During September AFMA will be reminding fishing operators of their requirements to reconcile their quota within 28 day.
All concession holders are required to balance their over-catches (per species) within 28 days of landing the catch.
Operators are responsible for making sure they have enough quota, and that they keep track of their catch against their quota holdings throughout a fishing season.
If you go over quota, you will receive an over-quota notification when you log in to GoFish, AFMA’s online account management system.
GoFish can also be used to check your quota position and reconciliation dates and amount.
Operators not reconciling their quota on time can be:
- stopped from fishing
- directed to return to port or to remain in port
- suspended
- prosecuted.
28-day quota reconciliation arrangements were introduced in 2013 in response to industry’s request for increased flexibility.
The benefit of continuous reconciliation is that it spreads the demand for quota across the fishing year, and therefore reduces the incidences of market “rushes”. This helps to ensure the quota market operates as efficiently as possible, meaning operators are able to readily respond to changes in catches thereby allowing the industry to more fully utilise the total allowable catch(es).
To make sure your fishing concessions are not affected and your boat is not ordered back to port – reconcile on time!
Read more on 28-day reconciliation requirements.