MAC) (the key consultative Committee in place for the fishery) agreed to adopt a more simplified monitoring method which would not involve significant investment by either AFMA or industry. This method involves the deduction of a fixed determined number of branchline clips from an operator’s holdings for every fishing operation (or long line shot) conducted in the fishery during the season and recorded in their logbook (each branchline clip represents one hook).
The first season for the hook system will commence on 1 November 2009 and run until 28 February 2011. All ETBF seasons, whether hook or quota, will then commence on 1 March each year.
Replacement of the current requirement for a longline drum monitor with the proposed average branchline clips decrementation system requires amendment of the Plan. .
Section 43 of the Management Act provides for AFMA to make a Temporary Order to respond to circumstances where urgent action is required to deal with emergencies, or other circumstances where urgent action is required for purposes related to management of a fishery.
With SFRs due to come into force on 1 November 2009 and the proposed new Plan not expected to come into force for a further 16 months, AFMA considers urgent action is required to ensure a system is in place to monitor the number of SFRs expended in the fishery.
The Temporary Order is consistent with:
- AFMA’s ecologically sustainable development objective: As the interim hook effort system will be a temporary system which will be in place for approximately 16 months, its short term use represents a low risk to fish stocks as effort under the system is likely to be similar to previous years.
- AFMA’s cost effective fisheries management objectives. The proposed branchline clip decrementation system to monitor effort is a major cost saving to both industry and AFMA compared to the current drum monitor or clip monitoring requirements which involve significant investment by industry. There are also major efficiencies for industry in being able to carry spare hooks.
There is a risk that operators will set more branchline clips per shot under the proposed system. However, there is a limit to how many branchline clips each vessel can set with its crew and most vessels have increased the amount of clips they set in each shot in recent years and are nearly at capacity. Those vessels that do set considerably more hooks than the average typically deep-set, targeting albacore, which is considered ‘underfished’. There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that deep-set shots also result in fewer interactions with turtles and seabirds. Therefore operators setting more hooks per shot are unlikely to significantly impact on the sustainability of the fishery.
Given that SFRs will come into force from 1 November 2009, no other appropriate action is available to replace the hook decrementation methods in the Plan.
Consultation
The MAC considered possible alternative monitoring options under the Plan that would not involve large set up costs by industry or AFMA. Eastern Tuna MAC agreed to the proposed hook decrementation system to monitor effort under the Management Plan.
The issue of whether to use a vessel specific average to decrement branchline clips or a fleet wide average where every vessel in the fleet (outside the Coral Sea zone (historically referred to as Area E)) is decremented the same number of branchline clips per fishing operation was discussed at some length at Eastern Tuna MAC 74. The MAC did not reach a consensus view, but a majority supported the fleet average approach.
While the vessel specific option would more accurately reflect the number of hooks likely to be set, this option would be far more costly to implement and administer.
The proposed Plan amendment and interim Temporary Order were endorsed by the newly established Tropical Tuna MAC at its 27 August 2009 meeting. This MAC has replaced the Eastern Tuna MAC as the key consultative Committee for the fishery. The AFMA Commission is to consider these matters out-of-session in September 2009.
Regulatory Impact statement
The Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) has advised it considers the impacts of the amendments will be ‘low’, that no further analysis is required and that the preparation of a RIS or quantification of compliance costs is not required (OBPR Reference No. 10653).
Details of Temporary order
Clause 1 - Provides that the Order is the Fisheries Management (Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery) Temporary Order 2009.
Clause 2 - Provides that the Order commences on the day after it is registered (on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments).
Clause 3 - Paragraph 3(1) provides that Section 48 of the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Plan 2005 is to be removed.
Paragraph 3(2) provides that for the purposes of section 20 of the Management Plan, the number of ‘branchline clips’ is defined as the number of branchline clips that are recorded in accordance with sub-sections 3(3) to 3(5) of this Order.
Paragraph 3(3) provides for AFMA to determine, prior to the commencement of each fishing season, the fixed number of branchline clips (or hooks) that will be decremented for each longline fishing shot undertaken in the fishery, or a specified part of the fishery, during the season.
Paragraph 3(4) provides that the fixed number of branchline clips in paragraph 3(3) determined by AFMA will be the average number of branchline clips used by all longline SFR holders during each pelagic longline operations in the fishery, or a specified part of the fishery, over a 12 month period. Data for the period 2 years prior to the commencement of the season may be used to determine the average number.
Paragraph 3(5) provides that where AFMA considers insufficient data is available to determine the exact average number of branchline clips used by all SFR holders during the 12 month period, AFMA may use the best available data to estimate the average number.
Clause 4 corrects the definition in the Plan of the ‘ETBF Regulations’.