Fisheries management

The Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery (SBTF) is managed under the Fisheries Management Act 1991 and the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery Management Plan 1995. These legislative instruments have a supporting frame work of regulations, statutory Fishing Right (SFR) conditions, fishing permits and directions.

In summary the SBTF is managed through a system of output controls in the form of individually transferable quotas which are allocated as Statutory Fishing Rights under the plan.

AFMA determines a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of SBT for the domestic fishery based upon Australia’s national allocation from the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT). Each SFR entitles the holder to receive an equal portion of the TAC set by AFMA for this period.

Operators catch against their SFR holdings is monitored through a series of logbooks and catch disposal documents and a paper trail of fish receivers and fishers. These records are provided to AFMA within legislative timeframes to enable AFMA to monitor catch against quota holdings.