Objectives

Our objectives are listed in the Fisheries Administration Act 1991 (FAA) and the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (FMA) which cover all AFMA's operations.

Legislative objectives govern all of AFMA’s activities. The following objectives must be pursued by the Minister in the administration of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and by AFMA in the performance of its functions:

1. implementing efficient and cost effective fisheries management on behalf of the Commonwealth, and
2. ensuring that the exploitation of fisheries resources and the carrying on of any related activities are conducted in a manner consistent with the principles of ecologically sustainable development (which include the exercise of the precautionary principle), in particular the need to have regard to the impact of fishing activities on non-target species and the long-term sustainability of the marine environment, and
3. maximising net economic returns to the Australian community from the management of Australian fisheries, and
4. ensuring accountability to the fishing industry and to the Australian community in AFMA’s management of fisheries resources, and
5. achieving government targets in relation to the recovery of AFMA’s costs.

In addition to the objectives mentioned in subsection (1) or in section 78 of the Fisheries Management Act 1991, the Minister, AFMA and Joint Authorities are to have regard to the objectives of:

1. ensuring, through proper conservation and management measures, that the living resources of the AFZ are not endangered by over-exploitation; and
2. achieving the optimum utilisation of the living resources of the AFZ; and
3. ensuring that conservation and management measures in the AFZ and the high seas implement Australia’s obligations under international agreements that deal with fish stocks, and
4. to the extent that Australia has obligations:
   
   i) under international law; or
   
   ii) under the Compliance Agreement or any other international agreement; in relation to fishing activities by Australian-flagged boats on the high seas that are additional to the obligations referred to in paragraph (c) – ensuring that Australia implements those first‑mentioned obligations;
   
   but must ensure, as far as practicable, that measures adopted in pursuit of those objectives must not be inconsistent with the preservation, conservation and protection of all species of whales.

In addition to the above, Clause 6(ba) of the Fisheries Administration Act (FAA) requires AFMA to pursue the objective of ensuring that:

1. the exploitation in the Australian Fishing Zone (as defined in the Fisheries Management Act) and the high seas of fish stocks in relation to which Australia has obligations under international agreements; and
2. related activities; are carried on consistently with those obligations.

In pursuing all of these objectives under both the FMA and the FAA, AFMA must place equal emphasis on all of the objectives and not pursue some at the expense of others. However, varying degrees of weight and emphasis may be given to a particular objective depending on the circumstances. This position has been confirmed where AFMA’s approach to pursuing these objectives has been tested before the judiciary.

In addition, AFMA is the Commonwealth agency which, jointly with Queensland, co-ordinates and delivers fisheries management and surveillance/enforcement programs in the Torres Strait Protected Zone on behalf of the Torres Strait Protected Zone Joint Authority (PZJA).

The PZJA comprises the Commonwealth and Queensland Ministers responsible for fisheries and was established under the Torres Strait Fisheries Act 1984. The PZJA is responsible for the management of fisheries in the Australian section of the Zone, with a primary obligation to manage the fisheries in a manner that protects the way of life and livelihood of the traditional inhabitants. A significant emphasis is also placed on environmental monitoring and conservation of Torres Strait fisheries.

Page last updated 29 May, 2008