Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Non-Quota Species) Determination 2017

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority

Fisheries Management Act 1991
Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003

Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Non-Quota Species) Determination 2017

The Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Non-Quota Species) Determination 2017 (the Determination) is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

Subsection 17(5) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that a plan of management made under the Act is to set out, amongst other things, the objectives of the plan of management and measures by which the objectives are to be attained.

Paragraph 17(6)(aa) of the Act provides that a plan of management made under the Act may provide for the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to determine the fishing capacity permitted for the fishery or a part of the fishery in respect of a particular period or periods.

Section 15 of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003 (the Plan) provides that AFMA may determine a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for a non-quota species for a period specified in the Determination. In determining a TAC for a non-quota species or a non-quota species fished with a particular method or in a particular area of the fishery, AFMA must have regard to reference points for the species determined under section 9 of the Plan. The determination of a non-quota TAC must specify the TAC expressed in whole weight or a specified other weight and must specify the particular parts of the fishery area to which the TAC applies and fishing methods to which the TAC applies.

Section 16 of the Plan provides that, before AFMA determines a TAC for a non-quota species, it must consult and consider the views of each relevant management advisory committee. It must take into account advice from the relevant fishery assessment group about the stock status of a non-quota species and may consider the views of any other interested person. AFMA must also take into account all fishing mortality from all sectors within the fishery and overlapping or adjacent fisheries, the ecological implications of harvesting the TAC, the distribution and population structure of the species and the precautionary principle.

The Determination determines the TAC for non-quota species for the 2017 fishing year.

The Fishery

The Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) covers the area of waters from approximately 80 nautical miles off the coast near Fraser Island in Queensland, south around Tasmania and west to Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia. The area of the SESSF encompasses almost half of the waters within the Australian Fishing Zone. The SESSF operates in both Commonwealth and state waters under complex jurisdictional arrangements, due to different Offshore Constitutional Settlement arrangements with each state.

Management in the SESSF is mainly through output controls in the form of TAC limits set under the Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy and the specific SESSF Harvest Strategy Framework (HSF). Input controls used include a limit on the number of boats that operate in each sector as well as gear restrictions such as limits on mesh size and the amount of fishing gear that may be used.

Boarfish and orange roughy in the East Coast Deepwater Trawl (ECDWT) sector are the only remaining species for which non-quota TACs are set (orange roughy in the eastern, southern and western zones, as defined in Part 3 of Schedule 1 of the Plan, are quota species and subject to the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Quota Species) Determination 2017). The non-quota TACs for these two species act as a trigger limit with the main management strategy being to limit targeting of boarfish and orange roughy in this sector. If catches exceed the non-quota TACs for the season the ECDWT sector will be closed.

Consultation

The consultation process included consideration of species stock assessments at Resource Assessment Group (RAG) meetings. The stock assessments are based on the HSF and include a recommended biological catch (RBC). The RBC provides the best scientific advice on what the total mortality should be for each species or stock, taking into account fishing and natural mortality and any ecological implications of harvesting the species.

The RBCs were translated into proposed TACs. The TAC represents the recommended Commonwealth commercial catch for each species or stock, and is derived by subtracting the expected mortality from incidental catch, discards, and landings in other jurisdictions from the RBC, and by applying decision rules contained in the HSF, which is endorsed by the AFMA Commission.

Advice from the RAGs was then considered by the South East Management Advisory Committee.  The recommended TACs for non-quota species in the SESSF were then sent to the AFMA Commission for determination along with all comments received.

Regulation Impact Statement

The Office of Best Practice Regulation advised on 30th June 2014 that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for Determinations of a minor, recurrent or machinery nature, specifically including determinations of fishing capacity. 

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

AFMA assesses under section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 that this legislative instrument is compatible with human rights. AFMA’s Statement of Compatibility is attached. 

Details of the Determination are set out below: