The Commission met for its 54th meeting in Canberra on 1 March 2017. The meeting was preceded by AFMA’s annual public meeting, but there were no public attendees to this meeting.
Key decisions taken by the Commission at its meeting included:
- Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF) Total Allowable Catches (TACs)
The Commission agreed to TACs for the SESSF 2017-18 fishing season. This also included the determination of amounts and percentages for overcatch and undercatch and the research catch allowance for orange roughy under the Great Australian Bight Trawl Sector Orange Roughy Research Program. As part of this discussion the Commission also supported minor revisions to the SESSF Harvest Strategy Framework 2009.
- South East Trawl Fishery co-management group
The Commission discussed the formation of a South East Trawl Fishery co-management group and supported the development of an agreement between AFMA and the South East Trawl Fishing Industry Association to administer the group.
- Update on Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) monitoring arrangements
An update was provided to the Commission on the management arrangements for Southern Bluefin Tuna (SBT) notably the use of stereo video monitoring for cage transfers. The Commission noted its ongoing interest in progressing towards fully automated stereo video consistent with government policy and that it would next discuss stereo video monitoring at its meeting in October 2017.
- Out-of-session decisions
The Commission recorded its out of session decisions since the 53rd meeting of the Commission held in October 2016. These included the setting of catch limits for the Heard Island and McDonald Island Fishery for the 2016-17 fishing season as well as setting the total allowable commercial catch limits for the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery for the 2017-18 fishing season.
Norman Moore
Chairman
May 2017