Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery

Management of the fishery

Current management arrangements

The fishery is managed under a management plan and Statutory Fishing Rights (SFRs), using a combination of input (limited entry, size limits, seasonal and area closures) and output controls (catch limits). Boat SFRs and quota SFRs were issued to all eligible stakeholders in the fishery in December 2004 and took effect from 1 January 2005. Prior to 2005, the scallop fishery was managed under a temporary system of annual fishing permits.

Until 2007, a boat SFR must be held by operators in addition to quota SFRs. Quota SFRs in the fishery will take the form of commercial scallop quota SFRs and doughboy scallop quota SFRs. These rights are fully tradeable.

A booklet explaining the 2005 management arrangements ( PDF 584kb) for the scallop fishery was sent to all SFR holders in December 2005, and further copies are available. AFMA plans to undertake a series of visits in early 2005 to explain these arrangements directly to industry.

Closures in the fishery

Due to the sharp decline in scallop catches in the Central Zone during the 1998 season, the fishery remained closed to commercial fishing during 1999 to allow stocks to rebuild. Information from a survey undertaken in the area east of Flinders Island in June 2000 indicated that the scope for commercial operations within the strata surveyed was limited. Based on this information, the area east of Flinders Island was kept closed to protect the only significant bed in the surveyed area, while the remainder of the fishery was opened to allow operators to search for other productive and juvenile beds in the Central Zone.

The area east of Flinders Island remained closed during 2001 and 2002, with annual scientific surveys conducted to assess the status of the stock. The 2003 survey indicated that sufficient stocks of scallops were present to allow a reopening of part of the closed area, and this was implemented from 1 May 2003. A further part of the previously closed area was opened to fishing for the 2004 season following consideration of 2004 survey results.

Development of management arrangements

The Fisheries Management Act 1991 requires all Commonwealth fisheries to be managed under statutory management plans. Management plans provide a secure access right for operators and facilitate autonomous adjustment in the fishery.

The Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery Management Plan 2002 was developed through a consultative process. A discussion paper was released in 1997, and a report was commissioned on the cost and operational requirements of the favoured option in 1998. An independent advisory panel consulted widely on future access rights; the AFMA Board accepted its recommendations in 1998. Between 1999 and 2001, the Fishery Consultative Committee and later the Management Advisory Committee developed early drafts of the proposed Management Plan. The final Management Plan was gazetted on 3 September 2002.

The Management Plan was amended in late 2004, following consultation with stakeholders. Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery Management Plan Amendment 2004 (No. 1) was determined by AFMA’s Managing Director, accepted by the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, and was gazetted on 1 December 2004. The amendments to the Plan commenced on gazettal and are now in force.

Assessment of environmental impact

Before a management plan can be approved, a Strategic Assessment Report on the environmental impact of the management arrangements for the fishery must be approved by the Minister for the Environment. This approval also meets other environmental assessment requirements, including export approval.

The Strategic Assessment Report for the fishery was completed in June 2002. The report examines the Management Plan, and other policies outside the scope of the Plan which contribute to management of the fishery and its related impacts.

An Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) is currently being carried out for this, and other Commonwealth fisheries.

Early management of the fishery

Scallop fishing in south-eastern Australia began in the inshore waters of Tasmania and Victoria. Prior to 1963 the fishery was based in Tasmania where scallops were fished in the D’Entrecasteaux Channel and along the east coast. From 1963 a scallop fishery became established in Victoria with the start of the Port Phillip Bay scallop industry. The fishery subsequently expanded to include the waters of Bass Strait when large concentrations of commercial scallops were discovered off Lakes Entrance in 1970. Promising scallop beds along the coast of northern Tasmania were first exploited in 1973, and new beds were discovered off the Furneaux Island Group in eastern Bass Strait in the late 1970s.

Lack of restrictions in the 1980s led to over-exploitation, with fishing activities reaching a peak in 1982-83. The fishery was closed in 1990 because the stock had collapsed, but reopened in 1991 under a statutory management plan that reduced and limited entry to the fishery.

Page last updated 14 August, 2008