06.01 ASIC report  

This year was however a period of considerable achievement and progress in many areas with TFIC's initiatives and involvement ensuring that the best interests of our members were protected and promoted across an unbelievably wide range of issues.

We actively participated in a review of the Living Marine Resources Management Act and the Marine Farming Planning Act along with the Regulatory Impact Statements as well as changes to Management Plan arrangements for Abalone, Rock Lobster/Giant Crab, Scalefish, Scallops and Commercial Dive and we positively contributed to new arrangements for smaller fisheries such as octopus and clams.

At our initiative and with our close support Marine and Safety Tasmania progressed a review of vessel survey arrangements and charges through a series of 12 port meetings and new arrangements were introduced that are more user friendly and generally less expensive. Our involvement with MAST also saw us assessing individual marine facilities and opposing a proposal to revalidate fishing certificates.

We were involved in the preparation of a draft Tasmanian Marine Protected Areas Strategy document being promoted by the Marine and Marine Industries Council and were forced to become directly active in a series of port meetings in order to provide an industry balance to the government's determination to create even more restrictions over productive areas of water. Our opposition to the creation of marine protected areas in Tasmania, unless there are clear benefits for our members and coastal communities, is well known and our position was overwhelmingly endorsed during the series of regional meetings.

Negotiations are continuing with the government in order to obtain compensation for our members who may be displaced by the creation of MPAs and we are hopeful of a reasonable resolution early in the new year.

The Federal Government's new taxation policy saw us initiate a series of 'GST and the Seafood Industry' seminars around the State in order to prepare our members for the changes that would arise following the introduction of the GST and the Business Activity Statement. We also included detailed information and inserts in our industry magazine Fishing Today highlighting the need for improved accounting standards and management of cash flows and our assistance to members was generally well accepted.

We maintained our support for the aquaculture industry and marine farming activities through the Tasmanian Aquaculture Council and aquaculture commodity groups and assisted the TAC with the hugely successful Aquafest Australia conference in Hobart in October. Other commodity groups in the wild fishing sector also benefited from TFIC's ongoing secretarial and financial support.

It was very pleasing to be able to applaud the State Government's introduction of a new twin engine rescue helicopter service for which we had been strongly advocating and lobbying for over four years and this new service has proven to be of immense value to the Tasmanian community and has already saved lives. TFIC actively assisted the government and MAST to lift the public awareness of the need for safety at sea.

The National Oceans Office is developing a South East Regional Marine Plan and we participated in meetings and discussion groups to ensure that our traditional and licensed activities are recognised and protected.

Structural adjustment funding for the South East Non Trawl and Southern Shark fisheries was introduced and finalised with TFIC assisting in supporting and assessing these important opportunities.

We stepped in when it became apparent that perishable airfreight capacity in and out of Tasmania was at serious risk due to changed aircraft types and flight schedules and I am pleased to say that following a series of protracted meetings both within Tasmania and interstate this potentially damaging issue was resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

With the significant level of important issues both before us and in the future the Board unanimously supported the need for increased TFIC funding in order to enable us to effectively and properly manage our members' interests and as a consequence TFIC's levies were reluctantly increased in the later part of the year. We will be employing a new staff member early in the new year and will then be in a much better position to professionally address all the significant issues that require our industry input.

TFIC also became involved in a number of other matters affecting our members including the difficulties of interaction with seals, ecological sustainable development, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, Schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Imports and Exports) Act, the coverage of digital mobile telephones, stamp duty, Basslink, the proposed natural gas pipeline to Tasmania, food safety and quality assurance issues, the charter boat fishery and marine debris to name just a few. We also increased our level of negotiations with the Marine Police to ensure an improved level of enforcement of the various and complex rules, regulations and legislation which are now in place to maintain the sustainability of our fisheries.

The new year will of course bring new and exciting challenges and we are indeed very fortunate to have a strong, viable and active TFIC structure in place to continue to protect and promote our members interests.

BOB LISTER
Chief Executive
Tasmanian Fishing Industry Council