EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENT
Issued by the Authority of the Managing Director
of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995
Determination No. NPFGD 04
Determination of fishing capacity
Subsection 17(1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority must determine plans of management for all fisheries and under that subsection AFMA has determined the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Plan 1995 (the Plan).
The Plan provides for two types of statutory fishing rights (SFRs); a Class B SFR, which is a right to use a boat in the fishery, and a gear SFR, which under section 7 of the Plan is defined as a right to use a particular length of net for commercial fishing in the area of the fishery.
Under section 14 of the Plan a person who holds a Class B SFR and gear SFRs as provided for in the Plan may take prawns, squid, scampi, bugs and scallops (target species) from the Northern Prawn Fishery (the fishery). Subsection 14(5) of the 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 Management Act may provide for the AFMA to determine the fishing capacity permitted for the fishery, or a part of the fishery, in respect of a particular period or periods.
Subsection 7(1) of the Plan provides that the length of net allowed for each gear SFR is the length determined under section 7A of the Plan. Subsection 7A(2) of the Plan requires that before making a determination of the total operational headrope under subsection 7A(1) of the Plan, AFMA must consult with the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC) and invite comments from interested persons.
The Fishery
Fishing in the NPF is managed under the provisions of the Plan and associated legislative instruments.
The Fishery is located off Australia’s northern coast, extending from Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, in the east to Cape Londonderry in Western Australia. The Fishery covers approximately 771,000 square kilometres of the Australian fishing zone. The Fishery is managed by the Commonwealth through AFMA under the 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 Fishery using prawn trawl apparatus but the commercial catch also includes other species such as scampi, bugs, scallops, and squid. The 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) Statutory Fishing Right (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 and footrope length and the total number of gear SFRs in the fishery is restricted under the Plan to a maximum of 53,844. Under the Plan, AFMA may determine the value of gear SFRs (total operational headrope in metres in the fishery).
Under this Determination each gear SFR will represent 7.481cm of operational headrope for twin trawl nets and 6.732cm centimetres of operational headrope for both quad trawl nets and twin tongue trawl nets. This is a 10 percent reduction for quad trawl nets and twin tongue trawl nets was approved by NORMAC and the AFMA Board in 2005 as a means to ensure effort remained neutral when converting from a twin trawl net configuration to a quad or twin tongue net trawl configuration.
The AFMA Board has determined that:
a) the total operational headrope for the fishery for a twin trawl net configuration should be 2654.2 metres;
b) the total operational headrope for the fishery for a quad trawl net configuration should be 2388.8 metres;
c) the total operational headrope for the fishery for a twin tongue trawl net configuration should be 2388.8 metres.
Consultation
The Northern Prawn Resource Assessment Group (NPRAG) reviewed the outcomes of the bio-economic stock assessment (2008) and considered the implications for the Harvest Strategy in May 2008. This was the first application of the NPF Harvest Strategy under input controls to determine future effort levels in the fishery.
NPRAG recognised that subsequent to the structural adjustment package, effort levels in the fishery will need to be increased to achieve maximum economic yield. In particular, the NPF fleet is not currently as efficient as it should be as many trawlers are towing sub-optimal headrope length. The base case used in the bio-economic model indicated that there should be no effort increase in effort levels in 2008 but that there should be a 26.4% effort increase in 2009. Based on the effort/gear curve, if converted only into gear increases, an increase in effort of 26.4% would equate to a massive 137.4% increase in gear in 2009, which clearly could not be operationalised as it would be beyond the capacity of the fleet to tow that much extra gear. The RAG agreed that the increase in effort suggested by the model would need to be taken as a combination of increases in gear and fishing time.
NORMAC considered the impacts of changes in fishing effort in May 2008 and unanimously agreed to an 8% effort increase in 2008 (equivalent to a 33% gear increase).
The AFMA Board supported the outputs of the updated simulations in the model and agreed to an increase of 33% in total gear for the 2008 and 2009 seasons, which is in accordance with the effort/gear curve in the NPF Harvest Strategy and the Commonwealth Harvest Strategy Policy. As a result, NPF gear SFRs increase from 5.625 cm to 7.481 cm, in order to implement the effort increase.
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 or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements (ORR ID 9662).
Details of Determination
Clause 1 provides the citation for the determination.
Clause 2 provides the date of commencement and period of application.
Clause 3 defines the terms used in the determination.
Clause 4 sets the total length of operational headrope for the fishery as 2654.2 metres for a twin trawl net configuration.
Clause 5 sets the total length of operational headrope for the fishery as 2388.8 metres for a quad trawl net configuration.
Clause 6 sets the total length of operational headrope for the fishery as 2388.8 metres for a twin ‘tongue’ trawl net configuration.
Clause 5 revokes Direction No NFPGD 03.