FISHERIES LEVY (SOUTHERN BLUEFIN TUNA FISHERY) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 358

FISHERIES LEVY (SOUTHERN BLUEFIN TUNA FISHERY) REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1994 NO. 358

STATUTORY RULES 1994 No. 358

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Resources

Fisheries Levy Act 1984

Fisheries Levy (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Regulations (Amendment)

Section 8 of the Fisheries Levy Act 1984 (the Levy Act) empowers the Governor-General to make regulations for the purposes of sections 5 and 6 of the Act.

Paragraphs 5(bc) and (bd) of the Levy Act impose levy on the allocation and renewal of allocation, respectively, of units of fishing capacity, being units of fishing capacity prescribed for the purposes of those paragraphs.

Subsection 6(1) of the Levy Act provides, so far as is relevant, that the amount of levy imposed on the allocation or renewal of allocation of a unit of fishing capacity is the amount specified in the Regulations.

Section 7 of the Levy Act provides that the amount of levy is due and payable on the allocation of a unit and the renewal of the allocation of a unit.

Subsection 3(2) of the Levy Act provides that a reference in the Levy Act to units of fishing capacity is a reference to the units into which the fishing capacity for a fishery is divided under a plan of management for a fishery determined under the Fisheries Act 1952 (the Fisheries Act)

The Fisheries Act was repealed by subsection 3(2) of the Fisheries Legislation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (the Consequential Provisions Act) and regulation of Commonwealth fisheries came under the Fisheries Management Act 1991 (the Management Act). As a transitional arrangement, Part IVA of the Fisheries Act was perpetuated under the Consequential Provisions Act for a further 3 years and will expire on 3 February 1995. The result is that the fisheries (or parts of fisheries) which are the subject of agreements between the States and the Commonwealth made under Part IVA continue to be managed under the Fisheries Act, instead of being managed under the Management Act, until the sunset provisions of subsection 7(3) of the Consequential Provisions Act take effect. Fisheries that continue to be managed, or partly managed, under the Fisheries Act in this manner are known as "Part IVA fisheries" and include the Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery (the Fishery).

The Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery Management Plan (the Plan), determined under the Fisheries Act, provides that the fishing capacity of the Fishery shall be divided into units of fishing capacity, all of which comprise a single class. For a season, each unit entitles the holder of that unit to an equal share in the total allowable catch determined for that season under the Plan. The Plan governs the management of the Fishery except for that part of the Fishery adjacent to New South Wales (the NSW area). In the NSW area, the Fishery is managed by way of fishing permits under the Fisheries Management Act 1991. It is a condition of each of those permits that, to take Southern Bluefin Tuna in the NSW area, the holder of the fishing permit must also hold sufficient units under the Plan.

The Fisheries Levy (Southern Bluefin Tuna Fishery) Regulations (the principal Regulations) prescribe the allocation of units governed under the Plan and the renewal of those allocations to be matters in respect of which an amount of levy is specified and also specify the amount of levy.

The Fishery comprises 2 sectors, namely the domestic sector and the Joint Venture, the latter being in part governed by the Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and Tuna Longline Development Cooperation Pty Ltd (the Joint Venture Agreement). The unit holders are all part of the domestic sector. Some unit holders lease their units to the Joint Venture.

Levy for the Fishery is currently paid by the 2 sectors under different arrangements:

•        Levy for the domestic sector is prescribed by the principal Regulations and was previously $112.90 per unit.

•        Levy for the Joint Venture is payable under the Foreign Fishing Boats Levy Act 1981, The amount of the levy is set in the Joint Venture Agreement. As a commercial arrangement, the Joint Venture passes on the levy to those. of its members who are unit holders in the Fishery. These unit holders currently pay to the Joint Venture $521.66 per unit.

As a consequence of these arrangements, the unit holders who are members of the Joint Venture in effect paid levy twice - $112.90 per unit direct to AFMA and a further $521.66 per unit through the Joint Venture. In doing this, these quota holders paid a disproportionately large amount of levy.

As all unit holders in the Fishery derive benefits from the Joint Venture whether or not they participate in the Joint Venture, unit holders proposed that the levies collected from each of the 2 sectors be consolidated to the domestic sector only, so that all unit holders pay the same total amount of levy. The Tuna Boat Owner's Association, which represents holders of 99 per cent of the units in the Fishery, the Southern Bluefin Tuna Management Advisory Committee and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority all supported the proposal.

The Regulations amend the principal Regulations to implement the proposal by specifying a new rate of levy of $376.54 per unit for the allocation of units governed under the Plan and further amounts of $376.54 for the renewal of allocations of units, that take place after the commencement of the Regulations.

In connection with the making of the Regulations, the Joint Venture Agreement will be amended in the current levy collection period to reduce the amount of levy payable by the Joint Venture to effectively be zero.

The new rate of levy of $376.54 per unit is higher than the existing rate of levy of $112.90 per unit and reflects the consolidation of levy for the Fishery to the domestic sector.

The majority of the new rate of levy, amounting to $350.24, is calculated on the basis of recovering one hundred per cent of the estimated recoverable costs of managing the Fishery during the 1994-1995 financial year from the holders of units of fishing capacity in the Fishery, in line with the Commonwealth's policy of full cost recovery in Commonwealth managed fisheries. The remainder of the new rate of levy, amounting to $26.30, is calculated on the basis of recovering from the holders of units in the Fishery, the fishing industry's contribution to the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.

Details of the Regulations, which commenced on gazettal, are set out below:

Regulation 1 provides for the amendment of the principal Regulations.

Regulation 2 amends regulation 6 (Amounts of Levy) of the principal Regulations by omitting the old rate of levy $112.90 per unit wherever it appears and replacing it with the new rate of levy of $376.54.