Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Fishing Season Determination 2025

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Protected Zone Joint Authority

Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984

Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Management Plan 2009

Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Fishing Season Determination 2025

Legislative Authority

The Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Fishing Season Determination 2025 (the Determination) is a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.  The Determination is made under sections 15A(1) and 35(1)(a) of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 (the Act) and under subsection 2.3(2) of the Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Management Plan 2009 (the Plan).

Section 15A(1) of the Act provides that the Minister may, by legislative instrument, determine a plan of management for a fishery in an area of Australian jurisdiction.  A management plan 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.

Section 35(1)(a) of the Act provides that, in respect of a Protected Zone Joint Authority fishery, the powers of the Minister under section 15A are exercisable by the Projected Zone Joint Authority.  Subsection 28(1) of the Act provides that a ‘Protected Zone Joint Authority fishery’ is a fishery in respect of which an arrangement under Part V of the Act is in place.  The Arrangement between the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland under section 31 of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984 dated 17 March 1999 (the PZJA Arrangement[1]), made under Part V of the Act, provides that the PZJA is to have management of the fishery for the purposes of commercial fishing in the areas described in section 4 of the Arrangement. The prawn fishery, which is defined in section 4 of the Determination by reference to the ‘area of the Prawn fishery’ described in the Plan is within the area described in section 4(2) of the PZJA Arrangement.   It follows that commercial fishing for prawns in the area of the prawn fishery would come under the definition of being a ‘Protected Zone Joint Authority fishery’ for the purpose of subsection 28(1) of the Act and the PZJA can therefore exercise the power of the Minister under subsection 15A(1) of the Act in relation to commercial fishing within the prawn fishery.  

Subsection 2.3(2) of the Plan provides that the Protected Zone Joint Authority (PZJA) will determine the fishing season in a particular year. 

Subsection 2.3(3) of the Plan provides that a determination made under subsection 2.3(2) for a year must:

1.       be made at least 2 weeks before the start of the fishing season or, if the determination is extending the fishing season, at least 2 weeks before the end of the fishing season; and
2.       be published on the PZJA website, and if practicable, notified to all holders of Torres Strait Prawn Fishery (TSPF) licences and TSPF Treaty endorsements. 

The Determination determines the fishing season for the TSPF for the 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033, 2034 and 2035 fishing seasons as the period from 6 pm on 1 February in the respective year to 6 am on 1 December local time in the same year.  Local time is defined in the Plan to mean the time of day in the State of Queensland.

The PZJA is established under section 30 of the Act and consists of the Minister administering the Act, the Queensland Minister administering the laws of Queensland relating to marine fishing in the Protected Zone and the Chairperson of the Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA), which is the Commonwealth agency established under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 that represents the interests of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders. 

Purpose

The Determination repeals and replaces the Torres Strait Prawn Fishery Fishing Season Determination 2015. The 2015 determination set the fishing season up to and including 2025. A new season date determination must be made to allow continued operation of the fishery from 2026. Further, under section 2.3(3) of the Plan, PZJA is required to make the fishing season determination at least 2 weeks before the start of a fishing season. The determination will also ensure the fishery is managed in accordance with the objectives in section 8(e) of the Act, in particular to manage commercial fisheries for optimum utilisation.

The Fishery

The TSPF is currently regulated through the Act, the Torres Strait Fisheries Regulations 1985 (Regulations), the Plan and the legislative instruments as well as through the imposition of conditions on licences under section 22 of the Act.

The TSPF operates in the eastern part of the Torres Strait Protected Zone (TSPZ). The key species for the fishery are brown tiger prawns and blue endeavour prawns. Species that are also taken as by-product include red spot king prawns, Moreton Bay bugs, scallops and squid. This fishery is subject to management and catch sharing arrangements under the Torres Strait Treaty.

 Fishers use the otter trawl method where two, three or four trawl nets are towed behind the fishing vessel. Fishing occurs in the eastern part of the Torres Strait at night and only during the fishing season (which is determined under this instrument). To ensure the amount of prawns caught each year is sustainable the total number of fishing days is capped and the length of boats and the size of nets that fishers can use are restricted.

Details of the Determination

Details of the Determination are set out below:

Publication and Commencement

Subsection 2.3(3)(b) of the Plan provides that a determination under section 2.3 of the Plan must be published on the PZJA website and, if practicable, notified to all holders of TSPF licences and TSPF Treaty endorsements. TSPF licence holders were notified of the change. No TSPF treaty endorsements were in effect at the time of making this Determination.

Under subsections 56(2) and (3) of the Legislation Act 2003 (Cth) (Legislation Act), the publication of the Determination is taken to be in addition to a requirement under the Legislation Act for the Determination to be registered as a legislative instrument on the Federal Register of Legislation.  The PZJA, as the rule maker for the Instrument, must lodge the Determination for registration as a legislative instrument on the Federal Register of Legislation as soon as practicable after the Determination is made under section 15G(1) of the Legislation Act.  Under section 38(1)(b) of the Act, the PZJA has delegated lodgement for registration of the Determination on the Federal Register of Legislation to staff members of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA).  Note the powers in section 35(1) of the Act are not delegable under section 38 of the Act.

 Consultation

The PZJA and AFMA, which is delegated responsibility for the day-to-day management of Torres Strait fisheries under paragraph 38(1)(b) of the Act, take advice through a number of advisory committees established under subsection 40(7) of the Act, that include traditional inhabitants of the Torres Strait.  The PZJA advisory committees generally consist of an independent Chair and representatives from the government (Fisheries Queensland, AFMA and TSRA), scientific experts, economists, traditional inhabitant fishing industry and, where applicable, non‑traditional inhabitant fishing industry.  In addition, the Chairperson of the Malu Lamar (Torres Strait Islander) Corporation RNTBC (Malu Lamar), which is a Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) and representatives from the Papua New Guinea National Fisheries Authority also have standing invitation to attend meetings as an observer. 

The Torres Strait Prawn Management Advisory Committee (TSPMAC) is the advisory committee that provides advice to the PZJA, as relevant to the TSPF. TSPMAC considered the draft Determination at a video conference meeting in August 2025 and provided advice to the PZJA, supporting the Determination.

Native Title

The making of the Determination is a future act for the purposes of the Native Title Act 1993 (the Native Title Act).  In particular, sections 24HA and 24OA of the Native Title Act relevantly provides that the making of legislation in relation the management or regulation of living aquatic resources, such as the Determination, is a valid future act insofar as it impacts upon native title rights and interests. 

Disallowance and sunsetting

The Determination is a legislative instrument for the purpose of the Legislation Act and is not subject to disallowance by application of subsection 44(1) of the Legislation Act, as the PZJA in making this Determination is an intergovernmental body involving the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland.

The Determination is not subject to sunsetting by application of subsection 54(1) and subsection 54(2)(b) of the Legislation Act, read together with item 63AB(d) of the table in section 12 of the Legislation (Exemptions and Other Matters) Regulation 2015.

Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

As the Determination has been developed for the purposes of the intergovernmental body or scheme, it is exempt from disallowance through the process of parliamentary scrutiny, by application of subsection 44(1)(a) of the Legislation Act. Therefore, a statement of compatibility with human rights, prepared under subsection 9(1) of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 (Cth) is not required, as subsection 15J(2)(f) of the Legislation Act only requires statement of compatibility of human rights to be prepared for disallowable legislative instruments.

[1] PZJA Arrangement means the document titled “Arrangement between the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland under section 31 of the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984” dated 17 March 1999 and published on the Federal Register of Legislation, as that document exists at the commencement of this Instrument.

Note: The PZJA Arrangement could be viewed on the website of the Federal Register of Legislation at: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2008B00750.