Fisheries Management (Refund) Regulations 2001 2001 No. 244
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 2001 No. 244
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Forestry and Conservation
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Fisheries Management (Refund) Regulations 2001
Section 168 of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) empowers the GovernorGeneral to make regulations for the purpose of the Management Act. Paragraph 168(2)(b) of the Management Act provides that regulations may be made providing for the remission or refund of levy under, amongst other legislation, the Fishing Levy Act 1991 (the Levy Act). Section 6 of the Levy Act provides that the amount of levy imposed on a fishing concession is the amount prescribed by Regulation.
"Fishing concession" is defined under the Levy Act and the Management Act to mean, among other things, a fishing permit. "Fishing permit" is defined under the Management Act to mean a fishing permit granted under section 32 of the Management Act. Subsection 32(1) of the Management Act provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may, upon application in the approved form, grant to a person a fishing permit authorising the use of a nominated Australian boat for fishing in a specified area of the Australian Fishing Zone or a specified fishery.
The Fisheries Management (Refund) Regulations 1992 (the 1992 Regulations) provided for refund of levy to a person who surrendered a fishing permit before the permit expired where that person had paid levy in respect of a fishing permit for an informally managed fishery in relation to the period of time or part of the period of time that the permit had left to run. The 1992 Regulations also provided for the refund of overpaid levy in respect of certain fishing permits granted for the South East Non-Trawl Fishery in 1999.
The purpose of the Fisheries Management (Refund) Regulations (the Regulations) is to provide for the refund or remittance of some levy in respect of permits for the Southern Shark Fishery (SSF) that would otherwise be due, or has been paid, in accordance with the Fishing Levy Regulations 2000 (the Levy Regulations). The Levy Regulations provide that the levy that was payable for each S SF permit that was in force during the period 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 was the sum total of a fixed amount (tier one levy) and an amount per quota unit held for each of the species school shark and gummy shark (tier two levy).
The Regulations provide for the refund or remission of levy in respect of Class A SSF permits that have been surrendered, and the refund or remission of tier two levy in respect of all Class B SSF permits.
The need to refund or remit levy in respect of Class A SSF permits that have been surrendered has arisen due to recent changes in the management regime for the SSF. A system of individual transferable quotas (ITQs) to manage the main target species of school shark and gummy shark was introduced in 2001. The changeover to ITQs also involved jurisdictional amendments by which fishing operators who previously fished in State-managed fisheries have now also come within the Commonwealth SSF. Several administrative complications have occurred during this process and as a result some operators were issued with permits that have now been surrendered. For example, some operators applied for and were granted permits but these permits were subsequently surrendered in the buy-back scheme that accompanied the jurisdictional changes. Another operator mistakenly applied for, and was granted, a permit to replace each of their Commonwealth and State entitlements. One of these permits was redundant and therefore subsequently surrendered. In addition, some South Australian operators were granted permits that were subsequently surrendered due to the misunderstanding as to what constitutes 'Internal waters' in South Australia, and which therefore led to confusion about which fishery areas permits were required for.
The Levy Regulations in effect provide that Class B permit holders in the SSF must pay both tier one levy ($400 base amount) and tier two levy (3lc per quota unit), as no distinction is made in the Levy Regulations between Class A SSF permits and Class B SSF permits. This was an error as the applicable policy is that Class B permit holders should not pay tier one levy. This policy was made on the basis of a recommendation by the Southern Shark Fishery Management Advisory Committee. Therefore the new Regulations will allow AFMA to refund or remit tier one levy to Class B permits holders.
The Regulations repeal the 1992 Regulations, which are now redundant.
Details of the Regulations, which commenced on gazettal, are set out below:
Regulation 1 provides that the name of the Regulations is the Fisheries Management (Refund) Regulations 2001.
Regulation 2 states that the Regulations commence on gazettal.
Regulation 3 defines terms used in the Regulations.
Regulation 4 provides for the refund or remission of levy payable in accordance with the Levy Regulations for a Class A SSF fishing permit if the holder surrenders, or has surrendered, the permit.
Regulation 5 provides for the refund or remission of tier one levy payable in accordance with the Levy Regulations for a Class B SSF fishing permit.
Regulation 6 repeals the 1992 Regulations, as amended.