EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT
Issued by the Authority
of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Northern Prawn Fishery Amendment (Closures) Direction No. 1 2020
Subsection 41A(2) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may, after consultation with the Management Advisory Committee for the Fishery, direct that fishing is not to be engaged in the fishery, or a particular part of the fishery, during a particular period or periods. Prior to making such a direction, AFMA must ensure that each holder of the fishing concession in the relevant fishery is provided with a copy of the direction seven (7) days before that direction takes effect. Northern Prawn Fishery (Closures) Direction No. 171 is a direction made under subsection 41A(2) after consultation with the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC) and notification to NPF concession holders.
Subsection 41A(3) of the Management Act provides that AFMA may, at any time, vary or revoke a direction made under subsection 41A(2). Any variation direction under subsection 41A(3) is not made subject to the Management Advisory Committee consultation process and concession holder notification process as is required for a subsection 41A(2) direction. However, AFMA has consulted with the Northern Prawn Fishery Industry Pty Ltd in relation to the Direction.
The Northern Prawn Fishery Amendment (Closures) Direction No. 1 2020 (the Amendment Direction) varies the Northern Prawn Fishery (Closures) Direction No. 171 (Direction No. 171) by varying the instrument to:
- provide for additional area closures for specified times within the Fishery.
The Amendment Direction is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (the Legislation Act).
Objectives
The Amendment Direction varies Direction No. 171 by providing for additional area closures for specified times within the Fishery. The NPF Harvest Strategy 2014 includes a maximum economic yield (MEY) based banana prawn catch trigger used to calculate the length of the banana prawn fishing season. This trigger is variable and is calculated in-season, based on economic data provided by the peak industry body for the Fishery, NPF Industry Pty Ltd (NPFI). The high variability and environmental dependency of banana prawn recruitment results in significant variations in stock availability from year to year, and therefore this decision rule allows AFMA to close the banana prawn fishery once the MEY threshold is reached (noting the NPF is still open to target tiger prawns).
The decision rule was triggered on 5 June 2020 and the requirement to close the banana prawn fishery has now been triggered as informed by the NPFI. Therefore, this Direction closes the Fishery area to all fishing west of 138 degrees (Northern Territory waters), closes the Fishery area to daylight trawling east of 138 degrees (Queensland waters) between 8 am and 6 pm, and closes the Sweers Island - Mornington Island area to protect juvenile tiger prawns. Outside these closures there is continued access to the tiger prawn fishery until 15 June 2020.
Background on the Fishery
The Northern Prawn Fishery is an area of waters that extends from the coastline to the edge of the Australian Fishing Zone (200 nautical miles offshore) north of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Fishing in the Fishery is for prawns and four major ecologically related species (namely squid, scampi, bugs and scallops). There are two fishing seasons in the Fishery. The area of the Fishery overlaps the areas of a number of fisheries for other species that are managed by Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The Fishery is managed by limiting the amount of fishing effort under the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995 (the Plan). These limitations are known commonly as input controls and are used in the Fishery to address both the biological and economic objectives of the Fishery. The specific types of inputs that are controlled in the Fishery are the amount of fishing time (limited within the fishing seasons), the amounts and types of fishing equipment and the number of boats in the Fishery.
Consultation
Variations made under subsection 41A(3) of the Act do not require AFMA to consult. However, consistent with section 17 of the Legislation Act, AFMA consulted with NPFI prior to making the Amendment Direction. NPFI is the peak industry body and represents approximately 95 per cent of the concession holders in the Fishery. NPFI keep all concession holders in the Fishery informed on matters relating to the management of the Fishery. NPFI supports the making of the Amendment Direction.
Regulation Impact Statement
The Office of Best Practice Regulation has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for this instrument consistent with the carve-out agreement with AFMA (OBPR reference 14421) for instruments of a minor or machinery nature.
Statement of compatibility prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
This legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms under section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011. A full statement of compatibility is set out in the Attachment.
Direction
The details of the Amendment Direction are set out below:
Section 1 Provides for the Direction to be cited as the Northern Prawn Fishery Amendment (Closures) Direction No. 1 2020.
Section 2 Provides that the Direction commences on 10 June 2020.
Section 3 Provides that this Direction is made under subsection 41A(3) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991.
Section 4 Gives effect to Schedule 1.
Schedule 1 Schedule 1 outlines the variations to Direction No. 171.
Clause 1 Replaces subsection 7.5 with a new subsection 7.5 to provide that fishing is not to be engaged in in the area defined in Schedule 11, which is the area of Sweers Island – Mornington Island, during the prescribed times.
Clause 2 Replaces subsection 7.6 with a new subsection 7.6 to provide that fishing is not to be engaged in in waters west of the meridian of Longitude 138 degress East during the prescribed times. This clause prohibits all fishing west of 138 degrees (Northern Territory waters).
Clause 3 Replaces subsection 7.7 with a new subsection 7.7 to provide that fishing is not to be engaged in in waters east of the meridian of Longitude 138 degress East during the prescribed times. The effect of this clause is that fishing will be closed to daylight trawling east of 138 dgrees (in Queensland waters) between 8 am and 6 pm.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Northern Prawn Fishery Amendment (Closures) Direction No. 1 2020
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
Subsection 41A(2) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may, after consultation with the Management Advisory Committee for the Fishery, direct that fishing is not to be engaged in the fishery, or a particular part of the fishery, during a particular period or periods. Subsection 41A(3) of the Management Act provides that AFMA may, at any time, vary or revoke a direction made under subsection 41A(2). Any variation direction under subsection 41A(3) is not made subject to the Management Advisory Committee consultation process and concession holder notification process as is required for a subsection 41A(2) direction.
The Northern Prawn Fishery Amendment (Closures) Direction No. 1 2020 (Direction) varies the Northern Prawn Fishery (Closures) Direction No. 171 to provide for additional area closures for specified times within the Fishery
In particular, the Direction varies the closure conditions by providing for additional area closures for the last week of the 2020 banana prawn season to maximise net economic returns to the Australian community. The Direction closes all waters west of 138 degrees (Northern Territory waters), prohibits daylight trawling east of 138 degrees (Queensland waters) between 8 am and 6 pm, and closes the Sweers Island - Mornington Island area to protect juvenile tiger prawns.
Human rights implications
This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.