Volume 2, Issue 22, 7 November 2005
CCSBT meeting report from Taipei
The Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) held its annual meeting from 11-14 October 2005 in Taipei.
One of the most important issues discussed by the Commission was the advice of the Scientific Committee that global catches should be reduced by either 5,000 tonnes in 2006 or 7,160 tonnes in 2007.
There was considerable discussion about this issue with some countries supporting an immediate reduction and others preferring to take a reduction in 2007. In light of the disagreement, CCSBT failed to reach a settlement on national allocations for the forthcoming year and agreed that each nation should limit its catches to no more than the previous year.
Another major issue was a paper presented by Australia, outlining that an analysis of publicly available auction statistics showed substantially more SBT was being sold in Japanese markets than being reported as caught to CCSBT. Japan also presented a paper questioning the procedures approved by CCSBT for monitoring of farmed SBT in Port Lincoln. It was agreed there would be independent reviews of the Japanese SBT market data anomalies and the Australian SBT farm sector monitoring procedures. These reports will be completed by the end of June 2006 and then considered at a special meeting of CCSBT to be held in July 2006 in Canberra.
Positive progress was made with CCSBT agreeing to adopt a management procedure for implementation in 2008, to activate the Compliance Committee and to move to monthly reporting of catches. CCSBT was also able to agree to principles for an improved Catch Documentation Scheme and Australia will prepare a paper for CCSBT consideration on the implementation of these principles.
The full text of the report of this CCSBT meeting can be found at http://www.ccsbt.org.
THIS EDITION... |
CCSBT meeting report |
In preparation for the commencement of the 2006 fishing season, AFMA will not approve any application for the permanent transfer of quota in the following fisheries during the dates below: Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Applications to lease quota during this period will be approved. To discuss this issue further, please contact the AFMA Licensing and Quota Management section on |
Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery Resource Assessment Group (ScallopRAG): For more details and agenda papers for upcoming MAC meetings, please check our website. |
Interim Live Weight for the 2005/06 SBT season
In light of the CCSBT failure to agree on a global TAC and national allocations for 2006, AFMA has adopted the procedures in the management plan for such circumstances. This multi-stage process sets the national allocation and live weight, the first step being for AFMA to calculate an interim live weight value for an SFR for the forthcoming season.
The interim live weight value must not exceed 50 per cent of the actual live weight value of an SFR for the previous season. AFMA has calculated that the interim live weight value of an SFR for the 2005/06 season, commencing on 1 December 2005, to be 0.4944198638 kilograms. A notice of this interim live weight was placed in The Australian newspaper on 31 October 2005 and can also be found on our website.
Call to apply for registrations as eligible for a grant of SFR's for the Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery
AFMA is calling for applications for registration as an eligible person for the grant of statutory fishing rights (SFRs) under the Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Plan 2005. The end of the notice period, and application closing date, is 30 November 2005. This means that a person who holds a valid SWTBF fishing permit on that day will be eligible for a grant of SFRs under the Management Plan.
AFMA has written to all SWTBF permit holders informing them of the process. To discuss this issue further, please call AFMA Direct on 1300 723 621.
Bass strait scallop industry survey
In September 2005, AFMA invited all SFR holders of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery to be involved in an industry survey (using scientific permits) of the eastern closed area off Flinders Island.
This followed an earlier invitation for surveying the eastern closure and western closed half of the fishery.
Expressions of interest were received from eight SFR holders and six scientific permits were issued (each for a period of six weeks). In response to operators requests, minor amendments to the policy were made that will likely allow some boats to operate without observers and for scallop samples to be retained for scientific analysis. To date, none of the scientific permit holders have undertaken any survey work within the closed areas of the fishery.
For further information, please contact Phil Domaschenz at AFMA on 02 6272 3274 or email phil.domaschenz@afma.gov.au.
ScallopMAC Annual Public Meeting
The annual public meeting of the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery Management Advisory Committee Meeting (ScallopMAC) will be held from 10:00am – 12:30pm on Tuesday 15 November 2005 at Conference Room, Seafood Industry Victoria, Level 2, 177 Toorak Road, South Yarra in Melbourne.
If you would like further information, or would like to attend, please contact Phil Domaschenz at AFMA on 02 6272 3274 or email phil.domaschenz@afma.gov.au.
SouthMAC Annual Public Meeting
The annual public meeting of the Sub-Antarctic Fisheries Management Advisory Committee (SouthMAC) will be held from 2:00pm on Wednesday 16 November 2005 at Hobart Function and Conference Centre, Elizabeth Street Pier in Hobart.
If you would like further information, or would like to attend, please contact Peter Neave at AFMA on 02 6272 5794 or email peter.neave@afma.gov.au.
NORMAC Annual Public Meeting
The annual public meeting of the Northern Prawn Fishery Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC) will be held from 10:30am on Monday 5 December 2005 at Riverview Hotel, Kingsford Smith Drive in Brisbane.
If you would like further information, or would like to attend, please contact Wade Whitelaw at AFMA on 02 6272 5039 or email wade.whitelaw@afma.gov.au.
AFMA also reminds all Northern Prawn Fishery operators to ensure they submit all gear sheets, log sheets and their seasonal landing returns for the tiger season.
