Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1) 1998 No. 363
EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
STATUTORY RULES 1998 No. 363
Issued by the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1)
Authority
Subsection 168(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) empowers the GovernorGeneral to make regulations required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed.
Subsection 42(1) of the Act provides that the regulations may provide for the holders of fishing concessions to record and furnish returns containing information relating to the taking, sale or disposal, carrying, transhipping and processing of fish. Subsection 42(2) of the Act provides that it is a condition of a fishing concession that the holder comply with the requirements of any such regulations. Fishing concessions are defined in subsection 4(1) to include, among other things, statutory fishing rights (SFRs).
Subsection 17(1) of the Act empowers the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to determine a plan of management for a fishery. AFMA has determined the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery Management Plan 1995 (the Plan) for the Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) Fishery.
The Plan provides for management of the fishery by means of a system SFRs. Under the Plan, a holder of SFRs is permitted to take a particular quantity by weight of SBT for each SFR held during an Australian season, as determined by AFMA.
Purpose
The Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Regulations (the principal Regulations) complement the Plan and prescribe matters in support of the Act relevant to the SBT Fishery.
The Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1) (the Regulations) amend the principal Regulations to implement requirements for the recording and furnishing of returns within a defined time period, where the returns relate to tuna taken by a SFR holder for transfer to a tuna farm. This will have the effect of imposing a 40 day time limit for the entire procedure of towing and then transferring tuna to a tuna farm, at which point the weight of the SBT is calculated for quota purposes.
This measure is intended to limit SBT mortality rates en route to tuna farms and allow for a more expedient calculation of quota holdings. In this way, the risk of operators exceeding their quota is reduced, thus contributing to Australia fulfilling its international obligations under the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna to manage the domestic fishery within its national catch allocation.
Details
The Regulations commenced on gazettal.
Details of the Regulations are set out below:
Regulation 1 provides that the name of the Regulations is the Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Amendment Regulations 1998 (No. 1)
Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.
Regulation 3 provides that the Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Regulations (principal Regulations) are amended as set out in Schedule 1.
Schedule 1:
Item 1 inserts the heading for Part 1 of the principal Regulations.
Item 2 provides for the principal Regulations to be renamed the Fisheries Management (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Regulations 1995.
Item 3 inserts new regulations into Part 2 of the principal Regulations as follows:
Regulation 2B defines terms used in the other new regulations in Part 2, including farm transfer and tow cage.
Regulation 2C provides that in Part 2 of the Regulations a reference to the holder of a permit includes a reference to an agent of that person.
Regulation 2D provides that a statutory fishing right authorising the use of a boat to take Southern Bluefin Tuna from the SBT Fishery is subject to the conditions set out in regulations 2E and 2F.
Regulation 2E requires statutory fishing right holders or their authorised representatives to furnish returns for each farm transfer within 40 days after the last Southern Bluefin Tuna fish transferred to the tow cage is transferred.
Regulation 2F sets out details of the returns required to be made pursuant to regulation 2E.
Item 4 inserts the heading for Part 3 of the principal Regulations.
Item 5 inserts the heading for Part 4 of the principal Regulations.