An overview of the fishery-specific governance and management relating to the SBPMF is presented below. More detailed information, including a description of the long- and short- term management objectives for these fisheries, is provided in the MSC Principle 3 Sections 15 and 16.
The SBPMF is managed by the Department under the following legislation, which can be accessed via the Department’s website1:
• Fish Resources Management Act 1994 (FRMA)2;
• Fish Resources Management Regulations 1995 (FRMR);
• FRMA Part 6 – Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery Management Plan 1993;
• FRMA Section 43 Order – Prohibition on Commercial Fishing (Shark Bay Marine Park) Order 2004
• FRMA Section 7(2) Instruments of Exemption; and
• Managed Fishery Licence (MFL) Conditions;
Fishers must also comply with the requirements of the:
Fleet reduced
to 25 vessels
Whole fleet (18 vessels) quad gear Fleet reduced
to 27 vessels
• Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act);
• Western Australian Marine Act 1982; and
• Western Australian Wildlife Conservation Act 1950.
4.1.1 FRMA
The FRMA provides the overarching legislative framework to implement the statutory management arrangements for SBPMF and contains the head powers to determine a management plan (section 54). WA management plans (see below) set out the operational rules that control managed commercial fishing activities. The management plan is subsidiary legislation that provides the power (pursuant to section 58) to issue and restrict the number authorisations and regulate other conditions and grounds relating to fishing. There is also power to set the capacity of the fishery under a management plan (section 59). The FRMA also sets out the procedure for determining and amending a management plan (sections 64 and 65). Under section 43 the Minister may prohibit fishing by order published in the Government Gazette.
4.1.2 FRMR
The FRMR contain a number of requirements pertaining to all commercial fisheries in WA.
For example, regulation 64 requires commercial fishers to submit mandatory catch returns in the form approved for that fishery. Licensees in the SBPMF are required to report retained species catches, effort, any ETP species interactions and fishing location in daily logbooks.
4.1.3 Management Plan
The Shark Bay Prawn Limited Entry Fishery Notice 1993, which is now referred to as the Shark Bay Prawn Managed Fishery Management Plan 1993 (or the Management Plan), is the primary statutory management instrument for the SBPMF. The Management Plan was established under the previous State Fisheries Act 1905; however all existing management plans established under section 32 of the Fisheries Act 1905 were transitioned under section 266 of the FRMA when it was established in 1994. The Management Plan implements the following set of measures to meet the fishery-specific management objectives for the SBPMF:
• Limited entry:
The number of managed fishery licences (MFLs) in the SBPMF is limited to 18. Each licenced fishing boat operating in the SBPMF must be endorsed on a MFL, and all persons commercially fishing in the SBPMF must hold a commercial fishing licence.
• Areas of the fishery:
The Management Plan prescribes the following boundary and areas of the SBPMF-
• The overall waters of the fishery (Figure 3.1);
• The boundaries of permanently closed prawn nursery areas in the southern and eastern parts of Shark Bay, and the Bernier-Dorre trawl closure north-east of Dirk Hartog Island (Figure 3.1);
• An area in which gear may be trialled no more than 14 days before the opening of the fishery with cod ends open and during daylight hours;
• A 24 hour trawling area; and
• Port area closures around Carnarvon and Denham.
• Annual closed season:
The SBPMF is closed to fishing each year between November and March/April pursuant to clause 10 of the Management Plan (see Section 4.1.4 below). Season closure and opening dates are based on prawn biology and historical fishery information but vary each year, depending on lunar phase (i.e. after the full moon).
For the 2013 season, official opening and closing dates were set at 11 March and 15 October.
• Permanent temporal closure:
Fishing is only allowed at night when the fishery is open (daytime closures apply from 0800 hrs to 1700 hrs). This measure greatly reduces trawler visibility and conflict with other marine users.
• Fishing (gear) capacity:
The SBPMF currently operates under a maximum net headrope capacity of 724 m (396 ftm).
• Gear specifications:
All nets used in the fishery must be either a six fathom trawl net (i.e. being a net with a prescribed headrope length of between five metres and 10.97 m), an eight fathom trawl net (i.e. being a net with a prescribed headrope length of between five metres and 14.83 m), or a try net (i.e. being a net with a prescribed head rope length of no more than five metres). No more than four six (or eight) fathom trawl nets and one try net may be used at any one time.
Each six and eight fathom trawl net can only have attached a single otter board on each side, which is restricted in size. Nets must also only have one ground chain, which is made of links < 10 mm in diameter, and meshes may be no greater than 60 mm.
• Vessel Monitoring System:
Fishing activities (location and intensity) are monitored by the Department via a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), with all licenced fishing boats operating in the SBPMF required to install an operational Automatic Location Communicator.
4.1.4 Determinations by the Director General (Chief Executive Officer) The annual closed season in the SBPMF is implemented by virtue of an annual statutory determination made by the Director General (as the Chief Executive Officer, the designated authority, also referred to as the “Executive Officer” in the management plan) pursuant to clause 10 of the Management Plan. This framework provides the power for the Director General to statutorily open and close the SBPMF annually without the need for an amendment to the Management Plan. The annual determination is the statutory instrument that caps the maximum number of days that fishing is permitted each season, and also prescribes spatial management areas within the fishery that are used to manage the distribution of fishing effort during the season (see Section 4.2 below). These include spatial and temporal closures specifically to protect prawn spawning stock.
4.1.5 Exemptions
The FRMA provides the head power (see Section 15) to implement statutory management measures alternative to existing arrangements. Exemptions are often used when measures are being trialed, prior to them being implemented permanently (e.g. in the Management Plan).
There are three current Exemptions relevant to the SBPMF which relate to gear, the number of boat units and the retention of scalefish.
4.1.6 Managed Fishery Licence Conditions
The SBPMF fleet is required to have BRDs in the forms of grids and fish exclusion devices (FEDs), such as square mesh panels, in each net. This requirement is currently implemented via a MFL condition.
4.1.7 Section 43 Orders
Following the establishment of the Shark Bay Marine Park, trawling closures were implemented pursuant to section 43 of the FRMA (see Section 4.5.1 below). The Prohibition on Commercial Fishing (Shark Bay Marine Park) Order 2004 prohibits commercial fishing in any of the waters of the Shark Bay Marine Park with trawling in accordance with the Shark Bay Prawn Management Plan 1993 in general use zones listed as an exception.