Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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FISHING LEVY AMENDMENT REGULATIONS 2004 (NO. 1) 2004 NO. 71

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

STATUTORY RULES 2004 No. 71

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation

Fishing Levy Act 1991

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Fishing Levy Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1)

Section 8 of the Fishing Levy Act 1991 (the Levy Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of section 6 of the Levy Act.

Section 5 of the Levy Act imposes a levy in respect of a fishing concession. Section 6 of the Levy Act provides that the amount of levy imposed on the fishing concession is such amount as is prescribed.

Subsection 168 (1) of the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed in carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 110 of the Act provides that the levy imposed by the Levy Act is due and payable at a time or times ascertained in accordance with the regulations made under the Act.

"Fishing concession" is defined under the Levy Act and the Act to mean, among other things, a fishing permit.

Section 32 of the Act provides that the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) may, upon application made in the approved form, grant a person a fishing permit. This permit authorises the use by that person, or by a person acting on that person's behalf, of an Australian boat for fishing in a specified area of the Australian Fishing Zone (the AFZ) or a specified fishery.

The purpose of the Regulations is to specify the amount of levy imposed in respect of all fishing permits granted for the new Eastern and Western Skipjack Fisheries in respect of the 2003-04 financial year, including when the levy is payable. The establishment of the new Fisheries is the subject of separate amendments to the Fisheries Management Regulations. Fishing for skipjack tuna has hitherto been regulated under the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery and the Southern and Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery with levy payable accordingly.

The creation of the Skipjack fisheries allows AFMA to manage them separately from the Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery and the Southern and Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery, and is expected to improve the capacity of AFMA to pursue, in relation to skipjack tuna, the objectives set out in the Fisheries Administration Act 1991.

The Regulations impose levy in the Eastern and Western Skipjack Fisheries in respect of a fishing permit granted for these fisheries, at $3,185.85 for each fishing permit. The levy amount includes a contribution of $191.00 towards the research component of the levy. The research component is calculated as the fishery's contribution to the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation in accordance with current government policy.

The Regulations commenced on the date of their notification in the Gazette.

Regulation 1 provides for the Regulations to be cited as the Fishing Levy Amendment Regulations 2004 (No. 1).

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on gazettal.

Regulation 3 provides that Schedule 1 amends the principal Regulations.

Schedule 1 Item 1 inserts note 1 of Regulation 1.5, after paragraph (c). This adds the Eastern Skipjack Fishery (ESF) to the principal Regulations.

Schedule 1 Item 2 inserts note 1 of Regulation 1.5, after paragraph (o). This adds the Western Skipjack Fishery (WSF) to the principal Regulations.

Schedule 1 Item 3 inserts note 2 of Regulation 1.5, before paragraph (a), which adds the Bass Strait Central Zone Scallop Fishery to the principal Regulations. This lists the fisheries described in plans of management made under section 17 of the Fisheries Management Act 1991. The Bass Strait Central Scallop Fishery is described in a plan of management made under section 17, but is not listed in that note. Paragraph (aa) is to be inserted to update the note. This amendment does not relate to the eastern and western skipjack fisheries.

Schedule 1 Item 4 inserts a definition in Part 4A of an ESF fishing permit and specifies the levy for the Eastern Skipjack Fishery, the research component of each levy and when those levies must be paid.

Schedule 1 Item 5 inserts a definition in Part 20A of a WSF fishing permit and specifies the levy for the Western Skipjack Fishery, the research component of each levy and when those levies must be paid.