46th AFMA Commission meeting Chairman's summary

The 46th AFMA Commission meeting was held in April 2015, below is a summary from the Chairman, Norman Moore.

• The Commission met in Canberra on 29 to 30 April 2015, enabling a number of Commissioners to attend as observers at AFMA’s Recreational Fishing Forum that was held on 28 April 2015.
• Commissioners also took the opportunity to meet with senior officers from the Department of Agriculture on 30 April 2015 to discuss issues of shared interest including the development of fisheries policies (overarching fisheries policy, and harvest and bycatch policies); a longer term communications strategy on fisheries management and sustainability; and resource sharing.
• Key decisions taken by the Commission included:
  • based on the information before it, the Commission agreed to revise the Small Pelagic Fishery (SPF) Harvest Strategy prepared by AFMA Management, incorporating lower harvest rates for blue mackerel and Australian sardine than those proposed by the SPF Resource Assessment Group (SPFRAG)
  • the determination of total allowable catches (TACs) for each species in the SPF for 2015-16, as well as research catch allowances, and the overcatch and undercatch percentages and weight for all quota species
  • the review of how the Commission receives scientific advice regarding the SPF and how stakeholders are engaged in that process
  • the appointment of Chairs for the Northern Prawn Management Advisory Committee (NORMAC), the Sub-Antarctic Management Advisory Committee (SouthMAC) and the Tropical Tuna Management Advisory Committee (TTMAC), each for a period of three years from 1 July 2015
  • the endorsement of AFMA’s regulatory burden reduction program for 2015-2017
  • the agreement to set a research quota catch allowance until 30 June 2016 in the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery for use in surveying to determine scallop bed biomass estimates.
• The Commission discussed a number of fisheries management developments including management arrangements aimed at increasing the east pink ling biomass; AFMA’s strategies for managing high risk and overfished species, noting that school shark stocks seem to be on a sustained upward trend; the reports from recent meetings of RAGs and MACs; and the financial, human resources and regulator performance status of the Authority.
• The Commission also gave extensive consideration to the issues around recreational fishing, resource allocation and AFMA’s future role. Commissioners agreed on the need for AFMA Management to work with them to develop a discussion paper on management of recreational fisheries where they interact with Commonwealth commercial fisheries. Commissioners intended that this paper would enable engagement with the Department of Agriculture and also with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture.