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by Bob Lister

Revamp of Fishing Today being considered

The Fishing Today magazine you are currently reading is owned equally by TFIC and DPIWE and we have a joint contract agreement with publisher Turtle Press Pty Ltd to produce six bimonthly issues a year.

As that long standing agreement is now reaching an end TFIC and DPIWE have recently advertised in Tasmanian papers seeking tenders from publishers to produce the magazine on behalf of both parties under contract for the next five years.

Tenders closed on 15 February 2005 and we are currently evaluating submissions with an aim to determining which tender represents best value for money.

This magazine has been produced for about 17 years and has had two formats in that time. The current format was designed 11 years ago and this is therefore an appropriate time to review the layout and publishing requirements of the magazine.

The present layout has served us well as a key communication tool for government and industry keeping our fishing and aquaculture industry members and others informed. However time has moved on and so should we.

One matter that has been brought to our attention is the need to change the front cover for each issue and we believe a brighter, more appealing internal layout design would be an advantage. We want a future publication to be both informative and interesting with more colour subject always to the cost of production.

We are hopeful that the first issue of the new magazine will be the June/July edition so stay tuned.

In the meantime if you have any constructive ideas and would like to pass them on please contact Craig Midgley at DPIWE on 03 6233 6632 or myself on 03 6224 2332.

Industry support for tsunami relief

The scale of the tsunami tragedy has affected us all and the impact on the commercial fishing and aquaculture industries particularly in Indonesia and Sri Lanka has been devastating.

After careful consideration the TFIC Board out-of-session has decided to donate $2,000 towards the relief effort on behalf of all TFIC members.

We are currently investigating ways our support can be targeted to a specific fishing village perhaps in the form of desperately needed fishing or aquaculture equipment subject to the obvious difficult logistics involved.

We have also been liaising with the Australian Seafood Industry Council and through them the Australian Government about the specific needs of fishermen and marine farmers and how we may best be able to assist.

After the tsunami the immediate need was obviously medical and humanitarian support and for cash donations to aid organisations with the rebuilding of fishing and aquaculture businesses to follow later.

The Australian Government is co-ordinating the identification of types and levels of assistance that is now needed but at the time of writing this article no definitive statement of the needs has been made.

It is likely however that a State by State registration system will be established to record offers of equipment with AusAid responsible for arranging the selection and distribution of the donations.

Federal Minister Senator Ian Macdonald is adamant that responses to requests for aid compliment rather than hinder the relief effort.

When it has been identified how we can make a real difference in re-establishing an industry that is so essential to the tsunami affected areas we will ensure communication is made with industry members to provide the opportunity for Tasmania to offer assistance.

Some proposed MAST fee increases to be reviewed

Most TFIC members would be aware that Marine and Safety Tasmania (MAST) has recently proposed increases in fees for commercial fishing vessels.

The increases proposed generally were: -

• A CPI increase of 5.3% across all existing charges. MAST last increased fees for commercial vessel operators in 2002 and to June 2004 the CPI change has been 5.3%.

• Introduction of an increased vessel registration fee covering 50% of the actual cost of depreciation and annual maintenance of the marine radio and telephone weather services. This increase would be from $15 to $115 pa per vessel depending on the length of the vessel.

• A fee for incident investigation at 79% of estimated costs representing an increase of from $23 to $173 pa per vessel dependant on the length of the vessel.

To give you some idea of the impact, the increases would result in (without the CPI adjustment) $82 pa more for an eight metre vessel, $136 pa for a 15 metre vessel and $273 pa for a 24 metre vessel.

The TFIC submissions dated 21 December 2004 and 21 January 2005 strongly opposing the increases are too detailed to be included here but can be viewed at www.tfic.com.au.

The MAST Board has now considered 12 submissions against the proposed increases and has agreed to defer the components relating to radio and weather services and incident investigation until a review is undertaken.

This review to be coordinated by TFIC may identify cost savings that would allow MAST to recover any eventually agreed proportion of costs without increasing the overall charge to vessel operators.

That’s the good news.

The unfortunate news is that the CPI increase will apply from 1 April 2005 despite the State Government providing no indexation to their annual funding to MAST which has been frozen at $700,000 per year since MAST was created in July 1997.

At this point in time we all know our industry just cannot afford increases in fixed operating costs so we will of course do every thing in our power to deflect or at least minimise the proposed increases in fees.

State MPAs to be declared

The State Government intends to gazette and declare both the MPAs at Port Davey/Bathurst Harbour and the Kent Group of Islands in Bass Strait later this month.

DPIWE will be writing to all relevant licence holders about the new restrictions and rules and there will be Public Notices and feature articles in Tasmania papers.

It therefore seems like a good point in time to reflect on and acknowledge the enormous efforts that our industry put into this issue.

After some nine years, two different State Governments, four different Ministers, development of the Marine and Marine Industries Council MPA Strategy, the Resource Planning and Development Commission hearings and presentations and about 60 Port and other meetings we finally have a decision imposed on us which very definitely could have been a lot worse.

Through our combined efforts we have minimised the impact on industry members and whilst the outcome in both areas is not our ideal or preferred position we did significantly influence the decision making process over a very long period of time.

Thank you very much to all those people who have contributed to our industry submissions and positions and now we all need to get ready for the next round of State MPA proposals.

South-east region MPAs – progress to date

The South-east Regional Marine Plan issue is still bubbling along with the Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH) now responsible for this federal project.

To date 11 broad areas of interest (BAOI) have been identified in Commonwealth waters around the south eastern region of Australia in an area from Kangaroo Island (SA) to almost Eden (NSW).

DEH intend to choose MPA sites within the BAOI using conservation specifications and by minimising socio-economic impacts. The proposed MPA network will include both no take and multiple use areas.

Using the MPA options proposed by stakeholders as a basis DEH is working with the Commonwealth Marine Protected Areas Committee (COMPAC) which includes AFMA, BRS, CSIRO and DAFF as well as other Commonwealth agencies to develop candidate MPAs for further consultation with stakeholders.

Once candidate MPAs have been developed for all eleven Broad Areas of Interest, the Scientific Peer Review Panel (an independent panel of scientists appointed by the government) will evaluate the final network of candidate MPAs against conservation objectives.

Any recommended modifications to the proposed candidate MPAs will be considered in direct consultation with stakeholders particularly in terms of any impacts on marine industries.

The socio-economic impacts of the network of candidate MPAs will also be assessed and potential displaced fishing effects and structural adjustment requirements determined.

The relevant government Minister/s will then consider the network of candidate MPAs alongside the results of the socio-economic assessment, Peer Review Panel’s recommendations, and the recommendations for structural adjustment.

The Federal Government has already considered candidate MPA areas in the Murray BAOI south of Kangaroo Island and the Zeehan BAOI off the north west coast of Tasmania.

In 2005 DEH will consult further with stakeholders to determine zoning arrangements and the fishing methods allowed in the multiple use areas of both candidate MPAs.

Stakeholders will not be asked to propose MPA options for the remaining nine Broad Areas of Interest until the zoning arrangements and permitted fishing methods in multiple use areas of the Murray and Zeehan candidate MPAs are clarified.

For the benefit of fishermen who may be impacted by these decisions it is worth mentioning that in January last year the federal government released a policy on MPAs and displaced fishing.

The policy recognises that ‘...the declaration of an MPA is a resource allocation process whereby marine resources are effectively reallocated from generating a private benefit such as fishing, to a broader public good of biodiversity conservation...."

The policy also states that "Any decision on whether adjustment assistance will be provided to fishers or fishing dependent communities as a result of an MPA declaration or re-zoning, will be made on a case-by-case basis", and outlines the factors the government will take into account in making a case-by-case decision.

The federal government’s recent structural adjustment package for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park rezoning was the first application of this policy.

We are indeed very fortunate to have Fiona Curley working for us as our ASIC Liaison Officer who has the difficult task of co-ordinating industry views and putting our case to the Government.

Whilst progress to date has been very slow it is likely that draft MPA options in the remaining nine BAOI will be considered in the second half of this year.

We will keep you informed of progress but if you have any immediate concerns you could contact industry representatives in Neil Stump, John Sansom, Rodney Treloggen, Charlie Farquhar, Gail Richey or myself.

TFIC Board deliberations

At the last TFIC Board meeting Directors considered a range of issues including the TFIC Leadership Development Program and strategic planning forum, State and Commonwealth MPAs, new arrangements for Fishing Today, NRM, TFIC elections, penalty provisions and demerit points, transfer of crown land, staff position descriptions, the EMS project, MAST fee increases, ASIC and changes at FRDC etc.

Our special guest was Dr Judi Marshall who is our EMS Project Facilitator.