EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the Authority of the Managing Director
of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority
Fisheries Management Act 1991
Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003
Temporary Order - Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (Additional Quota Species) Temporary Order 2005
Section 43 of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act) provides for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (the Authority) to make an order to enable quick action to deal with (inter alia), circumstances where urgent action is required for purposes related to the management of a fishery. Pursuant to section 92(1) of the Fisheries Administration Act 1991, the Authority has delegated it powers and functions under section 43 of the Management Act to the Managing Director of the Authority.
In this instance, the Managing Director of the Authority has exercised his powers to make this Temporary Order which amends the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003 (the SESSF Plan) by adding several new “quota” species.
The SESSF Plan created the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (the SESSF) in late 2003. The SESSF covers an area of waters from around 80nm off the coast near Fraser Island Queensland to Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia. The area of this fishery covers nearly half of the waters within the Australian Fishing Zone of mainland Australia and Tasmania and its component sectors employ a range of fishing gears, which includes line, mesh net, trawl and traps to harvest finfish and sharks. The sectors of the fishery are well established as they were previously managed as fisheries in their own rights. The intent of bring a number of similar fisheries together and managing them as one fishery under one plan of management allows the Authority to better pursue its legislative objectives for management of the fishery as a whole, and of its component sectors.
The SESSF is managed using a mixture of input and output controls. There is a limit on the number of boats that operate in each sector as well as limits on trawl mesh size and the amount of fishing gear that can be used. Individual Transferable Quotas (ITQs) were introduced into the then South East Trawl Fishery (now a SESSF sector) in 1992 for 16 scalefish species. ITQs were introduced for 3 key species in 1998 in the then South East Non-trawl Fishery, and the remaining South East Trawl Fishery scalefish species were introduced in 2002. ITQs for school and gummy shark were introduced to the component SESSF fisheries in 2001, and ITQs for the elephant fish family and saw shark were introduced in 2002 and 2003.
In response to scientifically founded concerns for the stock status of several species of shark and finfish exploited in deepwater areas of the SESSF, and the ability of the fishery to rapidly increase exploitation of these species, the Authority needs to introduce ITQs for some additional species as a matter of urgency.
Under this Temporary Order, ITQs will be introduced into the SESSF by way of a temporary amendment to the SESSF Plan for the following species: smooth dory – Cascade Plateau (management zone); smooth dory – all of SESSF except Cascade Plateau; oreos (mixed ‘basket’ of warty, spiky, rough and black oreo); deepwater sharks (east and west zones); and ribaldo cod.
In general, an ITQ managed quota species has an annual total allowable catch set by the Authority to ensure the take of the species is ecologically sustainable. The total allowable catch is allocated to concession holders in the fishery in accordance with the quota units they hold for a particular species. Concession holders may transfer their quota to another person. This transferability allows the pursuit of economic efficiency whereby operators in the fishery can increase or decrease their harvests within the sustainability bounds of the total allowable catch.
By its nature, the Temporary Order is a temporary ‘fix’ to introduce the required management measures for the new deepwater species/species groups under the SESSF Plan. The Temporary Order will have effect for the maximum period allowed, being 6 months.
Whilst the Temporary Order is in force, only one further order, the same in substance as the first order, may be made. What this means is the new management measures for deepwater species under the SESSF Plan can only last for a maximum of 12 months, during which time, AFMA will pursue an amendment to the SESSF Plan to make the new measures permanent.
The amendment to the SESSF Plan will require direct consultation with concession holders in the SESSF, which will be undertaken in 2005. Despite there being no requirement for the Authority to undertake consultation with affected persons in relation to an order made under section 43 of the Management Act, the Authority has undertaken extensive consultation in regard to the need to apply management measures for the species covered by the order. The Authority is satisfied the Temporary Order is a necessary action to ensure the sustainability of additional species in the fishery by way of ITQ management.