NSW Southern Trawl Fishery to join the South-East Trawl
The NSW and Australian Governments have been working on merging the NSW managed Southern Fish Trawl and the Commonwealth managed South East Trawl fisheries. The NSW trawl fishery operates inside 3 nautical miles and the Commonwealth trawl fishery between 3 and 200 nautical miles.
The push for the merger has come because the two fisheries often target the same species with the same trawl method and operate side by side but do so under different rules and restrictions. The 2016 Productivity Commission report investigated management inefficiencies between Commonwealth and State fisheries and recommended that these fisheries merge.
An agreement between NSW and the Commonwealth sets down how the two fisheries operate and share the resource.
NSW operators have limits on “Commonwealth quota” stocks like tiger flathead. This frustrates NSW operators because they are often forced to discard commercially valuable fish that have little chance of survival.
Commonwealth operators are frustrated because NSW catches are debited to Commonwealth quotas. This ensures that the sustainable limit, set by the Commonwealth, is not exceeded but means that Commonwealth operators are the last in the line and only receive what NSW don’t catch (noting NSW vessels can only catch limited volumes). Commonwealth fisheries are also frustrated that the NSW fishery does not contribute to the cost of assessing stocks.
Often fishers hold both NSW and Commonwealth endorsements but cannot operate inside and outside the 3-mile line on a single trip. This too is inefficient.
All this because a line was placed at 3 nautical miles in NSW based how far a cannon ball could be fired in the 17th century.
The truth is that both sectors have an equally strong right to operate and there must be a better way to organise a fishery.
The NSW and Australian Governments formed the Southern Fish Trawl Working Group made up of fishers, associations and managers from both fisheries, they have agreed how the NSW Southern Fish Trawl could become part of the Commonwealth South East Trawl. NSW released a consultation document that captured these proposals. The proposal is that rather than debit NSW catches to Commonwealth quotas, that NSW operators should become Commonwealth operators working on a special permit allowing them inside “the line” (3 miles) and be issued around 246 tonnes of Commonwealth quota. A separate NSW allocation panel would divide up this quota across the 23 NSW operators.
Under this system there is no change to the sustainable catch and no quota is taken from existing owners to give to new NSW entrants to the Commonwealth system – the catch is already coming off Commonwealth quotas.
The Committee also made recommendations that NSW vessels entering the Commonwealth fishery should operate seabird bafflers, VMS (satellite monitoring) and be subject to normal conditions such as ongoing efforts to reduce discards and by-catch.
SETFIA supports the transition under these terms and believes it offers the many benefits:
* fish trawling in south-east Australia will be managed by a single jurisdiction and many fish species will have a cap on how much can be caught each year;
*better data collection and improved understanding of stock status;
*one jurisdiction removes duplication and administrative burden;
*where the required concessions are held, fishers will be able to complete a single trip inside and outside NSW waters;
*security of access for NSW fishers will be increased
*no more trip limits and less discarded fish from NSW vessels.
The Association is frustrated at some recreational fishing groups who have led with headlines like, “the trawlers are coming”. This is clearly not the case, there has been a trawl fishery inside NSW waters for more than 100 years. What is being proposed is just a better outcome for the fishing industry and the Australian community.
