Fisheries Act 1988

sections 25(1) and 70C(1)

2. A management plan may:

(a) designate areas, within the management area where, and the periods when, fishing for certain species of fish or aquatic life shall be prohibited or restricted, or permitted only by specified types of vessels or by specified methods or persons, or with specified types or quantities of fishing gear, or subject to such other conditions as may be specified;

(aa) specify the methods or practices to be used by a class of persons in the supervision of operations conducted for the purposes of a licence or permit;

(ba) specify the species of fish that may or shall not be taken and/or the restrictions (if any) that apply in relation to the taking of any species of fish;

(bb) specify the number of licences that may be issued in relation to an area or a fishery, as the case requires, and prohibit or regulate the transfer of licences in respect of a fishery;

(b) specify ports or places or circumstances where fish or aquatic life may be landed or trans-shipped at sea;

(c) provide for the management of a fishery, or a designated area within a fishery, through a quota system;

(d) authorise the Minister or Joint Authority to determine, by Gazette notice, any matter required for the operation of a quota system;

(e) set limits as to size, number, weight, sex, or other factor, on a catch of fish or aquatic life, or any species or class of fish or aquatic life, from any specified area which are considered necessary or desirable for the conservation and management of the fishery;

(f) establish a system for limiting access to the fishery to persons who can satisfy the Director or Joint Authority of their eligibility having regard to, but not limited to, the following criteria or such criteria as may be specified in the plan:

(iii) the capability of fishing vessels being used, or intended to be used, in the fishery, to operate in other fisheries;

(g) provide for fishing monitoring and vessel monitoring, including authorising the Director to require all holders of a class of licence or permit, or all owners of a class of registered vessel, to install and operate fishing monitoring equipment or a vessel monitoring system or both on a vessel;

(h) contain any other measures considered necessary or desirable for the conservation, management or control of the fishery; or

(j) provide for the establishment and administration of a scheme for the rationalisation of the fishery and for those purposes may provide for:

(i) a limitation or reduction in an equitable manner of the number of fishing units licensed to operate in a fishery;

(ii) the surrender and purchase of licences relating to that fishery on payment of agreed compensation;

(iii) the establishment by the Accountable Officer of a fund within the Agency Operating Account within the meaning of the Financial Management Act 1995;

(iv) the imposition of levies or other payments for the purposes of funding any compensation to be paid; and

(v) the repayment of surplus amounts, after payment of any outstanding amounts due, to persons who, on conclusion of a scheme, are holders of licences in respect of fishing units to which the scheme relates.

Examples for clause 2(d)

1 Total allowable catch.

2 The allocation of total allowable catch between licensees.

2A. A management plan may deem a person to be in possession of fish in circumstances prescribed by the plan.

2B. A management plan may:

(a) subject to paragraph (b), for an offence against the management plan, prescribe a fine not exceeding 170 penalty units and, if the offence is a continuing one, prescribe a further fine not exceeding 4 penalty units for each day after the first day during which the offence has continued; and

(b) for an offence against the management plan that is an offence of strict liability, prescribe a penalty not exceeding 100 penalty units.

3. A management plan may prescribe different penalties for different classes of offender for an offence against the plan.

4. Subject to clause 5, a management plan may provide for the Director or Joint Authority to do either or both of the following:

(a) revoke an approval for a person to engage in a fishery in a capacity that the Director or Joint Authority must approve;

(b) refuse, for a specified period not exceeding 5 years, to approve a person to engage in a fishery in a capacity that the Director or Joint Authority must approve.

5. A provision of a management plan made under clause 4 may authorise the Director or Joint Authority to act under the provision only if:

(i) on more than one occasion of a prescribed offence under the plan (whether the same type of offence or not); or

(ii) of a prescribed offence under the plan and has also been found guilty of a prescribed offence under another management plan; and

(b) the later offence was committed after the commencement of that clause.