Volume 4, Issue 8, 13 April 2007 [see previous editions]
Reducing Bycatch and Discards in Commonwealth Fisheries
Industry will play an important role in implementing a 3-year strategy to reduce bycatch and discarding in Commonwealth fisheries.
The Bycatch and Discarding Program will be coordinated by a small committee with industry playing a leadership role.
The Program will include:
- development of bycatch and discard response for each fishery including benchmarking each fishery for monitoring progress, consideration of past and required projects, a plan to address all key bycatch and discarding issues starting with protected species and high risk species identified in ecological risk assessments;
- capacity to contract additional expert services if needed, eg gear technologists, marine ecologists, marine mammal experts;
- funding for targeted workshops;
-
potential to initiate high quality research with seed funds; and
-
periodic reporting through the MACs to AFMA’s Environment Committee and Board.
AFMA staff member Steve Bolton has been appointed full-time to manage the program and work closely with the fisheries. Steve has a wide background in fisheries including a long career as a skipper in northern prawn trawl fisheries, four years at the Australian Maritime College and over a decade managing different fisheries with AFMA.
He has now commenced work with the fisheries and is forming small, dedicated working groups to begin the task of evaluating the respective fisheries bycatch problems and ways to address them.
More information about the Bycatch and Discarding Program will soon be available on the AFMA website or you can contact Steve Bolton on (02) 6225 5328 or email steve.bolton@afma.gov.au
New Quarterly Quota and Catch Balancing Process for the SESSF 2007 season
SESSF concession holders are now required to balance all of their catches against their quota holdings on a quarterly basis. The first of these quarterly quota and catch balancing dates is 30 April 2007.
On this date, SESSF concession holders are required to balance all of their catches against their quota holdings by 5pm EST, by either transferring/leasing quota to cover their excess catches and/or advising AFMA of any discrepancies on their quota transaction statement.
It’s important for concession holders to ensure that they are not in an over quota position at any time. QuotaView is available as an indicative record for concession holders of their catch and quota position and are encouraged to use this facility. AFMA encourages concession holders to submit their leases early to avoid any complications.
AFMA has sent a letter to all SESSF concession holders detailing the changes to their concessions and their additional reporting requirements for the 2007 SESSF season. Concession holders will also receive by mail, prior to the balancing date, a quota transaction statement.
If you have any questions regarding these requirements please contact Ben Munstermann on 1300 723 621.
Illegal fishing vessel up for disposal
Tenders for the disposal of the illegal fishing vessel Viarsa 1 are now being accepted by AFMA. The vessel is offered for sale for the purposes of:
- Future service as a commercial vessel; or
-
For parts and or scrap; or
-
For special reasons of community interest.
Strict conditions will be applied to the sale of this vessel and details of these and the procedures surrounding the sale can be obtained from the Disposal by Tender documentation on AFMA’s website.
Tenders close at COB on Monday 14 May 2007. Any further questions can be directed to John Davis, 08 8943 0354 or john.davis@afma.gov.au
Banana Prawns are on!
The Banana Prawn season in the Gulf of Carpentaria opened last Saturday with over fifty prawn trawlers assembling in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
This year's season officially runs over six weeks from 7 April until 19 May and may be extended if the catch rates are good, under the NPF’s adaptive management approach.
The high rainfall experienced lately in the region would normally be an indicator of good catches, because it means that prawns are flushed from inland rivers and creeks into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Preliminary feedback from industry is that the season is progressing well with good catches recorded. In addition crews are making up smaller ‘packs’ of prawns to better suit the market and hopefully improve profits.
