Protected species

Reporting interactions with protected species

Operators must report all protected species interactions in their logbook.

As long as you are fishing in accordance with your management arrangements it is not an offence to interact with a protected species. It is, however, an offence not to report these interactions. So, don't get caught - just report!

All interactions with listed species, including in AFMA managed Commonwealth fisheries must be reported to DEW within seven days. However, in 2005, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (PDF 769kb) was agreed between AFMA and DEW which allows AFMA to report interactions with protected species on behalf of Commonwealth fishers. 

Reporting is easy. All operators need to do is report protected species interactions in their AFMA logbook. AFMA will then provide summary reports to the Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEW) to meet operators reporting obligations.

AFMA then provides quarterly summary reports of protected species interactions, as reported by fishers in their logbooks, to DEW. These reports are listed below. As reports are based on logbook data they may not be complete records of all interactions that have occured in Commonwealth fisheries.

All interaction information provided to DEW is for information purposes only.  Names of persons or boats are not provided. AFMA uses the interaction information to develop management arrangements to minimise the likelihood of future protected species interactions.

Protected species interaction reports from AFMA logbooks

Type		Size
	1 January to 31 March 2008	71kb
	1 October to 31December 2007	38kb
	1 July to 30 September 2007	37kb
	1 April to 30 June 2007	38kb
	1 January to 30 March 2007	44kb
	1 October to 31 December 2006	27kb
	1 July to 30 September 2006	41kb
	1 April to 30 June 2006	28kb

Page last updated 2 September, 2008