Northern Prawn Fishery
Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC)
NORMAC 51 Chair's summary
29 August 2001
This is a report from the 51st meeting of NORMAC which was held in Fremantle on 15, 16 and 17 August 2001. The main items considered at this meeting were the proposal to amend the NPF Management Plan to determine future effort levels in the fishery through either Regulation or Determination, the NPFAG 2000 stock assessment report on tiger prawns, and a review of the report by Dr. Rick Deriso, reduction in effort on tiger prawns, protocols for the Closures sub-committee, and the recommendations from the NORMAC Research & Environment sub-committee.
Amending the NPF Management Plan
In February 2001 NORMAC 50 considered a proposal to amend the NPF Management Plan to allow for the total amount of gear in the fishery to be set by a legislative instrument (either Regulation or Determination) , rather than through the management plan as currently occurs. NORMAC agreed out of session to the proposal to provide a more flexible mechanism for adjustment in the future through the use of Determination as the most appropriate legislative mechanism for setting the amount of gear to be used in the fishery. At its meeting last week, NORMAC reconfirmed its support for amending the NPF management and supported the inclusion of the consultation process to be followed before any adjustment are made to the total amount of gear to be used in the fishery to be included in the Management Plan.
This process will involve consideration by SFR holders, interested parties and NORMAC of the proposed level of gear to be used, a decision by the AFMA Board, no changes to gear to be implemented in mid-season and a minimum of 2 months notice before any changes came into effect, and the tabling of the Determination in both Houses of Parliament.
The consultation process is consistent with that which is undertaken in other fisheries where adjustments to fishing effort are made by Determination. The AFMA Board has approved the NORMAC recommendation that immediate action be taken to implement the proposed amendment to the Plan to facilitate the implementation of additional effort reduction in the fishery in 2002 and this process has now commenced.
Tiger Prawn Fishery Assessment/Effort Reduction
NORMAC received a report from the NPFAG on the status of tiger prawn stocks in the fishery in the year 2000 The FAG report indicated that the current biomass of brown tiger prawns is well below abundance levels characteristic of the early 1970's and conclusively below levels (SMSY) that support maximum sustainable yield (MSY). The FAG indicated that current biomass of grooved tiger prawns is also below abundance levels that support MSY but not as depleted as brown tiger prawns.
AFMA had commissioned an independent review of the assessment by Dr. Rick Deriso, an international stock assessment expert. Dr. Deriso consulted with members of the NPFAG, the NPF manager and NPF industry organisations during the review. In presenting his report to NORMAC 51, Dr. Deriso confirmed that the NPF tiger prawn assessments are probably the most comprehensive assessments of any prawn populations in the world but that the assessment is based on limited data and some results exhibit a large degree of uncertainty. Dr. Deriso indicated that new types of data are needed and current work needs to continue on the revision of the stock assessment method and interpretation of input data.
The review by Deriso supported the general conclusion of the Northern Prawn Fishery Assessment Group (NPFAG) that current biomass of brown tiger prawns is well below abundance levels characteristic of the early 1970's and conclusively below levels (SMSY) that support maximum sustainable yield (MSY). Current biomass of grooved tiger prawns is also likely below SMSY abundance levels that support MSY, but not as depleted as the brown tiger prawn population. It was noted that Dr. Deriso had proposed that in accordance with world practice, Emsy should be limit reference point, not a target .
In considering appropriate management responses to the issues raised in the NPFAG and Deriso reports, NORMAC agreed that the primary objective is to rebuild brown and grooved tiger prawn stocks to SMSY within 5 years (by the end of 2006) and that this would require a significant reduction in fishing effort. It was agreed that due to the uncertainty in the stock assessment model and the state of the stocks, a high level of precaution should be adopted in addressing the problem and that NORMAC needed to take a long term approach with checks and balances in place to ensure that targets are reached, appropriate fishery independent data is collected and regular reviews of milestones are undertaken. NORMAC agreed that to rebuild the brown tiger prawns stocks by the target date, effort reduction on brown tigers needed to be between 35-45% and that a significant reduction in effort on grooved tiger prawns also needed to be implemented.
NORMAC noted that whilst there was a need to balance effort and sustainability and that the prime objective at this time is to rebuild the stocks, the MAC also needed to take account of all of AFMA's legislative objectives when making its recommendations to the Board, including the economic efficiency objective.
NORMAC noted there were several options available for achieving effort reduction and developed a strategy comprising reduced fishing time and an across the board reduction in gear be implemented for the commencement of the 2002 fishing season to reduce fishing effort on both species of tiger prawns. To this end unanimously NORMAC resolved that the 2001 banana prawn season be implemented from 1 April to 13 May and the tiger prawn season be implemented from 1 September to 1 December. Additional adjustment would be implemented through a 25% reduction in gear to be implemented on 1 April 2002. It should be noted that the 25% reduction will be on the amount of gear to be used, not on the number of gear units held ie the amount of gear allocated to each gear unit will be reduced, rather than a reduction in the total number of gear units.
It is estimated that this package of measures would provide a reduction in the order of 43% on brown tiger prawns and 26% on grooved tiger prawns assuming that 10 boats left the fishery as a result of the reduction in gear. The model was used to confirm that this level of effort reduction would be sufficient to meet the target. It should be noted that the model assumes that there will be no effort creep during the five year period, or if there is, that action will be taken to counterbalance it immediately. NORMAC recognised that the package will impose some economic impediments as a result of the increased closures however it was agreed that a mix of measures to reduce effort were required to ensure certainty the target would be reached in 5 years.
In determining milestones and performance measures for the fishery, NORMAC agreed that from 2002 and thereafter (annually) NORMAC will use the NPFAG accepted assessment model to estimate the performance of the previous years stock relative to spawner target levels. The agreed target is a 70+% chance that the spawner population at the end of 2006 will be above or at spawner target levels. NORMAC will utilise the advice of the NPFAG (majority) to provide the advice to assess performance against the target. If the agreed target is not projected to be reached NORMAC will recommend appropriate effort adjustment measures to achieve the target by 2006. It was noted that in 2002 the assessment will only be able to address fishing power changes.
NORMAC resolved that to address recommendations emanating from the Deriso review, an annual in-season fishery independent survey be initiated in 2002. The survey will be fishery independent survey during the fishing season of an appropriate subset of the NPF fishing grounds to estimate and monitor:
- prawn abundance in fished and non-fished areas;
- fishing power; and,
- other key biological data eg species split data
NORMAC proposed that the scope of the survey design should be developed by the NPFAFG and that this be funded out of MIRF. It was noted that additional funding will be required to undertake the survey work.
NORMAC noted that the target date for the reduction in gear to take place in April 2002 will be subject to the proposed amendment to the NPF Management Plan to allow adjustments to be made to the amount of gear in the fishery through Determination being completed before the election. NORMAC agreed that it would be appropriate for the NORMAC Chair and NPF manager to visit key ports to explain the recommendations of NORMAC on the effort reduction measures to be implemented.
The AFMA Board have subsequently approved the recommendations of NORMAC 51 on effort reduction and port visits have been scheduled to take place in Brisbane on 6th September and in Cairns on 7th September. The proposed meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss the elements of the package to ensure there is no confusion however the agreed package and the timing of its implementation are not open to further debate. Details of the times and venues for the port meetings are enclosed under separate flyer and I would encourage you all to attend.
Closures Committee Protocols
NORMAC considered a discussion paper on appropriate protocols for the NORMAC Closures-sub-committee and agreed that the committee should continue as a sub-committee of the MAC. It was agreed there is a need to review the existing closures, including establishing the basis for their initial implementation and that the review should be funded from MIRF. NORMAC supported the development by the committee of a set of indicators and decision rules against which future proposals would be considered. Any future closure proposals should be addressed to the NPF manager who will refer them to the closures sub-committee and industry associations. The NORMAC REC will also consult with the closures committee when determining annual research priorities.
NORMAC approved a proposed new timetable for closures being that all proposals from industry should be received by AFMA by the end of the second seasons and distributed by AFMA to Associations with comments due back by 11 January. The committee will meet on 4 February and then provide its recommendations to NORMAC. A second meeting may be held in Darwin in the mid year closure if necessary. The change to the timing of the end of year meeting will mean that the NPF Information book will not be available until mid March each year.
Research & Environment Sub-committee Report
NORMAC received a report from the Sub-committee outlining its discussions on several issues including NPF research proposals for 2001/02, the preliminary analyses of Moreton Bay Bugs in the NPF, research funding and the NPF contribution to FRDC; and monitoring the Gulf of Carpentaria roadsteads for heavy metal analysis from prawns.
NORMAC noted that eleven pre-proposals were submitted to the REC for evaluation and that each proposal was ranked by NORMAC REC members taking into account completed and ongoing research in the NPF and the research needs of the fishery as documented in the NPF 2000 Research Plan; the draft Bycatch Action Plan (BAP); the draft strategic assessment of the NPF; the recommendation from the mid-year "at-sea research" workshop (Cairns, June 2000); and the recommendations of the FAG.
NORMAC noted advice on the new monitoring program to gather preliminary information on the relative abundance of the two species of bugs in the NPF - the mud bug (Thenus indicus), and the reef bug (Thenus orientalis) A total of 1042 bugs were identified, sexed and measured, and 97.7% of these were the mud bug (T. indicus). In only one of the samples did the reef bug (T. orientalis) make up more than 10% of the catch (Table 2). In the commercial samples, 62.4% of the mud bugs were females, whereas in the samples that included under-sized bugs only 30.4% were females. A Carapace Length to Carapace Width relationship has been developed for these samples. These samples were all collected from vessels fishing for banana prawns in the NPF. Although the pattern of relative species abundance seems very clear from these samples, it is important that samples also be collected from the tiger prawn component of the NPF. The tiger prawn fishery mostly operates in slightly different areas with different substrate types. The two species of bugs are known to utilise different habitats on the east coast of Queensland so it is possible that the species mix of bugs may be different in the tiger prawn fishery.
Arrangements have now been made to collect further samples of bugs during the second fishing season in the NPF. Observers on vessels as part of the FRDC-funded project on the assessment of TEDs and BRDs in the NPF will collect some samples and some other fishing vessels will also provide CSIRO with samples for analysis.
NORMAC noted progress on the proposal that the NPF contribution to FRDC be increased by $100K/year for an initial 3 years conditional on reaching an acceptable agreement with FRDC that guarantees a minimum return of 2:1 to the NPF on the increased contribution ie $200K;developing a timely (10 weeks or less) process that meets both NPF and FRDC needs and guarantees that the projects funded by the extra $200K available are NORMAC initiated research; and AFMA endorsement of the MOU with FRDC. The agreement has been approved by the FRDC Board and signed by Peter Dundas-Smith on behalf of FRDC however discussions are being held AFFA, AFMA and NORMAC representatives to finalise this.
NORMAC noted that an agreed monitoring project has been negotiated with Pasminco on monitoring the south-east Gulf roadstead used by the Pasminco operations and sampling and sample processing proceeded for 2001 at the end first half of the 2001 season. There were some minor "teething" problems with sampling, storage and transportation of prawns that will be rectified in 2002 but overall the project is progressing as planned and a draft report will be completed by the end of September 2001.
The preliminary results indicate concentrations of the heavy metals Zinc, Copper, Cadmium, and Lead, were all relatively low in the prawn tail-meats tested. Concentrations of the heavy metals Zinc, Copper, Cadmium, and Lead, were all relatively high in the prawn hepatopancreas tissue tested. There was no consistent pattern or concentration gradient relating to the heavy metals tested and the sites from which they were collected. NORMAC will be negotiating with MIM to develop a similar project to monitor the MacArthur River Mine roadstead.
Other issues
Other issues discussed at NORMAC 51 were the draft Bycatch Action Plan and draft Strategic Assessment for the fishery, and the NPF management costs and compliance reports.
This was my last meeting as Chair of NORMAC and I would like to thank my NORMAC colleagues for their valuable contribution to the management of the NPF. The recommendations arising from the meeting on effort reduction to protect the tiger prawns are evidence of a mature, responsible industry and it has been a pleasure being involved in this fishery during the last four years. I look forward to seeing you all at the forthcoming port meetings.
Page last updated
30 June, 2005
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