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 2019
The Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Non-Quota Species) Determination 2019 (the Instrument) is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation 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.
Subsection 15(1) of the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003 (the Management Plan) provides that AFMA may determine a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for a non-quota species for a period specified in the Instrument. In determining a TAC for a non-quota species (subsection 15(1) of the Management Plan) or a specific TAC for a non-quota species fished with a particular method or in a particular area of the fishery (subsection 15(3)), AFMA must have regard to reference points for the species determined under section 9 of the Plan (subsection 15(2)). Under subsection 15(4) of the Management Plan, the determination of a non-quota TAC under subsection 15(1) or subsection 15(3) 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 (paragraph 16(a) of the Management Plan) and take into account advice from the relevant fishery assessment group about the stock status of a non-quota species (paragraph 16(b) of the Management Plan). 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 (paragraph 16(c) of the Management Plan). AFMA may also consider the views of any other interested person (paragraph 16(d)).
Prior to making the Instrument, AFMA has met the requirements of paragraphs 16(a) to (c) of the Management Plan. Further detail as to how these requirements were met is outlined in detail below.
The Instrument determines the TAC for non-quota species for the 2019 fishing year. Details of the Instrument are included below.
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 made under Part 5 of the Act. Those arrangements vary the application of the Offshore Constitutional Settlement with respect to fisheries jurisdiction.
Management in the SESSF is mainly through output controls in the form of TAC limits set under the Act, pursuant to the Plan, and in accordance with the Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy and the specific SESSF Harvest Strategy Framework (HSF). Input controls are also used, which include a limit on the number of boats that operate in each sector of the fishery, 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 2019). 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 to fishing.
Consultation
AFMA has, under the Fisheries Administration Act 1991 (Administration Act), established Resource Assessment Groups (RAGs) and Management Advisory Committees (MACs) to assist AFMA in the performance of its functions. Notably, the functions of MACs established by AFMA include the function of being a liaison body between AFMA and persons engaged in a fishery (pursuant to paragraph 57(2)(a) of the Administration Act.
Prior to making the Instrument, AFMA consulted with the South East Resource Assessment Group and the South East Management Advisory Committee who supported the non-quota TACs outlined in the Instrument. Minutes from the relevant meetings of the RAGs and MACs, and species summaries were provided to the AFMA Commission in making the Instrument.
Regulation Impact Statement
The Office of Best Practice Regulation advised on 30th June 2014 that a Regulation Impact Statement is not required for Instrument of a minor, recurrent or machinery nature, specifically including determinations of fishing capacity (OBPR ID No. 14421).
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 included at the Attachment below.
Details of the Instrument
Details of the Instrument are set out below:
Section 1 | This section provides that the name of the Instrument is the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Non-Quota Species) Determination 2019. |
Section 2 | This section provides that the Instrument commences on the day after it is registered. |
Section 3 | This section provides for the revocation of the Instrument on 1 May 2020. |
Section 4 | This section provides that the Instrument is made under paragraph 17(6)(aa) of the Act for the purpose of subsection 15(1) of the Plan. |
Section 5 | This section defines relevant terms for the purpose of the Instrument. Subsection (1) provides that the Act is the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and the Management Plan is the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003. Subsection (2) provides that terms that are defined in the Management Plan have the same meaning in the Instrument as they do in the Management Plan. |
Section 6 | This section determines the total allowable catch (TAC) for each non-quota species in the East Coast Deepwater Trawl Sector of the fishery for the 2019 fishing year commencing on 1 May 2019 and ending on 30 April 2020.
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Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Total Allowable Catch (Non-Quota Species) Determination 2019
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(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 Management Plan) provides that AFMA may determine a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for a non-quota species for a period specified in the Instrument. 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 Management 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 Instrument determines the TAC for non-quota species for the 2019 fishing year.
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.