Northern Prawn Fishery Management (Fishing Capacity) Determination 2021

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT

Issued by the Authority

of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995

Northern Prawn Fishery Management (Fishing Capacity) Determination 2021

Legislative Authority

Subsection 17(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) must, in writing, after consultation with appropriate parties and considered their presentations, determine plans of management for all fisheries. Under that subsection, AFMA had determined the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995 (the Management Plan).

The Management Plan provides for two types of statutory fishing rights (SFRs); a Class B SFR, which is a right to use a boat in the Northern Prawn Fishery, and a gear SFR, which under section 7 of the Management Plan, is defined as a right to use a particular length of net for commercial fishing in the area of the Northern Prawn Fishery.

Under section 14 of the Management Plan a person who holds a Class B SFR and gear SFRs as provided for in the Management Plan may take prawns, squid, scampi, bugs and scallops (target species) from the Northern Prawn Fishery. Subsection 14(5) of the Management Plan also allows those holders to take other fish (bycatch) while conducting commercial fishing activities for the target species. 

Paragraph 17(6)(aa) of the Act provides that a plan of management made under the Act may determine, or provide for AFMA to determine the fishing capacity permitted for the Northern Prawn Fishery, or a part of the Northern Prawn Fishery, in respect of a particular period or periods.

Purpose

Subsection 7(1) of the Management Plan provides that the length of net allowed for each gear SFR is the length determined, by AFMA, under section 7A of the Management Plan.  Under section 7A of the Management Plan, AFMA may determine the total amount of operational headrope for particular methods of fishing that may be used for each gear SFR held. Once those amounts are determined, under section 7 of the Management Plan, those amounts are divided by the number of SFRs in the Northern Prawn Fishery. This equates to the length of headrope operators are able to use when employing the different determined net configurations.

The Northern Prawn Fishery Management (Fishing Capacity) Determination 2021 (the Determination) determines the total amount of operational headrope for the following methods:

The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003 (see subsection 17(6B) of the Act).

There is a 10 percent less headrope length for quad trawl nets and twin tongue trawl nets when compared with twin trawl net.  The 10 percent reduction was approved by the then AFMA Board in 2005 on the advice and recommendations by the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC). The AFMA Commission again, on the advice and recommendations of NORMAC, approved the same reduced headrope length for triple gear in March 2011. This is to ensure effort remained neutral when converting from a twin trawl net configuration to a quad, twin tongue or triple trawl net configuration.

In December 2021, AFMA Commission approved the same fishing capacity be retained, based on advice from NORMAC and the support from fishing industry.

The Fishery

Fishing in the Northern Prawn Fishery is managed under the provisions of the Management Plan and associated legislative instruments.

The Northern Prawn Fishery is located off Australia’s northern coast, extending from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, in the east to Cape Londonderry in Western Australia. The Northern Prawn Fishery covers approximately 771,000 square kilometres of the Australian fishing zone. The Northern Prawn Fishery is managed by the Commonwealth through AFMA under the Management Plan and an Offshore Constitutional Settlement (OCS) Agreement with Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Banana, tiger and endeavour prawns are the main species targeted in the Northern Prawn Fishery using prawn trawl apparatus but the commercial catch also includes other species such as scampi, bugs, scallops, and squid. The Northern Prawn Fishery is managed using input controls including spatial and temporal closures, limited entry and gear restrictions. The closures are put in place to protect nursery areas and juvenile prawns during the fishing seasons, and mid-season closures to protect pre-spawning prawns.

To operate, each trawler needs a Class B (boat) SFR and the appropriate number of gear SFRs to cover the amount of net that they wish to use. The gear SFR is set as a specified amount of headrope length, and the total number of gear SFRs in the Northern Prawn Fishery is restricted under the Management Plan to a maximum of 53,844. Of the total gear SFRs offered, 35,479 are currently available to the Northern Prawn Fishery.

Consultation

Subsection 7A(2) of the Management Plan requires that before making a determination of the total operational headrope under subsection 7A(1) of the Management Plan, AFMA must consult with NORMAC and invite comments from interested persons.

In December 2021, NORMAC was consulted and supported reinstating the fishing capacity from the NPF Fishing Capacity Determination No. NPFGD 07. The relevant interested persons are the Northern Prawn Fishery Industry Pty Ltd and Northern Prawn Fishery SFR holders who were also consulted and supported the determined fishing capacity.

Regulation Impact Statement

The Office of Regulation Review has advised that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required on the basis that the Determination is of a minor change and does not substantially alter existing arrangements (OBPR21- 01279).

Details of the Determination are set out in Attachment A.

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

The Determination 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 B.

Attachment A

The Northern Prawn Fishery Management (Fishing Capacity) Determination 2021

Details of the Determination are set out below:

Section 2        provides the Determination commences on the day after it is registered.

Section 3        provides the Determination is made pursuant to paragraph 17(6)(aa) of the Act  and under subsection 7A(1) of the Management Plan.

Section 4       defines relevant definitions for the Determination.

Note 1 explains a number of expressions used in the Determination are defined in the interpretation section of the Act including: boat and fishing.

boat means launch, vessel or floating craft of any description.

fishing means:

   Note 2 explains a number of expressions used in the Determination are defined in the interpretation section of the Management Plan including: gear statutory fishing right, headrope, Northern Prawn Fishery area and operational headrope.

 gear statutory fishing right means a statutory fishing right described in section 7 [of the Management Plan].

headrope, means for a prawn trawl net, means the rope to which the netting at the top of the net is attached at the mouth of the net.

Northern Prawn Fishery area means the area described in Schedule 1 [to the Management Plan].

operational headrope, for a prawn trawl net, means the part of the footrope of the net that lies between the 2 outermost points at which the netting at the bottom of the net is attached to the footrope.

Section 5(4)     determines the total length of operational headrope for a quad trawl net configuration that may be used under gear statutory fishing rights in the Northern Prawn Fishery area is 2873.41 metres. This equates to 8.1 cm per gear statutory fishing right.

Attachment B

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

Northern Prawn Fishery Management (Fishing Capacity) Determination 2021

 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 17(6)(aa) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may, after consultation with the Management Advisory Committee for and interested parties in the Northern Prawn Fishery, determine the fishing capacity for the Northern Prawn Fishery or part of the Fishery in respect of a particular period or periods.

The Northern Prawn Fishery Management (Fishing Capacity) Determination 2021 provides for the fishing capacity to be set within the Northern Prawn Fishery.

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.