EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the Authority of the Managing Director

of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995

Direction No. NPFD 84

The Direction is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Subsection 17 (5A) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) provides that a plan of management made under the Management Act may provide for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to give particular directions for the purposes of attaining the objectives of the plan of management.  The subsection also requires that the directions be made after the consultations (if any) that are set out in the plan of management.

Section 14 of the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995 (the Plan) allows particular holders of Statutory Fishing Rights (SFRs) granted under the Plan to take prawns, squid, scampi, bugs and scallops (target species) from the Northern Prawn Fishery (the fishery).  Subsection 14(5) of the Plan allows those holders to also take other fish (bycatch) while conducting commercial fishing activities for the target species.  This ability to take target species and bycatch is subject to directions made under section 25 of the Plan.

Subsection 25(1) of the provides that AFMA may direct that fishing is not to be engaged in the fishery, or a part of the fishery, during a particular period or periods.  Section 4 of the Plan provides objectives of the Plan, including the implementation of efficient and cost effective management of the fishery.

Subsection 25(3) of the Plan provides that, before AFMA issues a direction, it must consult with the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC) about the content of the direction unless the direction is issued in circumstances of an emergency.

Section 92 of the Fisheries Administration Act 1991 provides for AFMA to delegate its powers and functions to, among others, the Managing Director of AFMA.  Subsection 17 (11) of the Management Act permits AFMA to delegate its powers to make directions (among other things) only to the Managing Director.  AFMA has delegated its power to make directions to the Managing Director.

The fishery extends from the northern coast of Western Australia, the coast of the Northern Territory and the coast of Queensland in the Gulf of Carpentaria, to the outer limit of the Australian fishing zone.  The fishery is for prawns and 4 major ecologically related species (namely squid, scampi, bugs and scallops).  There are 2 fishing seasons in the fishery, bounded by closures.   The area of the fishery overlaps the areas of a number of fisheries for other species that are managed by the States and the Territory.

The fishery is managed by limiting the amount of fishing effort that is employed by the persons permitted by the Plan to fish in the fishery (operators).  These limitations are known generically as input controls and are used in the fishery to address both biological and economic objectives for the fishery.   The specific types of inputs that are controlled in the fishery are the amount of fishing time (limited by closures of all or parts of the fishery), the amounts and types of fishing equipment, the number of boats in the fishery and the specifications of those boats.

Direction No. NPFD 84 establishes permanent closures in specified areas of the fishery.  The Direction prevents fishing in eleven specific areas within the fishery that provide essential habitats for the juvenile growth phase of penaeid prawns, a major species in the fishery.  Fishing in these areas would not only cause destruction to vital seagrass habitat but would also result in the capture of underdeveloped and undersize prawns. 

The Direction also permits limited banana prawn fishing in a specific area in daylight for a three-week period from the opening of the first season. This area supports undersized tiger prawns but also supports seasonal concentrations of adult banana prawns.  Opening this area to fishing during set daylight hours for the three week period allows banana prawns to be taken without compromising the purpose of the closure because tiger prawns emerge in numbers from the seabed at night so there will be little fishing mortality on undersized tiger prawns.

The Direction also establishes two areas that are closed to fishing, as they are the sites of research surveys investigating the impact of trawling on the benthos. To avoid confounding the results of this research it is important that these areas remain closed to commercial fishing for the duration of this project.

Direction No. NPFD 84 replaces Direction No. NPFD 78 and has the effect of adjusting the period of application of the daylight exemption area, in response to new season dates in the fishery. 

AFMA consulted with NORMAC prior to making the Direction and NORMAC supports the making of the Direction.

Details of the Direction are set out below:

Clause 1  provides for the determination to be cited as Direction No. NPFD 84.

Clause 2  provides for the commencement of the Direction.

Clause 3  states to whom the Direction applies.

Clause 4  sets out the period of application for this Direction.

Clause 5  provides for the interpretation of the Direction.  In particular, the section defines the measurement of time for the purposes of the Direction and also adopts defined terms used in the Plan.  The note indicates that terms defined in the Management Act have the same meaning in the Direction.

Clause 6  prohibits commercial fishing in the areas described in Schedule 1.

Clause 7  provides an exemption to clause 6 for persons who are within an exempt transit corridor described in Schedule 2 and carry the gear in a particular manner, or who apply for and receive an exemption before entering an area described in Schedule 1 in accordance with Schedule 3, or for persons who fish in accordance with another plan of management in force under the Management Act or State or Territory law applying in the area of the fishery, or who operate  during specific periods in an exempt daylight area described in Schedule 4.

Clause 8  revokes Direction number NPFD 78.

Schedule 1  describes the prohibited areas.

Schedule 2  describes the exempt transit corridors where vessels may navigate with fishing gear carried in the manner specified in clause 7.

Schedule 3  describes the procedure for making applications for exemptions from the prohibitions on fishing contained in clause 6, specifies certain circumstances in which exemptions will be approved, and provides for the review of any decision to refuse to grant an exemption by a senior AFMA officer who did not participate in the making of the original decision.

Schedule 4  describes an exempt daylight area where fishing may be conducted during daylight periods for a specified period.

NPFD 84